Lookout Mountain, CO., Car Museum

[Guest TuckerFan48]

Does anyone know of a Car Museum that was once located on Lookout Mountain near Golden Colorado? This would have been in the 60s or 70s. I know the Buffalo Bill Museum and the Colorado Railroad Museum are located there. Has either ever had a collection of rare classic cars?

Thanks in advance for any information or photos !

Edited August 24, 2010 by TuckerFan48 (see edit history)

[Amphicar BUYER]

I have lived here in Colo. (and for a time, I lived on Lookout Mtn) all my life. I have not heard of any car museum near Lookout Mtn. Do you have a name or maybe a more specific location? Lookout Mtn is mostly residential. The railroad museum is in Golden which lies at the foot of Lookout, The Buffalo Bill grave-site is not a museum. Could you be thinking of the Forney Transporttion museum in Denver?

[Dave Mellor NJ]

Maybe even Lookout Mountain,Chattanooga,Tennessee (near shorty's?)

[Guest CaptainGTX]

Am from Golden, CO, near Lookout Mountain. Probably the closest auto museum to Lookout Mountain is the Cussler Museum (author Clive Cussler's personal car collection) in Arvada, about 5 miles away as the crow flies. The museum is open during the summer months through September & is definately worth seeing. www.cusslermuseum.com

Edited August 22, 2010 by CaptainGTX (see edit history)

[wac]

Stan Francis, then co-owner of Golden Restoration in Golden, Colorado did have a museum near the summit of Lookout Mountain, CO in the early 1970's.

The museum was short-lived and he closed Golden Restoration, after his partner died, and moved to his present home in Howard, CO where he continued to restore cars until he "retired". He still has several cars and is revered by many in the car hobby for his skill and resourcefullness and as one of the nicest people you will ever meet.

[Guest TuckerFan48]

I found more information on the museum. A car owner mentioned in an article published in the fall of 1965 that he had purchased his car a few years ago from a Museum atop Lookout Mountain near Denver. The Museum was going out of business.

It may have been owned by Jack Brinkerhoff who operated a Car Museum on Lookout Mountain prior to the one located there in the 70s that was owned by Stan Francis.

This would put the operation of the Museum in the 1950s up to 1962-63.

Sorry I don't have more to go on but maybe this better timeframe will help.

Edited August 25, 2010 by TuckerFan48 (see edit history)

[Ginny]

I have also been searching for any information on this car museum. We have a 1916 Rauch & Lang that was said to have been purchased from this museum. If anyone has the contact information for former owners or employees, I would be very interested.

[Guest TuckerFan48]

I ran across a photo from 1955 for the Cody Inn. It has a sign on it that says Museum but its too small to blow up and see if it says what kind of Museum.

I spoke with Stan Francis who is a great guy but this was long before he had his museum there.

Several people remember it being there and also know about it selling off their collection when they went out of business. Someone must know who was running it or have some photos of the lovely vacation spot full of cars.

[Ginny]

I tried to contact the Colorado Historical Society to see if they may have any information, but their web site told me they will be closed until 2012. I also contacted the Buffalo Bill Museum to see if they had any information on their neighbor museum. Sadly no. Hopefully some other member will have some old photos of the place and the cars inside too. Finding an old photo of our car in the museum would be amazing.

[Guest TuckerFan48]

Sounds like nothing historical will happen in Colorado until 2012.

Several people had posted early that there was no car museum on Lookout Mountain but so far I've found three that were there. The one you and I are looking for was there in the late 50s and maybe until the early 60s.

It'll show up sometime

[West Peterson]

It may have been owned by Jack Brinkerhoff who operated a Car Museum on Lookout Mountain prior to the one located there in the 70s that was owned by Stan Francis.

I wonder if you mean Zack Brinkerhoff, who now lives in Denver.

[Ginny]

Do you know which fall issue this was? Sep/Oct, July/Aug?

[Guest TuckerFan48]

The article was in a St Louis newspaper. It was about the owner of one of the Tuckers and the owner just stated that he bought the car from a Museum on Lookout Mountain in Colorado that was going out of business a couple years ago. No other clues or statements were made about it.

I had also had second and third hand accounts from people that a previous owner had sold his Tucker to a Museum on Lookout Mountain. Both of these people owned the same car and there was an owner in between them. One says I sold my car to the Lookout Mountain Museum and the other says I bought my car from the Lookout Mountain Museum. Unfortunately we can't ask them personally anymore but it makes a good case for there being a Museum on Lookout Mountain that once owned a Tucker around 1960.

[Ginny]

Oh, thought you meant the Antique Automobile issue. Thank you for the clarification.

[Guest TuckerFan48]

The Tucker was there from 1958 to about 1961 or 1962 when the Museum was closed

[Guest 1916Davis]

Hello, I'm new to the forum, but maybe I can help you. Stan Francis is my father. He has boxes of old photos and slides and I might be able to find some from the museum.

