Museum on Wheels
Vintage Automobile Museum of New Jersey
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Museum on Wheels |
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HISTORY ON WHEELS ANTIQUE AUTOMOBILE DISPLAY
Background:
Members of the Vintage Automobile Club of Ocean County are working to establish New Jersey’s first antique automobile museum. Although there are museums and attractions throughout New Jersey that have a number of antique cars, there isn’t one true antique car museum in the entire state. Once built, the Vintage Automobile Museum of New Jersey’s goal will be to provide a facility that will display, preserve and educate the public about the automobile and how it shaped the growth of this country. In the interim, the members of the organization have a “museum on wheels” that visits schools, health care facilities and public functions to provide these opportunities.
The Display:
Initially working with the Humanities Department at Southern Regional High School, we developed a program that brings samples of automobiles from each decade from the teens through the 1970’s. As each class moves from decade to decade during a typical school period, the owners of the vehicles make a 5 or so minute presentation explaining how the automotive industry during each era was impacted by or how it impacted industry, society and government at that time. The owners also talk about their specific automobile, which provides a very tangible exhibit of how automotive technology progressed over the years. As we have seven decades of automobiles represented, it is possible to handle as many as seven classes at a time keeping the groups small and manageable and affording all the students the opportunity to get a close look at the cars. At the end of each segment, the class moves to the next decade and the process is repeated.
Some examples of vehicles we have available for display are:
1957 Mercury Monterey 1917 Model T Pickup 1958 Packard 1917 Reo 1959 Ford Fairlane 1917 Stanley Steamer 1960 Pontiac Bonneville 1926 Model T Runabout 1960 Desoto Adventurer 1927 Buick Master 6 1960 Lincoln Convertible 1931 Franklin 1962 Chevrolet Corvette 1931 Model A Ford 1965 Chevelle Malibu 1931 Cadillac V-16 1966 Buick Electra 225 1937 LaSalle Touring Sedan 1966 Rambler Classic 770 1940 Ford Tudor Sedan 1966 Mustang 2+2 1941 Chevrolet Special Deluxe 1966 Thunderbird 1948 Chevrolet Fleetline 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle 1956 Chevrolet Belair 1972 Mercury Comet 1957 Chevrolet Belair 1972 Buick Centurion Convertible 1957 Thunderbird 1972 Cadillac Eldorado ConvertiblePreparation:
We have found that students gain more from our presentation if they have discussed the automobile in American History before viewing our display. We request that teachers advise their students that they are not to touch the cars or get in them unless invited to do so by the owners. Teachers of students who are not scheduled to attend should take careful attendance to prevent "crashing" the show.
What We Require:
A clear parking area approximately 40 feet wide by 250 feet long. We generally have two cars from each decade parked next to each other and a gap of about 20 feet between them and the next group. This gives us room for the students to walk around the cars comfortably and enough space between each group such that the presenters do not drown each other out. We found that small groups work better than one large one, so we suggest the teacher escort his or her class to a given decade and, at the end of each presentation, move on to the next group. At Southern Regional, we had a whistle blown at the end of each time segment to keep everyone moving.
There is no charge for this program, but we appreciate having some coffee and donuts or bagels etc. when we arrive and set up and some lunch. Southern Regional gave each of the presenters a chit to get a free lunch in the cafeteria, which worked very well. Security is very important, as many of these vehicles are quite rare and valuable. Arrangements should be made with security to clear the parking area for our arrival and to watch the cars especially during lunch.
If you are interested in availing your students of this opportunity, please contact the undersigned to arrange a date. We suggest sometime in the late spring when the weather is nice and that a rain date also be considered.
Dennis Derion Or David DiEugenio 732-341-3582 609-971-8020 Email: Derions@comcast.net ddieugenio@comcast.net
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