The William E. Swigart Jr. Antique Automobile Museum, located in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit museum dedicated to the preservation of American automobile history. The collections began as a private passion of founder W. Emmert Swigart in about 1920. The current museum opened in 1957(65years ago)(1957).
The museum's collection contain about 150 cars, of which 30 to 35 are on display at the museum at one time. One-of-a-kind automobiles include a 1936 Duesenberg 12 cylinder Gentlemen's Speedster, a 1920 Carroll, and a 1916 Scripps-Booth. The Swigart Museum is the only automobile museum in the country where visitors can see two Tuckers side-by-side, the 1947 "Tin Goose" Prototype and #1013. Along with automobiles, the museum's other collections including automotive artwork, bicycles, antique toys, vintage clothing, spittoons, license plates, radiator caps, automobile lights and horns, automobilia and other related items.
The museum is open daily from Memorial Day weekend through the end of October, and hosts many car-related events.
About twenty-five years after the first patent was issued for a gasoline powered automobile in 1895, Huntingdon businessman W. Emmert Swigart began to assemble his collection of automobiles. Mr. Swigart recognized that the industry was rapidly developing and that many early manufacturers had already disappeared, so he concentrated on salvaging automobiles before they were scrapped for junk or had given up many of their parts to save some other mechanized contraption. He displayed his collection in the offices and on the lawn of the insurance business of which he was a founding partner, and by the 1930s, both Swigart's business and his automobile collection had outgrown the available office space. In 1935 Mr. Swigart purchased a large, colonial home on Penn Street in Huntingdon and renovated it to accommodate both the insurance business and the collection. In addition to a modern business facility, the refurbished building included woodwork and mantels salvaged from 18th century buildings in Philadelphia intended to serve as a backdrop for the automobile name plates, license plates, and other antiques on display.
In addition to automobiles, Mr. Swigart amassed what is thought to be the largest automobile nameplate and license plate collections in the world. Often his insurance agents out in the field would scour junk yards looking for abandoned cars and return to the office with buckets of name plates, radiator ornaments, and license plates, all then cleaned and mounted by the office staff. By the time of his death in 1949, W. Emmert Swigart had preserved twelve early automobiles plus thousands of automobile related items and literature. William E. Swigart Jr., one of his five children and the only one who shared his father's passion for antique automobiles, then stepped into a greater role in the insurance business and took over the care of and display of the collection. He brought most of the collection together under one roof in a former carriage house located at the rear of the Swigart Associates building, naming it the Swigart Memorial Motor Museum. The collection rapidly outgrew the building, and in August, 1957, Mr. Swigart opened the newly constructed Swigart Museum on Route 22, three miles east of Huntingdon. William continued to expand the museum's holdings until his death in 2000, increasing the size of the collection to approximately 200 cars while simultaneously gaining notoriety as one of the top automobile collectors in the United States.
In 2007, sixty of the cars collected by William and his wife, Helen, were sold at auction by their heirs to satisfy Helen's portion of the estate.
A classic car is an older car, typically 25 years or older, though definitions vary. The common theme is of an older car of historical interest to be collectible and tend to be restored rather than scrapped. Classic cars are a subset of a broader category of "collector cars". A subset of what is considered classic cars are known as antique cars or vintage cars.
Marathon Motor Works was an brass era automobile manufacturer based in Tennessee. Southern Engine and Boiler Works founded in 1889, which made industrial engines and boilers in Jackson, Tennessee, established the factory in 1907. From 1909 to 1914, the company manufactured the Marathon automobile in Nashville, Tennessee.
Brush Motor Car Company (1907-1909), later the Brush Runabout Company (1909-1913), was based in Highland Park, Michigan.
The Automobile License Plate Collectors Association (ALPCA) is the largest such organization in the world. Founded in Rumney Depot, New Hampshire, United States, in 1954 and holding its first meeting/convention in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, in 1955. It serves as a way for license plate collectors to trade plates, distribute news, and provide historic information to members.
The Bugatti Type 18, also called the Garros, is an automobile produced from 1912 through 1914. Produced shortly after the start of the business, the design was something of a relic. It had much in common with the cars Ettore Bugatti had designed for Deutz Gasmotoren Fabrik but with the radiator of the Type 13. Only seven examples were built, and three are known to survive.
