Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, Tennessee Made in Museums - Travels to Curious Museums

Confession:  I am not a car person
I’ve always thought of the automobile as just a mode of transportation.  Nothing fancy, totally practical.  However, the marketing person in me completely understands the emotional appeal cars can have on people.  And the product manager in me can appreciate a good design in any form.  So I was completely surprised after my visit to the Lane Motor Museum when I had this strange desire to just pick up one of the microcars in their collection and take it home.  Maybe it’s my recent fascination with all things tiny (no Game of Thrones for me – I binge watch shows about tiny homes).  Or maybe it’s just the mash-up of something so practical in a package that seems so impractical.  Whatever the reason, their vast collection of microcars is just one reason to visit the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. 
Home to the largest collection of microcars, and also one of the largest amphibious vehicles – the 60 Ton LARC – the Lane Motor Museum has enough variety to satisfy both the hardcore and casual car enthusiast (and even just the average museum nerd!).  Focused primarily on European cars -- although there are cars from all around the world -- the museum goes beyond the traditional car museum by collecting cars that are odd, unique, or are truly one-of-a-kind.  Most of these cars are models that were never sold in the United States, and most of them are not the type of car you’d find in the typical homeowner’s garage.  Whether it’s a prototype car, a test car, a modified car, a failed innovation, or a product designed for a very specific niche, all of the cars in their collection reflect a specific point in history and a specific cultural influence that drove its development. 
So let’s get started traveling through their amazing collection!
Museum Highlights: 
Lane Motor Museum – starting out with just 80 cars from the founder’s private collection, the building that houses the museum was originally a Sunbeam bread factory.  The original 80 cars have now grown to a total of 545 – with about 150 cars on display at any time -- and the collection now includes scooters, motorcycles, bicycles, a few airplanes and some canoes.  Rumor has it that sometimes on a hot summer day visitors can still smell the faint odor of baking bread.   
Restoration & Care of the Collection – listen to the episode to hear about how they “exercise” the cars, the restoration process, and the challenges of finding parts for foreign cars no longer in production and never sold in the U.S. 
The “Vault” Tour – when you visit, make sure to take the Vault Tour.  This tour goes down into the basement where you see cars not on exhibit.  I love behind-the-scenes tours and this one doesn’t disappoint.  This area includes vehicles in the queue for restoration, ones that are actively being worked on, and some that are just waiting for their moment to be brought upstairs for an exhibit.    
World Flags – don’t forget to look up when you visit.  Hanging from the ceiling throughout the museum are flags from around the world.  Underneath each flag are cars manufactured by that country.  In the U.S. we tend to think of the automobile as only an American invention, but around the world numerous car manufacturers have adapted, modified and developed cars uniquely qualified for their geography, their time in history, or for their specific customers. 
1947 Tatra T-87 Saloon – Tatra was a well-known Czechoslovakian automobile manufacturer.  This sleek, silver Tatra T-87 was the luxury car of its day and was regularly used as the chauffer vehicle of Czechoslovakian military officers.  Notice the big fin on the back?  These cars were very heavy, especially in the back end, so the fin was a design feature that helped with stability. 
1938 Tatra T-97 – look closely at the front of the T-97.  Does that design remind you of any other car?  Ferdinand Porsche