Volo Auto Museum

Terry and I continue to check off items on our List of Things to Do Over Christmas Break. There’s nothing especially Christmassy about the Volo Auto Museum except that we had a buy one/get one coupon for admission (a $15 savings!) that expired on December 31. We set off in heavy fog Thursday morning, driving 45 minutes to Volo, IL, where the museum is located. The parking lot was mostly deserted. We wandered around a bit before discovering the main entrance. In fact, there were arrows everywhere, and I’m sure the staff members slap themselves in the forehead every time somebody asks where they can get tickets. I know the feeling. No matter how much effort you put into making something as obvious as it can be…

We got not only wrist bands, but a map and a Souvenir Yearbook ($5.95 value, according to the cover) with our paid admission. The first room we came to was the Dusenberg room. I would have sworn I took a picture of one of these fabulous cars, but when I downloaded them, it was conspicuously absent. You’ll have to Google it. Duesenbergs are very elegant and luxurious. Think of some filthy rich person in the Roaring 20’s, and this would be their car.

In the Duesenberg room and here and there in other locations, there were automated musical instruments. Here is a Mortier Dance Organ, built in 1947 for the Crystal Palace. It didn’t say which Crystal Palace. The only one I know of was in London, and it burned down in 1936. It was not until I was looking through my pictures that I noticed that one can request a free demonstration. Perhaps next time.

Art Deco Mortier Dance Organ

There was a replica of the first automobile in that same room, patented by Carl Benz in 1886. The car had a single-cylinder gas motor, and could go 8 mph. No original cars exist today. Daimler-Benz had a limited number of replicas made to celebrate the 100^th anniversary in 1986.

Replica 1886 Benz automobile

We passed through a walkway to Building 1 on the map. I took this picture from the Photo Op location indicated on the map. 

Building 1 Showroom

I had not realized that most of the floor space of the Volo Auto Museum is actually a showroom for vintage cars. The Souvenir Yearbook said that they sell almost 2000 cars a year. If they sell cars every day they are open (which is all days except Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas), that averages out to 5.5 cars/day. Amazing. I would not have thought there were that many people interested. Someone with a car to sell can take a cash payment, put it on consignment (with a fee of only 2% of sale price), or trade it in on another car.  

Terry was like a kid in a candy shop. He loved that every car had a price on it. Two prices, actually—a list price and a lower “no haggle” price. Some were worth more than he figured, others were, in his opinion real bargains. He walked from one car to another narrating when he or one of his friends had owned a car just like it.

Corvette Sting Ray from the late 60's (Bobby L. and Larry S. had cars like this.)

1957 Ford "Not nearly as desirable as a '57 Chevy" according to Terry

I wandered down a side hallway with antique arcade machines in apparently working order.

Arcade machines

We took a side trip to the military exhibit (Building 14). The most fascinating thing I saw was this little scooter with extraordinarily tiny tires, the Cushman Model 53 Airborne. 

Cushman Model 53 Airborne

It was dropped from planes by parachute for land transport of paratroopers and their stuff during World War II. I wonder how long it took the troops to find the scooters on the ground and if anyone was injured by having a scooter fall on him. Delivery was probably a bit tricky. It was stunning evidence of how much smaller people were 75 years ago. I could not image a 200-pound person on a scooter this size.

We went back through Building 1 to Building 2, the Hollywood Car Exhibit. This middle of this Building was also cars for sale, and the Hollywood cars were around the outside. On one end was one of the original fiberglass Pep Boys rooftop statues. Built in the 1930’s, it is only one of six statues ever made.

Rare Pep Boys rooftop statue

A nice feature of the Hollywood cars was that there was a monitor above the car showing video clips of the car in the movie or TV show. This was good for me because I don’t get out much and was totally unfamiliar with many of the movies. The bad part was that throughout the museum, the noise made my ears hurt. Loud music was everywhere, and the sounds of the movies (or bombs, as in the military exhibit) were cranked up so they could be heard above the music. Here you can see the monitor above the car from the Dukes of Hazzard.

Car from the Dukes of Hazzard with video above

Here is Luke Skywalker’s little transporter from Star Wars.

A vehicle from Star Wars

A side room on our way to Building 3 had a display of early snowmobiles, including this converted Model T.

An early snowmobile has skis instead of wheels in front

Building 3 was the “Bizarre Car Exhibit,” but it too had a lot of movie or TV vehicles, such as the 1966 Batmobile.

1966 Batmobiled

And Elvis Presley’s 1974 custom made Cadillac that he personally drove back and forth between Graceland and the airport.

