Tupelo Automobile Museum

The Tupelo Automobile Museum was a museum for historic automobiles opened in 2002 in Tupelo ( Lee County , Mississippi , USA ). It was set up by entrepreneur, collector, radio and TV pioneer Frank Spain . 100 to 150 vehicles were shown on an area of ​​120,000 square feet (approx. 11,100 m²). After his death in 2006, his widow became the museum's curator. The collection last comprised 178 automobiles between 1899 and 1994.

The vehicles presented the history of the automobile from a predominantly American perspective in chronological order. Outstanding exhibits were a Tucker , several Rolls-Royce and Hispano-Suiza and beautiful representatives of American luxury cars from Duesenberg , Cadillac , Lincoln , Packard , Pierce-Arrow and a very rare Brewster-Knight with a valve motor . There was a beautiful ensemble of particularly old vehicles, from which a Knox Voiturette from 1899, a French, also rare Delaunay-Belleville from 1905 and a Sears Motor Buggy from 1911, sold by mail order, stood out. The early American representatives of the luxury class include a Firestone-Columbus , Lozier and Winton each , supplemented by the technically outstanding Owen Magnetic and two steam cars from White and Stanley Steamer . The museum also displayed several Ford, in particular T-models, a retractable with a retractable metal roof, various Chevrolets as well as representatives of the (upper) middle class from Auburn , Franklin , Hupmobile , Nash , Studebaker and a very rare Westcott .

The exhibition concept included open boxes in which spectators could watch the specialists restoring the vehicles. The earlier regional connection to the Toyota plant in Blue Springs near Tupelo through the Toyota vehicles manufactured there seems to have recently not been maintained.

The upcoming closure of the museum was announced in December 2018. The reason given was the steadily declining number of visitors. The museum management sought to sell the collection en bloc , but it did not materialize. Therefore, the vehicles were auctioned on April 26th and 17th, 2019 . The collector's value has been estimated at up to US $ 25 million, the proceeds will be donated to charity. The auction was carried out by the Bonhams auction house in the museum. The result of US $ 10 million for vehicles and automobilia was below estimate. As expected, the most expensive vehicle was the Tucker, which changed hands for US $ 1,985,000.

Vehicle list

The list below as of February 2019 is not entirely complete.

1886 Benz Patent Motor Car Number 1 (replica) 1899 Knox Voiturette "Old Porcupine" 1902 Oldsmobile Curved Dash 1903 Cadillac Model A rear entrance tonneau 1904 Reo One Cylinder 1904 White Steamer Model D Tonneau 1905 Delaunay-Belleville 1906 Queen 1907 Ford Model R 1907 International Harvester 14/16 HP Highwheeler 1908 Columbus highwheeler 1908 Glide 1908 Firestone-Columbus 1910 Haynes Model 19 1910 Paterson Model 30 1911 Brush 1911 Sears Motor Buggy 1912 Cartercar 1913 Minerva 1913 Westcott 4-40 runabout 1914 Ford Model T Racer 1914 Hispano-Suiza Torpdeo 1914 Saxon Saxon Roadster 1915 International Harvester High wheel truck 1915 Lozier Roadster 1915 Studebaker Model SD Roadster 1915 Trumbull Cyclecar 1915 Winton 1916 Auburn Chummy 1916 Owen Magnetic M-25 1917 Hupmobile Model N 1917 Pierce Arrow Model 66 1918 Stanley Steamer 735A Touring Mod. 1919 1920 Apperson Jack Rabbit V8 1921 Packard Twin Six Model 3-35 Holbrook Open-drive Limousine ex A. Atwater Kent 1921 Wasp 1922 Ford Model T 1923 Brewster Brewster Knight Town Car 1923 Marmon Model 34 Boattail Speedster 1926 Hispano-Suiza H.6 Roadster 1927 Ford Model T 1927 Stutz Vertical Eight AA Bearcat 1928 Franklin Six Phaeton 1928 Hispano-Suiza H.6 Town Cabriolet

