Dean Weller turns old automobile parts and sheet metal into works of art in this 1918 Model T Garage

 Not open to the public, but located in DeSoto Kansas, the sign in the window says Grandpas Garage and Body Shop. Dean is a grassroots artist and retired 31 years ago, but he has been creating nearly a vehicle a year 

 you can possibly read the front license plate, 1912 Mercer raceabout, but it's a replica, and everything except the lights ,was handmade by Dean on the frame and drivetrain of a 1930 Pontiac. Only 20 originals exist.

 1932 Buick model 66S 4 passenger special coupe - straight 8

 the yellow boat tail once was a '47 chev truck hood

 Above, 1921 Model T pie wagon

read about this automotive artist and restorer at http://www.kansastravel.org/grandpasoldfordgarage.htm

the King of Sweden has a car collection, 1966 GT 350 Shelby Mustang, GTO, AC Cobra, and so on

thanks to Licolncadillac for letting us know! For a short post see http://grandprix63.blogspot.com/2009/05/raggarkung-for-sverige-i-bilen.html

Like many members of the Royal Family, the King has a keen interest in automobiles. He owns several Porsche 911s, a vintage Volvo PV444 a Ferrari 456M GT, a Shelby AC Cobra, 1966 Shelby GT350, and BMW M3 CSL, one of only 1,500.

The private car collection of Lee Roy Hartung was auctioned off

1936 Lincoln Zephyr custom sedan has an unusual dual nose and shows 19,600 miles on the odometer.
Credit: Tudor Van Hampton for The New York Times
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/31/piece-by-piece-the-hartung-collection-is-dismantled/

The eclectic Lee Roy Hartung Collection of automobiles, motorcycles and memorabilia was gathered over the past 50 years by the Chicago collector.

Mr. Hartung dealt in scrap metal, sold used cars and maintained a hauling business that aided his hobby. After a garage fire destroyed an antique bicycle collection, Mr. Hartung in 1972 built a 10,000-square-foot barn on his four-acre property and spent the next several decades stuffing it with treasures

Mr. Hartung operated the space as a museum by appointment only. In it, he stored about 80 cars, 40 motorcycles, 100 bicycles and thousands of pieces of automobilia. He had what experts called one of the most complete collections of license plates in the United States

A 1912 Harley-Davidson Single-Cylinder Belt Drive, believed to be among the best 1912 examples in the world, brought $115,000.
original bicycles were highlighted by a like-new 1934 Iver Johnson, an Elgin Bluebird and a Schwinn Aerocycle, which individually sold for $5,175 each.

Lee Hartung Collection Auctions America by RM – Top 10 Auction Results

1. 1911 Flying Merkel Twin Belt Drive – $201,250
2. 1950 Veritas BMW – $195,500

 The 1949 Veritas was built by BMW and bodied by Spohn, the German coachworks company. It was believed to have been sent back to Spohn in the ’50s to receive tail fins and other retrofits to echo General Motors’ 1951 LeSabre concept car.
 3. 1950 Edwards R-26 Roadster – $143,750
4. 1912 Harley-Davidson Single-Cylinder Belt Drive – $115,000
5. 1911 Pope Model H – $83,375
6. 1909 Sears – $66,125
7. 1938 Indian Four-Cylinder Rigid Frame – $64,400
8. 1926 Henderson Deluxe Fire Department Motorcycle – $63,250
9. 1915 Harley-Davidson Single-Cylinder Two-Speed – $57,500
10. 1904 Fabrique-Nationale Four-Cylinder Shaft Drive – $55,200
http://www.sportscardigest.com/lee-hartung-auctions-america-by-rm-auction-results/

I thought that the Harrah car collection was closed, I was wrong, it's now called the National Automobile Museum

http://www.automuseum.org/index.html
I'm continuously adding to my list of auto museums in America, the full list is here: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/if-you-are-looking-to-visit-car-museums.html

Unusual, rare, and restored cars from the 1920's and 30's at the Nethercutt musuem

I hope you've been looking at my blog long enough to recognize these headlights as my favorite, they are the Woodlight type http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search/label/woodlight%20headlights , and only came on two cars I know of, the DuPont occasionally, and this 1930 Ruxton in its factory paint, stripes of reds. Three other cars have had woodlights, a Stutz, Cord, and an Auburn but I suspect they were added by the owners. Most unusual for factory paint, but it was the midst of the great depression, and this was a luxury car that needed potential buyers attention. ( just like the glam rockers of the 70's and 80's and the big hair and makeup )