Elvis Presley's Custom Cadillac

 Wait a minute—the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll drove a…a…station wagon? How uncool. He had to have it custom made because Cadillac didn’t make a wagon, and he needed the room for his equipment and sequined jackets. It has only 8000 miles on it, but that’s a lot of trips to the airport.

I had a photo opportunity with the Simpsons outside Building 4, Treasures of the Vault/Kids Exhibits. I didn’t sit down because the bench was wet.

Hanging with the Simpsons

One of the first exhibits was a replica of an 1885 Daimler Motorcycle. 

The first "true" internal combustion motorcycle, the 1885 Daimler.

Note that it is made of wood. The original burned up in a fire. It was the first motorcycle to have a one cylinder internal combustion engine. Like the 1886 Benz auto, its top speed was 8 mph. The plaque described the ride as “bone-crunching.”

Previous attempts at motorcycles were steam powered bicycles, also wooden. There was an example of one of those as well, with a small boiler under the seat (ouch! Wouldn’t that be hot?)

Steam-powered bicycle

Next we passed through a hallway of historic pedal cars (left) and cute little scooters (right).

Pedal cars, left; scooters, right

I loved the pink “Kidallac,” which even has a side rearview mirror.

Pink Kidillac pedal with side mirror

The pedal car hallway opened on the Classic Kiddie Rides, all apparently in working order with a change machine standing by. Here Terry is looking at a small carousel.

Kiddie rides

This picture shows a ride on Superman’s back, a knight’s horse “Lancer” and “Ride with Geronimo,” Geronimo included.

Superman, Lancer, Geronimo

This is the car from the Cat in the Hat movie.

Car from The Cat in the Hat

And the movie version of the Flintstones. Terry noticed right away that it was not powered by feet as in the cartoon.

Flintstones

There were a couple of places that had Disneyland Toy Factories. I have not been to Disneyland, but Chicago’s Museum of Science Industry had similar plastic-injection molds for sale, and I begged my way to having more than one. I am certain it was not $5 at the time. Probably closer to 50¢. This one was out of order anyway.

Disneyland Toy Factory

Herbie the Love Bug had a motion sensor that lit up his eyes and dropped his front bumper as we approached. This car was from a sequel, Herbie Fully Loaded.

Herbie Fully Loaded

Herbie was the start of several Disney displays that had been made for parades and whatnot. I was not particularly interested, not being the target audience.

In between the rides and the Disney stuff were the Treasures of the Vault, i.e., cars of modern day filthy rich people, such as Princess Diana and Oprah Winfrey. I was underwhelmed. Sure, they were Rolls Royces, Mercedes, and Vipers, but they just looked like ordinary cars. If I am every filthy rich, I’m getting me a Duesenberg.

At the end of the hall, however, was my hero, SpongeBob SquarePants.

Me with my buddy, SpongeBob

I was getting tired, but we took one quick spin through the history of camping trailers and mobile homes, beginning with the 1949 Spartan. 

The 1949 Spartan Motorhome

It started out as a special order from a wealthy Texan, but the company went out of business. One of the employees bought it unfinished and fixed it up for his own family. The story turned out to be a common one. After a vacation, the bus was parked, the owner died, and there it sat until the family that owns the museum bought it in 2016.

Spartan interior

We went through a small building with a covered wagon and a chuck wagon with LOUD narration of life on the prairies. That led to a small overnight cabin and then to a building with early travel trailers, such as the 1932 “Covered Wagon,” also parked in a barn and abandoned in 1939. The curtains, beds, floors, and wood-burning stove are all original.

Kitchen of the 1932 Covered Wagon with original floors and curtains

Sitting area of the Covered Wagon

And then there were the early RVs. This boxy looking thing is a 1928 Ford House Car, the first motorhome, built by Henry Ford.

1928 Ford House Car

Interior of Ford House Car

It was lunch time. We went to Show Biz Pizza for something to eat. We could get anything we wanted as long as we wanted sausage pizza, cheese pizza, nachos, or a smoothie. And there was only one piece of sausage pizza left. Terry took that; I was fine with cheese. There were only two other people there. Terry got to fretting that they were going to run out of pizza when two grandparents showed up with a grandchild. Only one piece of cheese pizza left!

Someone must have asked for the free demo. A player piano started playing. Note at the top (above the pipes) that the music is on an extremely long piece of paper that unwinds at the left and piles up willy-nilly on the right. It was hard to imagine that it didn’t get tangled, but it all seemed to go off without a hitch. I liked the stained glass parrot chandelier also.

Player piano with wad of music at the top

Two more “animatronic stage shows” played as well. One of them was a pirate, his mate, and a parrot, which cost $385,000 to build and was totally not worth the money, if you asked me.

It was fun. We didn’t see nearly everything. There were outdoor displays and antique malls that we skipped. Perhaps another day.