Edited December 17, 2010 by 1916Davis (see edit history)

[Guest TuckerFan48]

You are one lucky person then. I spoke with Stan a few months back and he is a great guy. I found his museum on Lookout was there about 10 years after the one we are looking for. The one we're trying to find was there from about 1958 to early 1962. Maybe he'll remember more about who might have been up there prior to him.

[Guest 1916Davis]

Yes, he is a great guy. I asked him about it this morning and he remembers a Tucker, but he didn't remember much as it belonged to someone else. I'll ask if he remembers a prior museum.

Edited June 7, 2012 by 1916Davis (see edit history)

[Guest TuckerFan48]

It appears the Colo Auto Museum Inc. was located at 512 Lookout Mountain Road from 1958 to 1959. It was owned by Arthur H. Christiansen from Denver. They had some rare cars including Tucker #1036 there. The cars were auctioned off after it closed down.

Does anyone remember being there in 1958 or 1959?

[Guest Number3rules]

A friend of mine's uncle owned the AR Cheek Car Museum on Lookout Mountain, Denver Colorado. It was across the street from the old Buffalo Bill Museum. All his cars (about 35) were in number 1 condition, running, and he did all his own work in the back shop. The cars were sold by him when he closed the museum with some of them going to Harrah's, some going to Knott's Farm and some to the Forney museum here in Denver. My friend and I went to Forney's last Saturday, and none of the cars are there anymore, but one of the volunteers remembered all Mr. Cheek's cars and confirmed my friend's story with first hand accounts that matched word for word. I also just found an old book, dated 1964, that was a tour magazine for the AR Cheek museum, on Ebay, and bought it for my friend as an early B-day present. There are sure to be other copies of this out there as well. I believe this could be the museum the original poster asked the question about.

[Guest Rob W.]

Hello,

I'm new to this Forum, but noticed this thread about a Museum on Lookout Mountain in the 1950s, which I remember. I visited it as a child, with my family, and recall the sale of its contents (about winter 1958/9, I think it was). Among its exhibits, there was a beautiful Conestoga wagon, and many other mementoes of the Old West. The automobiles I do not particularly remember, alas, but I wheedled my parents into buying some pieces from the collection: a fine big ox-yoke, a couple old farming implements, some Indian artifacts, an early wax cylinder gramaphone machine, a Model 1860 Colt .44 revolver, several "Fraternal" swords, an old railroad lantern and a single-seat Studebaker "buggy" and probably a few more pieces. All of these I still have; I wish I knew more about their provenance.

There used to be a pretty extensive antique auto museum in Estes Park in those days, too. Does anyone have more information about it? Thanks.

[nick8086]

What about this one in CO.

http://www.allenuniqueautos.com/tammy-allen

[Guest Rob W.]

Wow! Thank you.

[Binger]

This Is an OLD thread But so the story goes I believe my 1914 buick came out of that Museum. I believe the previous owner purchased it from this place when it was closing. he kept the car in his collection until his death in the late '80s. That is when my dad bought the car from his daughter. There is a great one in Longmont Co that I have visited. There are many brass era cars in it. Here is a link. http://www.bouldercounty.org/os/culture/pages/doughertymuseum.aspx

[Guest Rob W.]

Thank you.

[Guest 1931PlymouthPA]

As Number3Rules noted, the A R Cheek museum was located near Lookout Mountain. We visited a number of times in 62ish time frame. I know I have a number of pics from there, bit only one handy is of me standing by a Rolls Royce once owned by Jack Dempsey.

[BrassEraAuto]

I wad on Amazon once and I saw a book about the A.R. Cheek Display but it wasn't for sale.

[Terry Wiegand]

Would this be the booklet that you were referring to?  I have had this since 1960 and it is not for sale either.

 

Terry Wiegand

South Hutchinson, Kansas

[BrassEraAuto]

YES! THAT'S IT! THANK YOU! This makes me exited because I live in Colorado myself so I'm always looking for new museums here.

Edited June 27, 2019 by BrassEraAuto (see edit history)

[Terry Wiegand]

This booklet is small enough to scan easily.  I could scan it for you and send the images to you if that would be of help for you.  When the museum closed I think the cars were scattered all over the country.  I do not know what year that was either.

 

Terry Wiegand

South Hutchinson, Kansas

[BrassEraAuto]

That is very nice of you to send pictures I would love that. That would help me a lot because I know some of the cars in the Forney Museum and I could see if any of the cars from this museum ended up in the Forney Museum.

[Connor Edson]

Would it be possible for me to get a scan of the pictures as well from that book? I live on Lookout Mountain Road, and believe that this Lot in the picture below might have used to be this museum.