Dear readers, I have a problem. No, it’s not my car collection, and don’t ask what the number is at now. My problem is how I embark on a road trip. I set my route, note the time that Google says I’ll get to my destination, then try to beat it. I’ve been doing road trips this way for as long as I remember and I’ve only deviated from this when traveling with friends. Even then, we usually go to major attractions skipping all of the small places along the way. This past weekend I visited a car museum so small that I was in and out in just 30 minutes. Yet, it taught me a powerful lesson in road-tripping.
A road trip is one of my favorite activities. I love any excuse to hit the road, especially if I really don’t have a destination in mind. My travels have taken me from coast to coast and from southern Florida to the top of the nation in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Along the way, I’ve gotten to see sights like Yellowstone National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, the glorious Pacific Coast Highway, and numerous state parks. But, I must admit, I’ve only been to most of those places because friends leading the convoy decided to stop in those places. If I’m traveling on my own or with my wife, I’m usually doing a Cannonball Run to my destination, only enjoying the sights through a windshield.
As a result, I’ve passed by interesting attractions so many times. I’ve lost count of how many times I blew by the Iowa 80 ‘The World’s Largest Truckstop’ telling myself that one day I’ll take the time to stop by. Yet, I just haven’t done it. Heck, one time I even made it into the truck stop’s parking lot, only to take off because I wanted to get home at a certain time. There are countless events like this that happen on almost every road trip. There are places I want to visit, but I’m always so concerned about being on the move that I tell myself I’ll come back and visit.
Then, I just never do. Honestly, I have no idea why I don’t stop. I rarely have any time constraints, so there’s no reason to not stop.
Breaking The Habit
Thankfully, my wife finally broke my habit of over a decade and all it took was a tiny museum in a small rural town here in Illinois.
Last Friday, I said that Sheryl and I would finally get out to the only part of Illinois that sits west of the Mississippi. Would you be surprised to hear that we didn’t make it? We often use the weekend to catch up on the sleep that we miss during the week. Sleeping in isn’t conducive to getting to a destination and back home for a day trip. So, once again, we chose to go somewhere closer to home.
This time, we decided to do something a little different. Whenever Sheryl and I drive out west, we usually pass right by Pontiac, Illinois. On the surface, there isn’t a whole lot to this town. It started in 1837 and today it spans 7.87 square miles, most of it farmland, and some 11,150 people live there. Every day, thousands of people drive around the town on nearby Interstate 55 and probably think nothing of the town.
Sheryl and I have even been in Pontiac when we ran a $600 1991 Dodge Dakota in the inaugural Gamblinball Run. This rally was the Gambler 500‘s take on the Cannonball Run. Instead of racing from coast to coast, the Gamblinball Run was a road trip from Chicago, Illinois to Los Angeles, California rolling down Route 66.
Back in 1918, a gravel road known as the Pontiac Trail was paved over, helping to create a paved road link between St. Louis and Chicago. The paved road was called Route 4 before becoming a part of Route 66 in 1926. Much of Pontiac surrounds Route 66 and today, the town is home to the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame. Much of Pontiac’s tourism focuses on the road trip and in town there’s a tiny museum dedicated to Pontiac, the car. This is the Pontiac-Oakland Automobile Museum, and it’s not where Pontiac’s headquarters was — that was Pontiac, Michigan.
Let’s have a look.
A Hidden Museum Worth Visiting
Now, right from the jump, I’ll warn you that this museum is hardly a monster like the Volo Auto Museum upstate and it can’t even compete with the small Historic Auto Attractions near Rockford in size. I’m pretty sure the entirety of the Pontiac-Oakland Automobile Museum contents could fit in the gigantic LARC-LX at the Lane Motor Museum. This isn’t a bad thing. Large museums are fantastic! But not every museum needs to be a full meal, some of them can be snacks.
The Pontiac-Oakland Automobile Museum is a place you can go during a work break or importantly, a stop on a road trip where you’ll see something interesting and it won’t take all day. Sheryl and I have passed by this museum more times than I can count. Sheryl has even told me that she wanted to go there for a while. Yet, every time we’re on a road trip, we seem to be rushing for no good reason.
For Saturday’s day trip, we made it to roughly central Illinois, but this time, we decided to take things slow. Sheryl and I weren’t rushing to get somewhere before nightfall and we weren’t thinking about time lost doing things that’s not driving. Instead, it was a peaceful drive where the clock was told to take a hike. This was refreshing. I’m so used to trying to drive or ride in a direction, any direction, that I forget about the little things that make a road trip so great.
When we turned around to head home from our day trip, we drove down Route 66, which eventually put us in the familiar town of Pontiac. This time, we decided to explore the town, including the Pontiac-Oakland Automobile Museum.
Stepping through the door, we realized that this museum was small enough that had you read every single sign, it still would have taken you maybe 30 minutes to get through it.
And that’s fine! Sheryl and I learned so much Pontiac history in that blip of a moment.
For example, did you know that Pontiac offered car tents long before the Aztek? Inside of the museum sits a 1978 Pontiac Phoenix with a yellow tent on the back. The museum says that a tent was a dealer option and like the Aztek’s tent, it was supported by the vehicle.
