Located in the south of Tacoma and just an hour away from Seattle, LeMay’s America’s Car Museum has over 300 classics on display from around the world. The main level has red Alfa Romeos, then you corkscrew your way down three floors before coming back up. The sloped design of the galleries not only feels continuous (like the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart), but it also makes it easy to move inventory.
The cars on display come from the private collections of many families in the Pacific Northwest and donations. It takes visitors through the history of cars and motor transportation infrastructure from Route 66 to the proliferation of hybrid-electric vehicles. There are a lot of German and Italian imports in addition to American cars, but I would’ve liked to see Soviet cars and analysis on their mechanical differences from western cars of the era. That and the iconic Tucker 48.
I found the interpretations thin on general car history. The individual plaques tell visitors about why the specific car was important for its time, but don’t compare it to newer or older model years. For example, two Ford Thunderbirds were placed next to each other, one from 1957 with dual headlights and another from 1958 with four headlights. However, the signs didn’t mention that federal regulations changed in 1957 to allow four headlights on cars. There was also a 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona from NASCAR, but it didn’t explain that NASCAR entrants had to be homologated, explaining why the showroom version also had a giant rear spoiler.
This is clearly a museum for car enthusiasts. Those in the know will have a smashing time there, but the moms and nephews who get dragged along would wish the gift shop was larger. Car museums shouldn’t only be for car enthusiasts, they should also inspire new ones.
