[PVS]

VOLO MUSEUM

Volo Auto Museum - Hollywood Star Car Collection and Auto Attractions

The little village of Volo situated off US 12 in the Lake County of Illinois wouldn’t draw attention of the average motorist, but for the colorful signs indicating the presence of an Auto Museum. I was once headed to Fox Lake, and these signs caught my attention and I decided to check out the museum at a later date.

After procrastinating for quite a few weeks, due to some or the other work turning up at the last moment, I could finally devote the morning of Sunday December 6th 2009, to check out this museum, which was about 45 minutes drive, by car, from my place at Schaumburg IL.

It took me about 45 minutes to reach Volo from my place at Schaumburg, IL and here is the route for all you care. The December morning chill was very much in the air and the museum hardly had any visitors when I pulled into the parking lot.

I am not going to go in detail about the museum here, as you could read about it in the URL I have given above. I will rather let the narrative flow thru the snaps that I took during my hour and a half visit. This map of the museum will help you in understanding the layout better

As I walked up the pathway up to the Kids’ Hollywood showroom to buy the ticket, a ‘4 X 4’ which looked quite different from others, and plinthed, greeted me, and here it is:

This is the museum entrance where I picked up my tickets. This one had souvenirs and the usual museum memorabilia like T-shirts, badges and clocks.

People usually head off immediately to the adjoining showrooms, to see the various cars on display. But I for reasons unknown, decided to head back the way I came, and began my tour with the shopping malls. As you see in this web site, this museum has 3 malls:

·Antique Mall
·Mercantile Mall and
·Furniture & Bedding Mall

I checked out the Antique Mall first and boy – what a collection! Check this page for what all was on display. I didn’t click many pictures in this mall – and here’s one interesting one that I clicked:


Sorry, the size got small when I re-sized this to cut down the file size. Nevertheless these are famous sports persons, actors and even techies, booked under the law for misconduct/trespass. These pics are small so let me read out some of them for you: These captions mention the date in MM-YY format along with the crime committed:

·Michael Jackson (from the bottom – 4th row, 3rd column) 11-03 Child Molestation
·Hugh Grant (Topmost row – 3rd pic from the left) 06-95 Lewd Conduct
·Jennifer Capriati (Topmost row 5th pic from the left) 05-84 Marijuana Possession
·Bill Gates (from the bottom, 2nd row, 4th pic from the left) 12-77 Traffic Violation



From the antique mall, I head off to Auto Showroom 4 and here is a list of what all I saw:

Car No: 1
1910 Rambler 5-PAX Touring

This is a 1910 Rambler 5-Passenger Touring, manufactured by Thomas B. Jeffery Company at Kenosha Wisconsin from 1902 to 1913. She is a 34-HP, 4 – Cylinder with sliding gear transmission and as options and accessories, she has a Vintage Stewart Speedometer and an after-market electric starter:



Car No: 2
Merc Benz 1956 300 SC Coupe
This is a 2996 CC, 6 Cylinder with a 4-speed manual tranny has Bosch Mechanical fuel injection producing 175 HP and a top speed of 110 Mph. Only 98 of these were built from 1955 to 1958 and famous Hollywood persona like Clark Gable, Bing Crosby and Cary Grant were owners of this car. Here she is:


Car No: 3
Cadillac Model 62 2-Door Coupe 1962
She is a 1948 Cadillac Model 62 2-Door CVT Coupe with a ‘L’ Head V-8 and a 4-speed auto transmission. Under Options, she’s got power seats, power top, power windows and she’s also bagged the first place at the Cadillac Club Grand National meet. She’s on sale for USD 65,750. Here she is:

Another pic of her:


Car No: 4
1955 Mercury Montclair 2-Door Coupe
She’s a V-8, 292 Cubic inches, got a HP of 198, and has automatic transmission. Under Options & Extras, she’s got power brakes and power steering, whitewall tires, a push button radio and a dashboard clock. She earned the Mercury Motor Trend magazine COTY 1955


Car No: 5
1936 Auburn 2nd Generation Speedster re-built in 2004
She is a factory built Auburn Boatail speedster rebuilt in 2004 by ‘Speedster Motorcars’. She sports a 270 HP Vortex GM V-8 with 4L 60E Auto Transmission. She’s got a lot of Bells & Whistles like AM/FM Stereo CD, Power Windows, Power Brakes &Steering.


Car No: 6
1967 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow Coupe
She’s a V8 380 CID 200 HP and has auto transmission. Pretty much everything is Power, and she’s also got cruise control and she was one of those 571 original Silver Shadow Coupes ever manufactured.


Car No: 7
Jaguar 1956 XK 140 MC Drophead Coupe
She has an MC Inline 6 engine, a 4-speed transmission and a C-type racing head. She’s got front disc brakes, electric choke and power steering. From 1954 to 1957 only 385 Drophead Coupes were built.


