Huge LeMay Museum a Must for Classic Car Lovers
See 400 Gleaming Cars from the World's Largest Collection of Autos
Feb 17, 2009
The LeMay Museum - and the giant collection of vintage cars - was the dream of Harold LeMay, who built a trash-collection empire in Washington state. LeMay, a cheerful man who loved cars and made hundreds of friends, turned the profits from his business into a massive car collection.
Rows of shining, perfectly restored Chevrolets from the 1950s - including a 1955 Chevrolet Belair - boggle the minds of visiting gearheads. Shark-finned Cadillacs, wood-sided station wagons - including a 1948 Chrysler Town and Country - and chrome-encrusted Buicks with portholes in their sides fill a building.
More buildings - all crammed with cars - await visitors.
LeMay died in 2000, but his wife, Nancy, and their children remain passionate about cars. The museum keeps rolling along.
Priceless Classics
The LeMay Museum is crammed with cars from the 1950s and 1960s, but visitors gasp at rows of shining cars from posh makers of the 1920s and 1930s, such as Pierce-Arrow, Duesenberg, Packard and Rolls Royce.
A 1929 Pierce-Arrow Model 125 with the trademark headlights embedded in the sweeping fenders takes visitors to another age. This car alone is worth more than $1 million.
A 1948 Tucker - the car made famous in the 1988 movie, Tucker: The Man and his Dream - glows under lights. Only 50 models of the advanced car were made before a lawsuit put Tucker out of business.
No Touching or Driving!
Visitors are not allowed to touch or start up the cars - despite frequent pleas!
Most of the museum's cars do get out on the road from time to time, especially for parades and car shows.
The museum's buildings are big and unheated - they include an old gym, an indoor shooting range and a now-filled indoor pool - so fall and winter visitors should bring a warm coat.
Once-A-Year Show
The LeMay family and the museum host the annual LeMay Car Show & Auction every summer. The event is open to the public and is the only day a year to see other cars in the collection.
Shuttle buses take visitors to and from the museum and the LeMay home.
Collectors from throughout the world come to this event.
The 2009 event is on Aug. 29.
New LeMay Museum Planned
The LeMay Museum is located on the grounds - and in the buildings - of the Marymount Academy, a former private school.
The collection is now more than 2,200 classic cars and trucks, and cars are rotated in and out of the display buildings.
The museum is massive - cars are parked within inches of each other - but it is about to get a lot bigger. Construction is scheduled to start in 2009 on a $100 million, state-of-the-art car showcase on nine acres next to Interstate 5 and the Tacoma Dome.
The new museum will be huge, but it still won't be able to display each vehicle in the ever-growing collection.
Touring the LeMay Museum
The museum is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visitors must go on a two-hour guided tour to see most of the collection.
Tours leave the visitor center - which is a cross between a 1950s gas station and car dealership -at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Tour guides are all volunteers - and experts on classic cars.
Admission is $15 for adults, $5 for ages 6 to 12 and free for museum members. The museum is located at 325 152nd St., Tacoma, WA 98445.
The LeMay Museum has more cars than any other museum, and it is heaven for car lovers, historians and people who just may catch a glimpse of that 1959 Chevrolet Impala that rumbled through their childhood dreams.
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