The above is movie star Fatty Arbuckle's 1923 McFarlan model 154 knickerbocker cabriolet

The above yellow is a 1934 Packard

Above and below, 1932 Mayback DS 8 / convertible cabriolet

the above is a 1925 Locomobile 48/ Victoria sedan

the above is a Toledo tiller steered, ever notice that a kids little red wagon has a handle that flips up or down, and is a very small example of a horse drawn wagon? Transpose that thought to the tiller steered early horse-less carriages and the way they had tiller steering that resembles a flipped up wagon tongue

On the left is the blue with a hood that looks like the Renault of the same era, but the Franklin was American and this example is a 1912 model G

This green with white baloon treadless tires is a 1906 Franklin, and particularly striking is the barrel shaped hood. The round hood was replaced by the slope hood like the 1912 Franklin above this

Beautiful brass accentuation pieces adorning this green and black Franklin

1910 Pierce Arrow 7 passenger touring

1912 White model GF

and the Lalique crystal hood ornament collection.

I didn't know that the Detroit Historic Museum had an extensive car collection, the historic society has been collecting for 90 years

news story and video that is worth watching here: http://detnews.com/article/20110219/METRO01/102190368/Part-of-Detroit%E2%80%99s-history-kept-under-wraps

Part of the approximately 60 car collection are:

an 1870 Phaeton Carriage made for the worlds fair,
a 1963 Chrysler Turbine that would run on diesel fuel, unleaded gasoline, kerosene, vegetable oil and even tequila
a 1911 Ford Model T keeps company
a 1963 pre-production Ford Mustang and John Dodge's 1919 coupe.
A 1963 Cougar II concept car by Ford
A 1956 Packard Patrician: an aristocratic sedan, this was the last year for Packard. A 1947 Kaiser
A 1949 Buick Super 8:
a rare one of 7 built 1959 Chrysler Crown Imperial, with a 413 and a stainless steel top. When sold it was the most expensive American car, it went for about $7,500 when most houses sold for about $4,500

The society started collecting items in the early 1920s and obtained its first car in 1954 — a 1905 Cadillac Osceola donated by Henry M. Leland, who founded Cadillac and Lincoln.

Thanks to Marc for letting me know about this story!

The Schlumpf Collection is on display in France at the National Museum in Mulhouse, the Cité de l’Automobile

The Schlumpf Collection may be the most prestigious car collection in the world. This is demonstrated by the two of the only 6 made Bugatti Royales, including the famous Coupé Napoléon, the 150 Bugatti, Hispano-Suiza, Ferrari, Rolls-Royce, Maserati, Maybach, Mercedes models, etc.

One of the Royales they acquired when they purchased the Shakespeare collection, in 1964, which was a total of 30 Bugattis and a gallery of those being loaded on a Illinois train is here: http://svammelsurium.blogg.se/2010/june/en-dag-i-illinois-1964.html

It was in a former Mulhouse woollen mill, with its typically 19th century architecture, that Fritz Schlumpf established his fabulous collection of 437 cars belonging to 97 different brands. With part of on display at the Cité de l’Automobile, it is certainly a must see if you get to France

www.collection-schlumpf.com/en/schlumpf/ learned about it from http://www.sportscardigest.com/schlumpf-collection-profile-and-photo-gallery

The collection was seized by the workers employed by the Schlumpf brothers, who had collected for years, and topped off their collection when Hispano Suiza needed to liquidate many of the Bugatti assets in 1963 after having purchased the Bugatti company. The Schlumpfs puchased Ettore Bugatti’s personal Bugatti Royale and many original spares and patterns—over the strong objections of the managing director and Roland Bugatti, Ettore Bugatti’s surviving son.

In 1971 the union of workers that had been restoring the cars, building restaurants, and a hotel that would have housed guests to the collection, went on strike, and years later the French government seized all of the Schlumpf assetts, including 437 vehicles. The strike was part of what forced the brothers to flee to Switzerland, echoing Bugatti's flight to Paris in the 1937 strike. Read all about it http://www.sportscardigest.com/schlumpf-collection-profile-and-photo-gallery

Last of the private steam locomotive collections? Even had a Big Boy... the Blount collection

looks like a Big Boy http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/12/big-boy-used-coal-so-fast-that-shovels.html

In the late 50's a seafood company founder began collecting steam locomotives... can a guy collect anything bigger? Has anyone? I doubt it.

