Stahls Automotive Collection is a private automotive collection in

Chesterfield Township, Michigan Chesterfield Charter Township is a charter township of Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the township population was 37,405. The 2010 Census places the population at 43,381. The township was organized in 18 ...

, US. It is the personal collection of

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

native Ted Stahl, the chairman of fabric-based heat printer GroupeSTAHL in St. Clair Shores. The collection contains over 90 cars housed in a garage, most of which are from the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

era and the Great Depression. The collection focuses mostly on American cars, including former makes such as Auburn, Cord,

Duesenberg Duesenberg Automobile and Motors Company, Inc. was an American racing and luxury automobile manufacturer founded in Indianapolis, Indiana, by brothers Fred and August Duesenberg in 1920. The company is known for popularizing the straight- ...

Oldsmobile Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it pro ...

Pontiac Pontiac may refer to: *Pontiac (automobile), a car brand *Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief Places and jurisdictions Canada *Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality **Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic Di ...

, and Packard in addition to cars built by

Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed ...

, Chevrolet,

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automot ...

, and

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

. Stahls purchases vehicles largely based on their degree of innovative engineering and their importance to the development of automobile design. The oldest car in the collection is an 1899

De Dion-Bouton tricycle The De Dion-Bouton tricycle was the most successful motor vehicle in Europe from 1897 until 1901. With about 15,000 copies sold, the de-Dion-Bouton motor tricycle scored the first breakthrough for the distribution of motor vehicles. In particular ...

, and the first one that Ted Stahl purchased is a 1930 Ford Model A Roadster Deluxe. Among the most prominent cars in the collection are a 1934 Duesenberg Model J, a

Tucker 48 The Tucker 48, commonly referred to as the Tucker Torpedo, was an automobile conceived by Preston Tucker while in Ypsilanti, Michigan and briefly produced in Chicago, Illinois in 1948. Only 51 cars were made including their prototype before the c ...

, and a handful of cars built for films, such as ''

The Great Race ''The Great Race'' is a 1965 American Technicolor slapstick comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Natalie Wood, directed by Blake Edwards, written by Arthur A. Ross (from a story by Edwards and Ross), and with music by Henry Mancin ...

,'' ''

How the Grinch Stole Christmas ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas!'' is a Christmas children's story by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel written in rhymed verse with illustrations by the author. It follows the Grinch, a grouchy, solitary creature who tries to cancel Christmas by st ...

'', and ''

The Reivers ''The Reivers: A Reminiscence'', published in 1962, is the last novel by the American author William Faulkner. The bestselling novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1963. Faulkner previously won this award for his book ''A Fable'', ...

.'' In 2021, the collection acquired a

Chrysler Turbine Car The Chrysler Turbine Car is an experimental two-door hardtop coupe powered by a turbine engine and manufactured by Chrysler from 1963–1964. The bodywork was constructed by Italian design studio Carrozzeria Ghia and Chrysler completed the fina ...

, one of only nine to survive and one of only two in a private collection (the other belonging to

Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno (; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and actor. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Tonight Show'' from 1992 to 2 ...

). In addition to the cars, the collection also includes about 20 musical instruments, including a

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

theater pipe organ. There is a separate "music room" featuring

orchestrion Orchestrion is a generic name for a machine that plays music and is designed to sound like an orchestra or band. Orchestrions may be operated by means of a large pinned cylinder or by a music roll and less commonly book music. The sound is us ...

s and other automated musical instruments. The collection is open to the public at no charge on Tuesday afternoons, the first Saturday of each month, and every Thursday excluding the third Thursday during the summer. Regular events at the collection include an annual Autos for Autism fundraiser, which benefits the Ted Lindsay Foundation, and a

Veterans Day Veterans Day (originally known as Armistice Day) is a federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States observed annually on November 11, for honoring Veteran, military veterans of the United States Armed Forces (who ...

open house.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.stahlsauto.com/
Chesterfield: Stahls Automotive Collection
on ''Destination Michigan'' (

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of ed ...

) Private collections in the United States Automobile museums in Michigan Museums in Macomb County, Michigan