DRAG-U-LA, along with the Munster Koach, was one of two cars on the television show The Munsters designed by prolific show car designer Tom Daniel while working for George Barris and Barris Kustom Industries.
Elkhorn is an unincorporated community recognized as a local urban district in the Rural Municipality of Wallace – Woodworth within the Canadian province of Manitoba that held village status prior to January 1, 2015. It was originally incorporated as a village on January 2, 1906. Elkhorn is located approximately 105 kilometres (65 mi) west of Brandon.
The Virginia Museum of Transportation is a museum devoted to the topic of transportation located in Downtown Roanoke, Virginia, US.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum is an automotive museum on the grounds of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, which houses the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame. It is intrinsically linked to the Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400, but it also includes exhibits reflecting other forms of motorsports, passenger cars, and general automotive history. In 2006, it celebrated its 50th anniversary. The museum foundation possesses several former Indianapolis 500 winning cars, and pace cars, and they are regularly rotated onto the display floor exhibits.
The U.S. state of Texas first required its residents to register their motor vehicles in 1907. Registrants provided their own license plates for display, with serial numbers assigned by their county of residence, until the state began to issue plates in 1917.
The U.S. state of Vermont first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display license plates in 1905. As of 2022, plates are issued by the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), associated with the Vermont Agency of Transportation. Front and rear plates are required for most classes of vehicles, while only rear plates are required for motorcycles and trailers.
Warrenton is an unincorporated community in northeastern Fayette County, Texas, United States. Located on State Highway 237 between Spencer Pool and Coon Creek, twelve miles northeast of La Grange. Founded by William Neese, who landed in Galveston in 1847 and named the new settlement that grew around his store for Warren Ligon, another early colonist. This area was settled by many German colonists who, with an admixture of Anglos, formed several small farming communities based on the production of cotton, corn, and dairy products. The community flourished in the late 1800s. A post office was established in 1873, when the town had a population of over 100, churches, schools, a gin, and supporting businesses. Poor soil conditions led to a shift to cattle and poultry after 1900. By 1950, the number of businesses in Warrenton had declined to seven, and the population held at 180. By 1985, the population was down to fifty, but twelve antique stores had opened and St. Martin's Church, at twelve by sixteen feet proclaimed the world's smallest Catholic church, attract visitors. The population reached sixty-five in 2000.
The Carroll Six automobile was built by the Carroll Motorcar Company of Lorain, Ohio, from 1920 to 1922. It was commonly called the "Carroll Car."
The Museum of Automobiles is an automobile museum in the city of Morrilton, Arkansas, adjacent to Petit Jean State Park. The museum features a collection of antique and classic cars, motorcycles, guns, license plates, arcade machines and automobile memorabilia. It also includes a rare 1923 Climber touring car, made in Arkansas.
TheNethercutt Collection is a multi-storied museum and car collection complex located in Sylmar, California. It was founded by J.B. Nethercutt in 1971 and its centerpiece is the prestigious automobile collection of the Nethercutt-Richards family, which has led several publications to name it as one of the greatest collections in the world.
Each of the 48 states of the United States of America plus several of its territories and the District of Columbia issued individual passenger license plates for 1957.
In 1914 Arizona and California joined the list of states and territories providing license plates to vehicle owners, and no new states entered the prestate era. There were now 37 states and 3 territories that were issuing license plates and 7 other states requiring owners to provide their own license plates.
At this early point in the history of license plates in the United States of America, none of the 45 states, territories, or the District of Columbia, was issuing its own plates. The state of New York remained the only state that required vehicle owners to register their automobiles. The system of using the owner's initials as the registration number, begun in 1901, remained in effect. This would change in 1903 when a number was assigned to each owner to display on their vehicle. Across the country the increases in the number of automobiles was being noticed, and there were many cities, like Chicago, that had already begun to require their owners to register their vehicles.
The AACA Museum is a transportation museum located in Hershey, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is a 501(c)(3) non-profit museum dedicated to the preservation of American automobile history. Despite its name the museum is not affiliated with the Antique Automobile Club of America.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
