Chrysler Museum officially closed 12/18

[John348]

Ironically with all of the museum talk on the site in over the past few days I had just read in Hemmings Classic Car that the Fiat/Chrysler Corporation has closed the Chrysler Museum on 12/18/2016. It was open over the past few years on a limited basis for special occasions. The structure is going to be repurposed and the contents to other company facilities. I was there about 12 years ago it was pretty neat place. I bought a car two years ago in Lansing and on the way up we were planning to visit, nobody even answered the phone Sad when the company's themselves have no interest in preserving and showcasing their own history 

[RPrice]

I guess we all knew that was coming.

Rog

[Frantz]

The story of Chrysler is such an interesting one to tell too. Talk about a diverse number of sub-stories to have as a rolling exhibit.

Walter P himself, His days with GM, Willies and Maxwell. The Desoto and Imperial. Zeder, Skelton, and Breer. The acquisition of Dodge Brothers (and their earlier production of Ford and assembled car parts). War production. Exner. AMC acquisition and it's history. Overseas partnership. Iaccoca. Merger of Equals. Fiat. That's just what comes to mind quick to me. 

Open for special events only reminds me of our local (state capital no less!) newspaper. They only publish a few days a week now, and for some reason, that didn't increase sales. Same with the notion of ending Saturday deliveries for USPS when I'm getting packages from other people on Sunday now! You can't self limit your market like that.

[keiser31]

Yep....I was lucky to have visited it in 2014 for the Dodge Brothers Centennial celebration. I have been there a few times and it was always a great display selection.

[Xander Wildeisen]

Great picture of the outside.The Hudson is a rare one, sad that it closed down. 

[John_S_in_Penna]

Museums require quite a bit of money to keep open,

and I guess that, to the Italian parent company, Fiat, 

the decades-old American automotive past is pretty remote.

 

I suppose the museum is sort of an American step-child

which Fiat inherited, but doesn't know how to relate to.

 

[JACK M]

18 hours ago, John348 said:

 Sad when the company's themselves have no interest in preserving and showcasing their own history 

 

In the business world its all about the money.

Todays money.

[jeff_a]

Old Walter P. went a long way from introducing a new company in January, 1924 to being one of the larger automakers. He sold 19,960 Chryslers his first year. Maybe the historical collection will reappear as something open to the public in another building.

Edited December 22, 2016 by jeff_a (see edit history)

[NTX5467]

The FACT the museum existed past the Daimler Years is amazing!  Prior to that, there was ONE man who kept it going until the current museum was built.  Quire a story!  About how he single-handedly saved the whole shebang from being sold off in the later 1970s, when corporate finances were faltering!  So the story goes, he moved the filing cabinets "off premises" himself to a safe location HE controlled.  The guards on the gates allegedly knew him and didn't question him, tacit approval of sorts. After things got back to normal, in the 1990s, when word of the museum being built, he returned it from his "safe keeping" venue.

 

When we went to the Buick Centennial in 2003, several of us "snuck off" to the Chrysler Museum on afternoon.  Stopped to eat at Kip's Big Boy, too!  The museum did not disappoint!  A great venue for displays and also could host car club meetings in a special area.  Dang neat!

 

And in the basement, "Boss Chrysler's Garage", is were the newer collector cars were stored.  Plus an engine dyno panel!  HUGE!  Then, one night, some enterprising employees got the idea record each of the hot rods down there, starting and running.  So, after closing time, they did that.  When the cleaning crew came through, it was "hydrocarbon city" down there.  They later made a CD of those sounds, which was sold in the main floor's gift shop.  I have one!

 

The Chrysler Employees' car group had yearly shows up there, which were greatly-attended and supported.  The Daimler years tended to put a dent in things, I suspect.  That was probably when the attendance decreases started?  The museum was usually staffed with volunteers and part-time employees.  Some retired from Chrysler.  They also sold memberships (with benefits including reduced-rate admission fees). 

 

I suspect that when Chrysler has so many popular and high-selling vehicles in the 1990s, museum attendance was at its highest.  Many were concerned about Daimler "doing something with it", but that didn't seem to happen.  With FCA, Sergio seems to be on some "repositioning" mission with plants and facilities.

 

In the later 1980s, there was a Chrysler television ad where a big double door opened to reveal a large room full of cars.  Several cars were the focus of the camera, individually, as the commentator mentioned the many engineering and safety advances which Chrysler had made in its earlier history, ending with a Chrysler K-car as the first car to offer standard driver's-side inflatable restraint system.  Key word is "standard"!  It was a great commercial and one which would make you proud to own a Chrysler product with that sort of historic background.

 

Later magazine articles, mentioning newer vehicles and how aspects of their designs were inspired when the younger designer went to "the collection" and looked at the vehicles there.  Probably a similar, if not the same, group of cars in a warehouse somewhere.  Obviously, Ford and GM have similar?

 

That was a great afternoon we spent at the Chrysler Museum!  In the upstairs theatre they had a corporate heritage (engineering, design, and performance) film on the screen.  Such a neat place that's now going to be something else!  A great venue for a car show, too!  Of which there were many!!

 

NTX5467

 

 

[Larry Schramm]

GM has the Heritage Center where they keep their collection. It is just a couple of miles north of the GM Technical Center in Warren.  It is only open by invitation and special events.

 

I actually went to the museum the last day it was open.  A lot of others had the same idea. I have been there before but it is always a good tour to see the cars and exhibits.