Car Museums in Tacoma: Which is Better?

[Harold]

We'll be visiting our son in Seattle and want to visit a car museum while there.  From what I can tell, there are two large collections in Tacoma, the America's Car Museum and the Lemay Marymount.  We have one weekend afternoon free (about 4 hours) and I'm wondering which might be the more interesting place to go.  Any ideas appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Harold

[JACK M]

Both the Americas museum and the Lemay Marymount are good displays.

They are both Lemay affiliated. Harold Lemay is gone now but he was the local trash collector in the area and has all kinds of collections on display at Mary mount and his residence.

Personally I would choose the Marymount for its down home feel rather than the more regimented showing at the Museum.

You missed it this year but well worth seeing is the one day a year that the Marymount and the family home are open at the same time. The family home is a hoot, you wont believe what you are looking at. It is the rare one day a year that this happens.  Shuttle buses run all day between Marymount and the home.

[8E45E]

The one in Tacoma is arguable better organized, but the 'family' museum in Marymount has a far more interesting selection of vehicles.

 

The museum in Marymount, one is led around by a guide who takes the group to the outbuildings and passes along information about the individual cars.  I was a little disappointed about the one guide's lack of knowledge, and some inaccurate statements.  At one point, he stated the Gremlin was based on the Hornet 'station wagon' which it was not.  (The Gremlin came out on April 1st, 1970 as a 1970 model; the Hornet Sportabout was introduced as a 1971 model in September, 1970.)  Another error he made was stating the 1957-'59 Ford Skyliner was "FoMoCo's only retractable hardtop".  Again, I tactfully corrected him Ford offered a retractable ( or 'coupe-convertible') version of the Focus in Europe from 2007-2010.

 

Craig

 

[Trulyvintage]

The Lemay Collection at Marymount.

 

I visited there at the invitation of a volunteer a few weeks ago - Mike met me in a Model T - drove me around the property- - then gave me a guided tour.

 

He would visit there once a year as a kid on the day it was opened to the public.

 

Now he is a volunteer - one of many who continue Harold’s passion for automobiles.

 

Only (3) paid staff - the rest are volunteers.

 

I am on the road just about every day - I have visited every of the lower 48 states.

 

There is nothing like it ......

 

 

Jim

 

 

Edited October 3, 2017 by Trulyvintage (see edit history)

[JACK M]

Wait until you walk into the gymnasium.

There are old cars looking down from the bleachers.

One building has them stacked along about a two hundred foot wall.

Harold once bought a couple of loads of cars and had them trucked in.

He had no where to put them so he bought the transporters. The cars are still on them.

[JACK M]

I grew up in Tacoma and the Marymount Academy was a boys school. Very strict.

Many times as a youngster I was threated to be shipped off to there.

Wouldn't mind it now.

 

[Harold]

I was leaning towards Marymount and the comments here point in that direction as well.  Marymount it is!

[Trulyvintage]

I love Harold’s Suburban tow vehicle & his open home made trailer with the garage door !

 

His touch is everywhere you look.

 

It is very much a living museum ....

 

 

Jim

[Buffalowed Bill]

The fact that the two parallel collections still exist is nothing short of a miracle. If it weren't for Harold neither would exist today, but he made no plans for his three thousand car collection once he was gone. When he passed it was up to friends and family to make sure that the collection, or much of it, was preserved. The family donated a number of cars to the museum foundation, but family and the museum have, for the most part, gone their separate ways.

 

Harold was the garbage man in Pierce and Thurston counties, but he was a self made man for whom finances were not always easy in the early years. Harold was honest and really a nice guy, and when making payroll was difficult his workers stood by him, because they knew that he was good for it.

 

I really don't know when Harold started buying cars, but by the late sixties, when I became interested in old cars, he was already and institution. Not an exaggeration to say that he bought everything. Once he focused in on a car he almost always got it. I remember going to a local auction in the 70's ready to buy a 1926 Paige touring car. I got two bids in and my budget was surpassed by someone behind me. I looked around and it was Harold, game over! I visit that car and the collection at the family home, every year.

 

 His drivers were always on the lookout for anything hiding behind a garage. Collectability was not part of his vocabulary. In fact one of the striking things about his collection was it's diversity. By the 80's there were cars like an unrestored 1953 Plymouth or a Corvair  or a Rolls, but many more of the first two then the latter. At its height, the collection was purported to be three thousand strong. Until  later years, none of his cars were treated to any kind of a restoration. Few collectors would have saved an original 1953 four door, but Harold did. The core of his collection were unrestored cars from the PNW, but in later years he went farther afield for his finds.

 

I guess it was in the late 70's that he bought the family house and property. What had been kind of a disorganized collection, began  to take shape. He began to put up buildings around the property to house the cars. He would open up the collection once a year to everyone, and in the early days guests could show their own cars on the property around the home. He and wife Nancy would serve donuts, coffee and lemonade, and everything, including admission, was free! Harold would play the engineer on the little train that circled the property. He just loved to give rides to the kids!

 

Marymount was purchased later, maybe the 80's, and became a year round focus for guests. The property itself is huge and just spectacular! I have heard that it was a special deal made, because the order that owned it, did not want to see it destroyed or parceled out. Today the grounds have become the show field for guest's cars on the day of the open house. With the open house timing is everything, but regardless you won't be disappointed in what you see! 

[Xander Wildeisen]

I got to see the Lemay collection before the museum was started. His wife was very kind to us, and gave us a tour of the house. 

[Trulyvintage]

Bill,

 

What a great narrative from someone who knew Harold.

 

He was - still is - one of a kind.

 

Mike told me the Tucker was acquired after Harold’s death - he always wanted one for his collection but considered the price too extravagant during his lifetime.

 

Just one of thousands of examples of a simple man of simple means who apparently never lost sight of the value of a dollar.

 

I wish I could have met him.

 

Jim

Edited October 9, 2017 by Trulyvintage (see edit history)

[Harold]

UPDATE:  We spent the weekend in Seattle but did not make the museum because of a scheduling conflict.  Bummer.  We'll be visiting again in the next year or so and will definitely get there.  Thanks to all for your comments.

 

Harold