There are places in America where time seems to have quietly agreed to stop moving. Chrome bumpers still catch the light, tailfins still sweep dramatically toward the ceiling, and wood-trimmed dashboards still tell stories of cross-country highways that once felt like the edge of the world.
These are not ordinary museums where you read a label and shuffle along. These are destinations where automotive history is preserved with genuine devotion, where entire buildings, streets, and even diners have been reconstructed around the vehicles they celebrate.
From a 90-acre campus in Michigan that feels like a small town built entirely for car lovers, to a Philadelphia institution where nearly every car in the collection still runs, these fourteen spots across the United States represent the very best places to spend an afternoon in another era. Each one is currently open to visitors, and each one earns every mile of the drive to get there.
1. Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum, Auburn, Indiana
The building itself is a National Historic Landmark, a 1930 Art Deco masterpiece designed by architect Alvin M. Strauss, where Auburn, Cord, and Duesenberg automobiles were once presented to buyers who expected nothing less than perfection.
More than 120 classic and special-interest vehicles fill three levels, displayed beneath original Art Deco chandeliers and sconces above gleaming terrazzo floors. Restored Auburn Automobile Company offices and engineering departments remain intact, offering a vivid picture of how a luxury car company actually operated.
A current 2026 exhibit, “Duesenberg: The Evolution of America’s Finest Motorcar,” brings together eight Duesenbergs and two engines, many never previously shown together. Another display features 150 curated hood ornaments and car mascots from 1911 to 1957.
Open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., this Indiana institution is one of the most accessible stops in automotive history.
2. National Automobile Museum, Reno, Nevada
Bill Harrah spent decades assembling what became one of the most remarkable private car collections in history, and Reno’s National Automobile Museum preserves a significant portion of that legacy with over 220 vehicles and a presentation style unlike any other.
Rather than rows of cars on a flat floor, the museum arranges its collection within recreated period street scenes, complete with cobblestones, storefront facades, and sounds that evoke specific decades of motoring history. James Dean’s 1949 Mercury Coupe, Elvis Presley’s 1973 Cadillac Eldorado, and the 1907 Thomas Flyer that won the legendary 1908 New York to Paris Race all share space here.
A gold-plated 1981 DeLorean greets visitors in the lobby, and a children’s center offers hands-on automotive activities. Audio tours are available in multiple languages, and the museum is open seven days a week.
3. America’s Packard Museum, Dayton, Ohio
The original 1917 Citizens Motorcar Company building still has its checkerboard floor, its large dealership windows, and the dignified atmosphere of a place where buying a new automobile was once treated as a formal occasion worth dressing up for.
Established in 1992 by collector Robert Signom II and continued by his son Robert Signom III, the museum holds the world’s largest public collection of Packard automobiles and artifacts, with over 50 vehicles spanning 1899 to 1958. Among the highlights is a rare 1930 Model 734 Boat-Tail Speedster, one of only 11 known survivors.
Packard is credited with multiple automotive firsts, including the first production car with air conditioning and the first use of a steering wheel instead of a tiller. No barriers surround the cars, so visitors can examine every detail up close.
Open most weeks Tuesday through Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.
4. Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles, Boyertown, Pennsylvania
Few museums can claim that the building is itself part of the collection, but the Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles occupies the original Boyertown Auto Body Works complex, where vehicle manufacturing continued on this site from 1872 all the way through 1990.
Founded in 1965, the museum focuses on Pennsylvania’s road transportation heritage, featuring over 90 locally built vehicles ranging from horse-drawn sleighs to steam-powered and early electric automobiles. A restored 1938 Reading Diner, a 1921 Sunoco Gas Station, and a 1920s tourist cabin create a roadside scene that feels genuinely preserved rather than reconstructed.
The original carriage factory still contains a functional belt-driven machine shop and a working blacksmith forge, providing rare context for how these vehicles were made. Unusual Pennsylvania-built rarities like a 1907 Dragon and a 1914 DILE appear alongside better-known classics.
Open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
5. Studebaker National Museum, South Bend, Indiana
The Studebaker family arrived in South Bend in 1851 and opened a blacksmith shop the following year, and the Studebaker National Museum traces everything that happened between that humble beginning and the very last car the company produced in 1964.
