Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox museum
| name = Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| image = Ypsilanti_auto_heritage_museum.JPG
| caption = Main entrance
| alt =
| map_type = Michigan#USA
| map_caption =
| map_alt =
| coordinates = {{coord|42.24579|-83.60808|display=inline}}
| established =
| dissolved =
| location = 100 East Cross Street
Ypsilanti, Michigan 48198
| type = Automotive museum
| collection =
| visitors =
| director =
| president = Ron Bluhm
| publictransit =
| network =
| website = {{URL|https://ypsiautoheritage.org/|www.ypsiautoheritage.org}}
}}
The Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum in Ypsilanti, Michigan is an automotive museum that features cars assembled at the nearby Willow Run Plant and vehicles made by Hudson Motors.
The museum is an official site of the MotorCities National Heritage Area,{{citation |url= http://www.motorcities.org/Explore+Motorcities/Museums+and+Historic+Homes-19.html |title=Museums and Historic Homes |publisher=MotorCities National Heritage Area |access-date=2011-05-13}} which is "dedicated to preserving, interpreting and promoting the automotive and labor heritage of the State of Michigan."{{citation |url= http://www.motorcities.org/ |title=MotorCities National Heritage Area |publisher=MotorCities National Heritage Area |access-date=2011-05-13}}
Miller Motors
In 1916, Joseph H. Thompson opened a Dodge Brothers Motor Company dealership, possibly the first outside Detroit, in the north end of the Thompson Block.{{citation |url= https://aadl.org/ypsigleanings/35662 |title=The Thompson Block - Then and Now! |last=Mann |first=James |access-date=2022-05-16 |date=Winter 2009 |work=Ypsilanti Gleanings |publisher=Ypsilanti Historical Society |via=Ann Arbor District Library}} Soon after, Thompson moved his dealership across Cross Street, to the site of the museum.{{citation |url= http://www.annarbor.com/passions-pursuits/the-thompson-blocks-place-in-ypsilantis-history/ |title=The Thompson Block's place in Ypsilanti's history |last=Mann |first=James |access-date=2022-05-16 |date=2009-09-24 |website=AnnArbor.com |quote=In 1916, Joseph H. Thompson, grandson of Oliver, opened a Dodge dealership in the north end of the building. He operated here only a short time, before moving across the street to where Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum is today.}}
In 1927, Carl Miller opened a Hudson Sales and Service franchise on the site, and in 1955 the dealership was renamed Miller Motors, reflecting expanded product offerings. From 1927 until the Hudson Motor Car Company merged with the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation on May 1, 1954 to form American Motors Corporation (AMC), the dealership sold 1,969 new cars,{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/11/travel/driving-hudsons-survive-the-dealer-does-too.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |title=Driving; Hudsons Survive. The Dealer Does, Too. |last=Blumberg |first=George |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=2011-05-13 |date=2003-04-11}} and has retained and preserved all dealership records since opening. For about 20 years, Miller Motors continued as a used car and parts dealer specializing in Hudsons and Hudson parts. Before Miller Motors was bought and included as a feature of the museum, Miller Motors was "the place to go when
Museum
File:Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum May 2015 032.jpg
In the mid-1990s, Jack Miller, Paul "Skip" Ungrodt Jr, and Peter B. Fletcher opened the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum that included the Miller Motors building.{{citation |url= http://www.ypsiautoheritage.org/learnmore.htm |title=Learn more |publisher=Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum |access-date=2011-05-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110722010707/http://www.ypsiautoheritage.org/learnmore.htm |archive-date=2011-07-22 }}
The museum displays 30 cars.{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/automobiles/18MICHIGAN.html |title=In Michigan, Homage to the Auto’s Heritage |date=2010-07-16 |access-date=2011-05-13 |newspaper=The New York Times}} They range from a 1933 Hudson Terraplane K Series Coach to a 1991 Chevrolet Caprice police car that was manufactured at the nearby Willow Run Assembly Plant. The museum considers the "crown jewel" of their collection to be the 1952 Hudson Hornet, known as the Fabulous Hudson Hornet, owned by Herb Thomas when he won his second NASCAR Championship in 1953. The collection includes a Tucker automobile prop from the movie Tucker: The Man and His Dream. This is part of the Preston Tucker display as he was from Ypsilanti and did his engineering work a couple of blocks from the museum.{{cite web |last1=Lucsko |first1=David N. |title=Preston Tucker and His Battle to Build the Car of Tomorrow by Steve Lehto (review) |url= https://muse.jhu.edu/article/779224 |publisher=Michigan Historical Review |pages=91–92 |doi=10.1353/mhr.2017.0034 |date=2017 |access-date=May 16, 2022}} The museum collection also includes "advertising, service, repair, and promotional items that were essential to the automobile business" during the second quarter of the twentieth century.
The museum is open to visitors six days a week (closed Mondays), year-round, and sponsors Cruise Nights during the summer in Depot Town and their annual Orphan Car Show held in nearby Riverside Park.
Gallery
File:Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum August 2013 04 (1951 Henry J).jpg|1951 Henry J
File:Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum August 2013 07 (1953 Kaiser Traveler).jpg|1953 Kaiser Traveler
File:Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum August 2013 19 (1952 Hudson Hornet stock car).jpg|The "Fabulous Hudson Hornet"
File:Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum August 2013 24 (1960 Chevrolet Corvair).jpg|1960 Chevrolet Corvair
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- {{Official website|https://ypsiautoheritage.org/}}
{{Hudson Motors}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Automobile museums in Michigan
Category:Buildings and structures in Ypsilanti, Michigan
Category:Museums in Washtenaw County, Michigan
Category:Hudson Motor Car Company
Category:Former auto dealerships