Anyway, he made a small tourist attraction and called it Steamtown, moved it a couple times but didn't get very close to any major cities... he stuck it in Vermont.

Anyway, he died in 1967, at the age of 47 and without setting up a modicum of management to keep the trains in good condition, so they were sold off, neglected, and falling apart. The company that ran the collection moved from Vermont to Scranton, PA in 1984 after about 20 years of barely surviving, and went bankrupt in 1986

Congress was quick to make it a national park, and the park service now runs the train attraction as a learning center about 1850 to 1950 steam locomotives.

Read a bit more about it from the souce of my info: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6160936&postcount=20825

Update on the Portugese barn find collection that shocked everyone a couple years ago, full story and list of cars

Feb 2007 was when 58 photos and a description of a barn with steel doors welded shut was opened for the first time in decades and this collection was found. Well, the story was all made up... but a journalist finally went to get to the truth of the matter in 2009, and new photos as well as a complete inventory are after the link

http://www.hagerty.com/Hagerty-Online/News/Features/All-articles/2010/12/08/Portuguese-Barn-Find-Photo-Gallery?utm_source=ExactTarget&utm_medium=email&utm_term=December&utm_content=News&utm_name=Hagerty%20Plus%20Member%20News

LeMay museum finally had it's groundbreaking (2 years since I posted that it would happen)

http://hagertyblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/lemay-museum-groundbreaking-june-2010.html for the story and photo gallery. My first post didn't say much, just informative that it's supposed to become the largest in the world
http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2008/03/if-you-live-near-seattle-you-might-want.html

The Wisconsin stash of Don Schlag, 21 semitrailers full or rare parts and rare cars

21 semitrailers stuffed with parts and cars. Don locked the trailers, welded the doors shut himself and parked them tail-to-tail on flattened tires. No, he didn't just keep opeing the doors and looking at the cool collection he'd compiled.

He went to every swap meet. He took a trip to California every year in his RV and would return towing a trailer full of parts that would vanish into his stash. He bought whole cars that never seemed to show up on Wisconsin streets again.

Larry wound up paying Don's heirs a "mid-six-figure" sum for all the pieces. And except for a couple of cars he sold himself and two Corvettes kept by Don's nephews, he sold the entire lot to another collector, Scott Milestone, for half again as much money. As this is being written, Scott is in the process of uncrating and reshelving all the various components into an East Coast warehouse.

Here are just some of the jems in the collection of 14 nice, low-mileage cars more than 150 high-performance engines have been found that Don stored away
1. '57 Corvette-Original fuel injection. Big fuel tank and big brakes.
2. '57 Corvette-Original dual quads. Big fuel tank and big brakes.
3. '63 Corvette coupe-Original fuel injection. Production number 480.
4. '64 Corvette roadster-Original fuel injection. Four-speed. Both tops.
5. '67 Corvette roadster-427 with Tri-power. 37,000 miles.
6. '74 Corvette coupe-454 big-block. 14,000 miles.
7. '72 Camaro Z28-Four-speed.
8. '67 Camaro RS/SS coupe-350 and four-speed. Fair condition.
9. '69 Yenko Camaro-37,000 miles.
10. '70 Chevelle SS454-Automatic with bucket seats.
11. '70 Chevelle SS454-Four-speed, bench seat
http://www.hotrod.com/thehistoryof/hrdp_0608_don_schlag_chevy_car_collector/index.html

a complete engine for a 1969 Camaro Z/28 engine, a DZ-302 that’s complete down to the breather, one of approximately six such engines found, and the cast-iron COPO 427-cid engine block.
http://www.oldcarsweekly.com/article/Huge_muscle_car_stash_found/

The Mullin museum is finally open, but only two days a month, on a reservation basis

The above is one of two made, the other is unrestored. A commisioned painting of it by Nicola Wood is posted here: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/10/marvelous-paintings-of-nicola-wood.html

Above images from http://motomania.tumblr.com/

Here's one amazing car from the Mullins collection, a Hispano-Suiza woody!

http://karakullake.blogspot.com/2010/08/mullin-automotive-museum-review-part-1.html for a full write up and gallery

For hours and dates it's open: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/mullins-museum-info-its-not-open-often.html