Car No: 8
1953 Plymouth Cranbrook 2-Door Sedan
She’s got a 6-Cylinder Series P24-2 engine with a HY drive 3-speed manual transmission with torque converter and this eliminated the need to use the clutch except when changing between forward and reverse gears. She also has directional signals, back-up lights, heater and defroster and a radio.


Car No: 9
1950 Pontiac Chieftain Silver (Restored in 1999)
This car’s got a 6-Cylinder 239 Cubic inch cylinder and a 3-speed manual. She was with the same family for about 59 years


Car No: 10
Galaxie Ford Town Victoria 1956 – Thunderbird
She’s a 4-door hardtop, 225HP V8 with Cruise-o-matic dual range transmission. She has power brakes, Master Guide power steering, Heater/Defroster and a parking brake signal.


Here is another pic of her:


Car No: 11
1921 Ford Model T Center Door Sedan
Costing around USD 645 in 1921 this is one of the rarest of all the common ford body types. She has a 4-cylinder engine and a 2-speed planetary gear transmission. She also has an electric starter, demountable rim wheels and rear mount spare.


Car No: 12
1913 Overland 5-PAX Touring
This is an excellent example of the brass-era touring cars. These were built in Toledo, OH from 1904 to 1926. This one is a 4-cylinder 35 HP engine with a 3-speed selective gear transmission. This has a Stewart magnetic type speedometer, electric starter, non-skid Firestone tires, hand operated windshield wiper, a brass bulb horn and a tail light.



This pretty much wraps up Auto showroom 4 and before I head off to the remaining showrooms, here is a classic petrol pump from Route 66, America’s mother road:



Comments and questions please, before I move on to the rest of the collection.
Thanks!

[predatorwheelz]

From the website, as well as the signs on the windscreens, this appears to be a classic car sales showroom more than a museum. Wish we had something like this in India.

Any pics of the Mercedes Benz 600 Pullman, right behind the Cadillac? Also some pics of the Hollywood movie cars please.

[PVS]

Originally Posted by predatorwheelz

Any pics of the Mercedes Benz 600 Pullman, right behind the Cadillac? Also some pics of the Hollywood movie cars please.

Here is the pic:

I will be uploading Hollywood movie cars in my subsequent posts on the same topic. Thanks!

[PVS]

Continuing on the same topic, I will be posting pics of cars used in Hollywood movies:
---------------------------------------------------------------
While I do not have a detailed description, this seems to be a ‘Mach 5’ for Batman.


Dracula's Coffin Car:



Teenage Mutant Ninja's vehicle


Gotham Police Department (GPD)'s Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor


.. and its famous passenger


The Bug..


DeLorean DMC 12 from Back To The Future 1985


Nicholas Cage's Mustang from 'Gone in 60 seconds'


One of the cars driven by Vin Diesel in 'Fast & Furious'


'Soul - Train' - 4 wheeled drive vehicle - tribute to Michael Jackson


'Tribute To Elvis' -


Another bizarre car:


I will publish some muscle cars and military vehicles in my next & last post

[Raja]

Just to add:

The 'Mach 5' is from a film called 'Speed Racer'
The bizarre yellow car is from the movie 'Dick Tracy'

[MARCUS_520i]

Can we have some pics of the "General Lee" Dodge Charger which stands right behind the Gone In 60 Seconds Mustang??

Question : Are these the cars that were actually featured in the movies or reproductions??
If the latter, could someone tell what seems to be the issue with the "Fast and the Furious 4" Buick Grand National's rear wheel??

[Cyrus43]

OYE!! MACH 5 For BATMAN!! Sacrilegious!! Also, Where are the other Fast and Furious Cars?? The Evos and all....

[PVS]

Originally Posted by Cyrus43

OYE!! MACH 5 For BATMAN!! Sacrilegious!! Also, Where are the other Fast and Furious Cars?? The Evos and all....

Presenting all the 'Fast and Furious' cars in the showroom:
Mitsu Evo


1973 Chevy Camaro F Bomb


3rd Car - (I don't know the details)


Reply to Marcus_520i's question: As per the write-ups, these cars are the originals used in the movies.

[PVS]

Originally Posted by MARCUS_520i

Can we have some pics of the "General Lee" Dodge Charger which stands right behind the Gone In 60 Seconds Mustang??

While I don not have a pic of the car, I have a 1965 Chevy Impala Super Sport with a 237-300 HP Engine and Turbo 350 automatic transmission:

[vagu]

Originally Posted by PVS

3rd Car - (I don't know the details)
Attachment 269472

its a 1970 chevy chevelle ss

[Raja]

The maroon car in post #9 is a Ford Mustang (you can clearly see 'Mustang' in the second picture) and not a Chevy Impala SS.