One of the items on this author’s bucket list was to visit Dearborn and experience The Henry Ford Museum of Innovation, which houses some pretty kool rides that are the seeds of our automotive culture. Many friends had made the trek, the opportunity came up, so I took it. Being in Michigan for the Woodward Dream Cruise is a great time to take a few extra days and experience The Henry Ford. The overall complex includes the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, Greenfield Village, and the Ford Rouge Factory Tour. On this visit, I limited myself to “The Henry Ford.” You would need a full week to take all of this in, and I wanted to do it over multiple visits to extend my bucket list, LOL.
The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation started from Henry Ford’s own collection of historical objects of merit, which he had been collecting since 1906. The museum contains automobiles, airplanes, trains, machinery, as well as many significant items from past eras. Yes, we had lunch at the diner on site in the midst of the automobile exhibition. No, they did not have no-calorie drinks as that wasn’t a thing back then, so I settled for water and lemonade. The lunch special is what you would have gotten in that era—ya gotta do this!
Being a motorhead and in Motor City, my focus on this visit was automobiles, and I got to see many kool rides. I saw Bill Elliott’s NASCAR car that went over 212 MPH at Talladega in 1987. The 1949 Volkswagen Beetle split window was sweet and most definitely a ride to have. If you like Model T’s, they had many examples, including an exploded view taken apart and hung in suspension so you could see each part—way kool. For my Deuce fans, they had a pristine ’32 Deuce Cabriolet in basic black; yes, it was a V8 flat motor car and would look good in my garage! It was also interesting to see the 1957 Cornell-Liberty Safety Car, which featured many things we now expect as standard equipment. If you like salt flats rides, they had two historically significant cars on display.
GT40s were well represented, with many past winners on display, including GT40 #1075, a two-time Le Mans winner, as well as the 1967 Le Mans–winning Ford GT40. A highlight was the clay model used to develop the GT40, complete with wrap-on parts to show how this was done back in the day. Yes, they also had a GT40 with an EcoBoost V6, which is the current version of the powerplant—OK, I get it!
If you think this museum is Ford-only, you are wrong. They have diversified the exhibits to include General Motors, Chrysler, Volkswagen, and many other manufacturers, so there is something for everyone regardless of your favorite. The museum is definitely something that needs to be on your bucket list, and it lived up to my expectations. My goal is to make it an annual trek to Motor City to see this gem as well as many others. On my list are the Gilmore Car Museum in Kalamazoo; Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit; R.E. Olds Transportation Museum in Lansing; Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn; Model A Ford Museum in Hickory Corners; and Packard Proving Grounds in Shelby Township, just to name a few. My bucket list goal is to come here once a year to explore and share our automotive history—it’s kool being a motorhead!