Over 120 vehicles are in the collection, with roughly 85 on display across three floors, organized chronologically from early wagons through postwar automobiles. The museum’s most extraordinary holding is the world’s largest collection of U.S.
Presidential Carriages, including the barouche Abraham Lincoln rode on the night of his assassination.
Military vehicles, corporate archives, interactive exhibits, and even Fozzie Bear’s car from “The Muppet Movie” fill out the three levels. A 2026 rotating exhibit, “Testing Tomorrow: The Proving Ground at 100,” runs through November.
Open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.
6. Northeast Classic Car Museum, Norwich, New York
What looks modest from the outside opens into 89,000 square feet of climate-controlled exhibition space across five connected buildings, housing more than 160 classic cars, motorcycles, and vintage vehicles that cover nearly a century of automotive production.
The museum’s crown jewel is the “Fabulous Franklins” gallery, which holds the world’s largest collection of Franklin automobiles, including the third Franklin ever built and the very last one produced. A dedicated “Cars Made in New York State” exhibit features locally built machines like the Pierce Arrow and the Norwich-made Chenango Camper.
Muscle cars, pre-war luxury vehicles, WWI and WWII aircraft engines, and period fashions complete the picture across multiple permanent galleries. The 2026 rotating exhibit, “American Iron: Red, White and Blue,” runs through May 2027.
Two vehicles are available for hands-on interaction, and wheelchairs and electric scooters are provided free. Open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
7. Gilmore Car Museum, Hickory Corners, Michigan
North America’s largest auto museum earns that title honestly, spreading across 90 acres of Michigan countryside with over 400 vehicles, eight restored 19th-century barns, and a fully functioning 1941 Blue Moon Diner relocated from Connecticut.
The campus includes a recreated 1930s Shell Gas Station displaying a vintage price of 18 cents per gallon, plus restored dealership showrooms representing Franklin, Model A Ford, Lincoln, and Cadillac from different decades.
A seasonal Model T Driving Experience lets guests take an authentic Tin Lizzie out on a three-mile guided road route, which is genuinely rare among American car museums. Rotating exhibits in 2026 include “GM Motorama Marvels” and “Defined by Design,” covering 120 years of automotive aesthetics.
Wednesday Night Cruise-Ins run regularly throughout the warmer months, drawing enthusiasts from across the region.
8. Volo Museum, Volo, Illinois
Four generations of the Grams family have turned what started as a second-hand store with a few Ford Model Ts into one of the most entertainingly unpredictable automotive attractions in the country, and the result is genuinely hard to categorize.
The Hollywood Collection alone justifies the trip, featuring screen-used vehicles from “Fast and Furious,” “Ghostbusters,” “Back to the Future,” “Grease,” and multiple Batmobiles, alongside celebrity cars including Elvis Presley’s 1974 Cadillac DeVille. Over 200 collector automobiles fill the main galleries, and many are available for purchase.
Beyond the cars, a 15,000-square-foot indoor animatronic dinosaur park, a Titanic experience, a military combat zone, vintage arcades, and a 300-vendor antique mall turn this into a full-day destination. Open daily year-round from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with last entry at 4 p.m.
Free parking is included.
9. Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Dr. Frederick A. Simeone spent more than 50 years collecting historically important racing sports cars with a single organizing principle: competition drives innovation, and the machines built for competition tell that story better than anything else.
The collection of approximately 60 to 85 vehicles spans 1908 to the mid-1970s, and roughly 95 percent of them retain original bodies and remain fully drivable. Cars are arranged in diorama vignettes recreating the actual race courses where they competed, including Le Mans, Nurburgring, Sebring, and the Mille Miglia.
Highlights include the psychedelic “Hippie” Porsche 917, the Cobra Daytona Coupe lost for 30 years before Simeone helped recover it, and a 1967 Ford GT40 MK IV preserved in unrestored race condition. “Demo Days” bring cars out into the parking lot for live demonstration runs. Open Tuesday through Sunday, with free parking always available.
10. Lane Motor Museum, Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville’s former Sunbeam Bakery building is now home to the largest collection of European automobiles in the United States, a fact that surprises many visitors who expected something a bit more predictable from a Tennessee car museum.
