(June 8, 2012) Ground breaking for the all-new Model A Ford Museum, a 12,000-square-foot re-creation of a vintage Ford dealership complete with gas pumps and service bay, took place on April 17. When it opens, with a completion date near Labor Day, it will become the largest public museum dedicated to the Model A Ford in existence.

The Model A museum is part of the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Mich.
 
The driving force behind the new museum has been the non-profit Model A Ford Foundation, Inc. (MAFFI) established in 1987 to preserve Model A Fords and related memorabilia, as well to educate present and future generations on its legacy. The organization has successfully united the tens of thousands of Model A enthusiasts who are members of various clubs in support of the new venture. The all-new Model A Ford Museum will provide MAFFI a permanent home for its collection of automobiles, display engines, and artifacts including factory photos, blueprints and research materials.

A 1930 Ford Model A
school bus is already in
the Gilmore collection

The Ford museum will take its place alongside several other specialty museums on the grounds of the Gilmore, including the Classic Car Club of America Museum, the Pierce-Arrow Museum, the Franklin Collection at Hickory Corners, the Tucker Historical Collection and Library, the Cadillac-La Salle Foundation, the Lincoln Motorcar Foundation, and the Midwest Miniatures Museum.

“The museum will be more than just a car collection,” said Art Callan, executive director of the Model A Ford Foundation, Inc., which is overseeing the construction. “It will take you on a journey through the Model A years — the end of the Roaring Twenties, the stock market crash in 1929, and the beginning of the Depression.”



In addition to the foundation’s collection of cars and trucks, the museum will also house display engines, factory photos, blueprints, and research materials in a building patterned loosely after a design suggestion for a medium-sized Ford dealership in the May 1929 issue of Ford Dealer and Service Field magazine.

The foundation has also been primarily responsible for fundraising for the museum’s $1.6 million construction and operation budget.

According to Stan Johnson, president of the foundation, funding has come almost entirely through private donations. “This has been a 20 year effort, but more than half of the construction funds were raised in 2011 — a $50,000 challenge resulted in an influx of $300,000 at the end of 2011,” he said.

“We have raised enough funding to accomplish the construction of the building, so we are striving now to encourage donations (funds and artifacts) for the outfitting and setup of the interior of the building.”

According to Johnson, construction should be completed by Labor Day weekend, in plenty of time for the foundation’s Model A Day at Gilmore on Sept. 15.

Sources: Gilmore Car Museum, Hemmings Daily Blog