1929 Chevrolet International Coupe 1929 Duesenberg Model J. 1929 Packard Standard Eight Model 633 Convertible Coupe 1929 Pierce Arrow Convertible Coupe 1930 Cadillac V8 Series 355 Fleetwood Imperial 1930 Cord L-29 Cabriolet 1931 Ford Model A Roadster 1931 Lincoln Model K Convertible Coupe 1931 Rolls-Royce 20/25 hp tourer 1932 Nash Ambassador Eight 1933 Morgan threewheeler 1935 Packard One-Twenty Sedan 1936 Bentley 3½ Liter Sports Saloon 1936 Lagonda drop head coup 1937 Alvis Speed ​​20 1937 Chrysler Airflow 1938 MG VA Tourer 1939 Cadillac V16 Series 90 sedan 1939 Ford V8 Model 91A Convertible Coupe 1939 Graham Graham Model 97 Supercharger Sedan 1940 Buick Super Series 50 Convertible Coupe 1941 Ford Six Deluxe Woodie Wagon 1941 Lincoln Zephyr Convertible Coupe 1948 Tucker torpedo 1949 Allard P1 Roadster 1949 Triumph 2000 Roadster 1951 Studebaker Champion Coupe 1951 Talbot-Lago T.26 Record Cabriolet 1953 Chevrolet Two-Ten Convertible Coupe 1954 Buick Roadmaster Series 80 Convertible Coupe 1954 Chrysler Imperial Sedan 1954 Kaiser Darrin Convertible Coupe 1954 Mercury Monterey Sun Valley 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air Convertible Coupe 1955 Jaguar XK 140 OTS 1955 Messerschmitt KR 175 1955 Packard Caribbean Convertible Coupe 1955 Pontiac Chieftain 2 door hardtop 1957 BMW Isetta 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Convertible Coupe 1957 Chevrolet Corvette C1 1957 Dodge Royal 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner 1957 Ford Thunderbird 1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser

1958 Packard Hawk? 1958 Toyopet Crown Deluxe 1959 Edsel Corsair Convertible Coupe 1960 Chrysler 300F 1960 Mercedes-Benz 190 SL 1963 Chevrolet Corvette C2 1963 Leslie Special 1963 Pontiac Bonneville 1964½ Ford Mustang 1964 Chevrolet 1964 Studebaker Avanti R.2 Supercharged 1965 Chevrolet Corvette C2 1965 Chevrolet Corvair Monza Convertible 1967 Amphicar 1967 Citroen 2CV 1967 Mercedes-Benz 300 SE-C 1967 Roth Wishbone 1969 Chevrolet Corvette C3 1970 Lincoln Continental 1970 Plymouth Barracuda 1971 Dodge Charger R / T 1972 Mercedes-Benz 450 SL Cabriolet 1974 Volkswagen SP2 1974 Volkswagen Super 1974 Jensen Interceptor III 1974 Porsche 914 Targa Cabriolet 1976 Lincoln Continental Mark IV ex Elvis Presley 1976 American Motors AMC Gremlin X 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am 1978 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II Saloon ex BB King Bricklin SV-1 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 1982 Barister Corvette ex Liberace 1982 Maserati Quattroporte III 1983 Camarovette 1984 Aston Martin Lagonda 1985 Triton Aero Car 1986 Jaguar XJS 1994 Dodge Viper (driven 12 miles) 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid 2007 Chevrolet Corvette C6 2011 Toyota Corolla , built in Blue Springs , Mississippi 2014 Toyota Corolla, built in Blue Springs, Mississippi

Vehicles in italics will not appear on the museum's February 2019 inventory.

See also

• List of car museums

Web links

Commons : Tupelo Automobile Museum  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Bonhams: The Tupelo Automobile Museum Auction. (Accessed November 12, 2019)
• Sports Car Digest, May 13, 2019: Bonhams Tupelo Auto Museum - Auction Results. (Accessed November 12, 2019)
• Tupelo Auto Museum: Official Website. (Accessed February 24, 2019)
• Tupelo Auto Museum: Vehicle List. (Accessed February 24, 2019)
• Trombinoscar: Westcott 4-40 Roadster (1913) in the Tupelo Automobile Museum (French) (accessed February 17, 2019)
• Youtube, January 19, 2012, Tupelo Automobile Museum: Welcome Video. (Accessed February 18, 2019)
• Youtube, February 12, 2016 Tupelo Automobile Museum Tour. (Accessed February 18, 2019)
• Sean Szymkowski, motorauthority.com, February 12, 2019: An Aero Car, a Viper, and Elvis' Continental all part of 178-car museum auction. (Accessed February 24, 2019)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Tupelo Auto Museum: Official website.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Sean Szymkowski, motorauthority.com, February 12, 2019: An Aero Car, a Viper, and Elvis' Continental all part of 178-car museum auction.
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Tupelo Auto Museum: Official website; Vehicle list.
4. ↑ Trombinoscar: Westcott 4-40 Roadster (1913) in Tupelo Automobile Museum.
5. ^ Bonhams: The Tupelo Automobile Museum Auction.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Sports Car Digest: Bonhams Tupelo Auto Museum - Auction Results.