The Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum in

Ypsilanti, Michigan Ypsilanti (), commonly shortened to Ypsi, is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 20,648. The city is bounded to the north by Superior Township and on the west, south, an ...

is an automotive museum that features cars assembled at the nearby

Willow Run Willow Run, also known as Air Force Plant 31, was a manufacturing complex in Michigan, United States, located between Ypsilanti Township and Belleville, built by the Ford Motor Company to manufacture aircraft, especially the B-24 Liberator hea ...

Plant and vehicles made by

Hudson Motors The Hudson Motor Car Company made Hudson and other branded automobiles in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., from 1909 until 1954. In 1954, Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator to form American Motors Corporation (AMC). The Hudson name was continued through ...

. The museum is an official site of the

MotorCities National Heritage Area MotorCities National Heritage Area or Motor Cities National Heritage Area is a federally designated National Heritage Area that commemorates and promotes the automobile industry in Metro Detroit, with portions of 16 counties in southern Michigan, ...

, which is "dedicated to preserving, interpreting and promoting the automotive and labor heritage of the State of Michigan."

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. Soon after, Thompson moved his dealership across Cross Street, to the site of the museum. 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, 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 udson owners/nowiki> needed clutch oil or touch-up paint, or wanted to buy or sell a Hudson." Former Museum Curator, Jack Miller, was known as an authority on restoring Hudson cars and the history of Hudson cars.

Museum

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. The museum displays 30 cars. They range from a 1933

Hudson Terraplane The Terraplane was a car brand and model built by the Hudson Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, between 1932 and 1938. In its maiden year, the car was branded as the Essex-Terraplane; in 1934 the car became simply the Terraplane. They were ...

K Series Coach to a 1991

Chevrolet Caprice The Chevrolet Caprice is a full-sized automobile produced by Chevrolet in North America for the 1965 to 1996 model years. Full-size Chevrolet sales peaked in 1965 with over a million sold. It was the most popular car in the U.S. in the 1960s ...

police car that was manufactured at the nearby

Assembly Plant A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

. 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 Herbert Watson Thomas (April 6, 1923 – August 9, 2000) was a stock car racer who was one of NASCAR's most successful drivers in the 1950s. Thomas was NASCAR's first multi-time Cup Champion. Background Born in the small town of Olivia ...

when he won his second NASCAR Championship in 1953. The collection includes a Tucker automobile

prop A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinc ...

from the movie '' Tucker: The Man and His Dream''. This is part of the

Preston Tucker Preston Thomas Tucker (21 September 1903 – 26 December 1956) was an American automobile entrepreneur. He is most remembered for his Tucker 48 sedan, initially nicknamed the "Tucker Torpedo", an automobile which introduced many features ...

display as he was from Ypsilanti and did his engineering work a couple of blocks from the museum. 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 Depot Town is a commercial area, with some residences above storefronts, in Ypsilanti, Michigan's historic district. Depot Town proper consists of East Cross Street from the Huron River to North River Street, and a small area on the 300-block ...

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 The Chevrolet Corvair is a compact car manufactured by Chevrolet for model years 1960–1969 in two generations. A response to the Volkswagen Beetle, it remains the only American-designed, mass-produced passenger car with a rear-mounted, air- ...

References

External links

* {{authority control Automobile museums in Michigan Ypsilanti, Michigan Museums in Washtenaw County, Michigan Hudson Motor Car Company Former auto dealerships

Miller Motors

Museum

Gallery

See also

References

External links