<– Day 44 – Sun. June 16th: Escaping the Rain to Packard-ville | Trip Overview | Day 46 – Tues. June 18th: Shabu Shabu and Pipes –>

Steve and I outside Schoops for lunch in Warsaw, Indiana

On Monday June 17th, we decided to attempt three car museums in Indian within a single day. I’m happy to report that my wife was receptive to the idea and our adventure did not end in divorce!

On Monday June 17th we drove from Auburn, Indiana, to Chicago, Illinois.

The first two museums, the National Automobile and Truck Museum of the United States, also known as NATMUS, and the Auburn, Cord, Deusenberg Museum, were started by the same person in Auburn, Indiana.

Given they are essentially on the same campus, at least it seemed that way to me, you might think the two would offer a joint ticket package or jointly advertise. Instead, each barely mentioned the other on their respective websites. In fact, we only discovered the NATMUS after arriving to see the Auburn Cord museum on Sunday evening (but we arrived too late to get in).

The NATMUS building is in the distance, while the ACD museum is to the right.

Having mapped out our strategy, on Monday morning we began with the NATMUS, because it opens at 9am (the Auburn, Cord doesn’t open until 10am). Active Military get in free, which saved us some dollars.

The collection can be roughly divided into three sections. The first area is filled with toys of different sizes. While they were neat, we’d certainly seen more at the Antique toy and Fire Truck Museum.

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<– Day 43 – Sat. June 15th: The Crowds Arrive; As Does a Storm | Trip Overview | Day 45 – Mon. June 17th: Three Museums & Steve –>

Me and Mr. Packard @ the Packard Museum.

On Saturday night, June 16th, we drove to Niles Ohio to spend the night. On Sunday we’d eventually reach Auburn, Indiana.

On Saturday night we drove from Cooper’s Lake, Pennsylvania, to Niles, Ohio. Sunday we drove from Niles to Auburn, Indiana.

We began with a leisurely morning, as the National Packard Museum in Warren, Ohio, didn’t open until 1pm on Sundays. Once ready to go, it was a short drive to the museum. It’s located in Warren because that’s where the first Packards were produced. In 1903, the company moved to Detroit.

Upon our arrival, one of the docents at the museum explained its history. The museum was started by a man (who’s name slipped into and right out of my memory) in Warren who couldn’t fit his Packard into a place he owned in Warren. He was a friend of the mayor, who managed to find a run-down building for the man in 1990 and arranged to have it leased to the man for $1 for 40 years. That’s not a bad price!

The man was able to fix up the place on the cheap, but it was more of a storage space than a museum space. Then, in 1999, the Packard Automobile Club descended upon the space to celebrate the 100th year of the Packard. A great party took place for a week. By the time the revelers left, 5 more Packards filled the building. Afterwards, steps were taken to turn the space into a formal museum.

Here are some pictures from the museum:

The outside of the Packard Museum.

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