Founder Jeff Lane has spent decades seeking out vehicles defined by technical curiosity rather than mainstream appeal, assembling over 500 cars and 60 motorcycles, with about 150 to 200 on the main floor at any time. Microcars, amphibious vehicles, propeller-driven cars, and a remarkable collection of 23 Czech Tatras represent categories rarely seen elsewhere.
The 1967 Gyro X, a restored two-wheeled car estimated to cost $5 million to recreate today, is among the most captivating pieces. Weekend Vault Tours offer guided access to the basement storage area for an additional $10.
Vehicle demonstrations are free with admission every Saturday and Sunday at 11 a.m. Open five days a week, closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
11. LeMay, America’s Car Museum, Tacoma, Washington
Harold and Nancy LeMay once held the Guinness World Record for the largest privately owned automobile collection, and the museum built to preserve their legacy is itself an architectural statement, featuring one of the largest wood moment frames ever constructed.
The 165,000-square-foot facility uses gently sloped ramp galleries on four to five levels, allowing visitors a continuous uninterrupted walk through 350 to 450 vehicles without encountering stairs or elevators. Dark-stained concrete floors are designed to resemble roadways, reinforcing the driving theme throughout.
Permanent exhibits include “Custom Coachwork” with Duesenbergs and Packards, and a “Route 66” gallery celebrating the iconic highway. New 2026 exhibits include “The Birth of the American Supercar,” curated by Steve Saleen, and “British Bikes,” exploring Triumph, Norton, and BSA motorcycles.
Open Thursday through Monday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free parking is included with admission.
12. Newport Car Museum, Portsmouth, Rhode Island
Housed in a 114,000-square-foot former missile manufacturing facility that was completely gutted and rebuilt, the Newport Car Museum treats its collection of 90 to 100 automobiles not as historical artifacts but as individual works of modern industrial design.
Seven distinct galleries cover Corvettes from 1954 to the present, Ford and Shelby models including a rare 1965 Shelby 427 SC Cobra (one of only 31 sold to the public), World Cars ranging from a 1963 Mercedes-Benz 300SL to a 2019 McLaren Senna, and a Fin Cars gallery devoted to dramatic 1950s American styling. Mid-Century Modern furniture by Charles and Ray Eames is integrated throughout as seating.
No ropes surround any of the cars, and eight Playseat driving simulators offer a first session free with admission. “Hoods Up!” Weekends on the second Saturday and Sunday of each month reveal the engines. Open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
13. Savoy Automobile Museum, Cartersville, Georgia
The museum owes its name to a happy accident of construction: a rusted 1954 Plymouth Savoy was found half-buried on the site during the initial build, and rather than hauling it away, the founders preserved it and named the entire institution after it.
Opened in December 2021 and designed by the late Frank Bergman, the 65,000-square-foot main building features a towering Great Hall with floor-to-ceiling windows and five galleries, four of which rotate approximately 12 times per year. The campus spans 37 acres just off I-75 between Atlanta and Chattanooga, making it a natural road-trip stop.
Current 2026 exhibits include a NASCAR history display running through September, a Jeep evolution exhibit through November, and a National Historic Vehicle Register showcase beginning in September. Thirty original artworks are integrated throughout the galleries and cafe.
Open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
14. Swigart Antique Automobile Museum, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania
America’s oldest antique automobile museum traces its origins to 1920, when local businessman W. Emmert Swigart began collecting vehicles from companies he recognized were disappearing, driven by a conviction that these machines deserved to outlast the brands that built them.
The museum is the only institution in the United States where visitors can see two Tucker cars displayed side by side: the 1947 “Tin Goose” Prototype and production car number 1013. Other rarities include a 1936 Duesenberg 12-cylinder Gentlemen’s Speedster, a 1920 Carroll, and “Herbie the Love Bug,” a 1960 Volkswagen from the classic film series.
The museum also claims what are believed to be the world’s largest collections of automotive license plates and radiator emblems, covering U.S. states and long-forgotten manufacturers alike. Docents provide personal context for each vehicle.
Open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Memorial Day weekend through the end of October.
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