Also in the museum is this 1929 Oakland Roadster, which has a neat pass-through for golf clubs and a rear seat that pops out of a rear panel.
This is known as a rumble seat, or jokingly, a mother-in-law seat. Unfortunately, this is a car feature with a more serious past. These uncovered, unprotected seats date back to the era of horse-drawn carriages and were meant for the servants of rich families to sit on.
When the car replaced the horse-drawn carriage, rumble seats stuck around for a period of time. They were no longer for servants, but as an inexpensive way to add seating to a vehicle. In this case, Oakland’s roadster becomes a four-seater. As the Chicago Tribune writes, a lot of people found romance in car rumble seats. As you could see with this Oakland, getting into the seat required some dexterity and while it was meant for two, those two people sat close.
Thus, some saw them as seats for young romantics. As the newspaper writes, rumble seats hit their automotive stride during the roaring ’20s, but as car design became more sophisticated, the seat fell out of favor. The Chicago Tribune notes that Chrysler and Chevrolet stopped production of the seats after 1940 while Ford reportedly stopped making rumble seats in 1939.
Also currently on display in the museum is a 1989 Pontiac 6000 STE.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 6000 in real life and I didn’t know that the STE was GM’s first all-wheel-drive car. But here this 6000 STE was in all of its minty glory.
The Pontiac-Oakland Automobile Museum is the brainchild of Pontiac collector Tim Dye. The museum’s website tells its story:
The history of the Pontiac-Oakland Museum & Resource Center in Pontiac, Illinois began August 1st, 2010 when Tim Dye was on his way back to his home in Oklahoma from a Pontiac show near Chicago. As he drove south on I-55, he noticed signs for the city of Pontiac. As Tim is curious about anything having to do with the Pontiac name, he pulled into town. As he explored the city, he visited the International Walldog Mural & Sign Art Museum and struck up a conversation with the museum’s director, Kristen Arbogast. In the course of their talking, Tim showed her a copy of his recently published book on Pontiac-Oakland memorabilia and history, and mentioned his desire of finding a suitable place to exhibit his vast collection of artifacts. He ended the conversation by telling Kristen, “If you ever think about having a Pontiac car museum here in Pontiac, be sure to contact me.”
The next day, Kristen called up Pontiac Mayor Robert Russell to tell him about Dye’s visit. Mayor Russell and Dye discussed the possibility of opening a Pontiac museum and through many calls, emails, and personal visits, they worked out the details. The museum of Dye’s dreams was given the green light on January 3, 2011. After months of work building the museum and moving his collection, Dye opened the museum on July 23, 2011.
Another neat thing about the museum is that its contents are always changing, so it’s not just a place to visit once and then never again. In addition to the history found in the cars, the museum also maintains a massive library of all things Oakland and Pontiac. Here’s what the museum says about that:
Our Resource Center Library has several thousand old highway maps, sales brochures, original design drawings, and service and owner’s manuals. If it was printed about the Pontiac or Oakland auto brand, we probably have a copy.
If there happens to be some Oakland or Pontiac history you’re looking for, the museum is willing to dig through its huge archives for a reasonable fee. You’ll then receive communication from the museum about what information was found and if it’s what you’re looking for, you’ll get copies of what was found.
Sheryl and I had a grand time in this museum. It was like a short and sweet snack and just the right size to be a stop on a grand journey. Since we go west so often, it’s a place we can stop by more than once when we go on road trips. Admission is technically free, but the museum suggests a $5 donation for each adult, which I think is more than fair.
The cars and the history of this museum were great, but the visit taught me a lesson. If you ever find yourself on a road trip and there’s someplace that you want to visit, do it. Don’t tell yourself that you’ll come back one day. If you have the time, pull over and enjoy the roadside attractions. There isn’t a need to speedrun everything. You never know what fun you’ll have and what history you might find.
Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.
-
I Saw Some Incredible Train History At America’s Largest Railroad Museum. Here Are The Coolest Trains That Stopped Me In My Tracks
-
The World’s Quirkiest Car Museum Takes You On A Magical Tour Of Taillights And Indicators
-
I Joined 650,000 People At The Humongous Oshkosh Air Show. Here Are The Wildest Airplanes I Saw
-
I Caught A Cold Visiting America’s Largest Train Museum. Here’s Why It Was Totally Worth It
My all-time favorite road-trip was a couple of years ago. My son had just graduated high school and we took 9 days to cover a loop through the central US. Rule #1 – no interstate. Rule #2 – BBQ in each city we stayed in. We had a lot of fun and determined that Jackson Mississippi’s “Pig and Pint” was the best BBQ we found. Also saw all the “World’s Biggest” stuff in Cary Illinois, but didn’t really stumble across a lot of roadside attractions. Still, saw a huge chunk of the country and had fun just the two of us.
I have driven by Pontiac on my way to other places and always wondered about this museum. Thanks for the tour, Mercy!
Every Spring from the late 50’s to the early 60’s we’d drive down Hy 41 from Milwaukee to Florida..usually West coast Fort Meyers area. My dad..and perhaps yours..was the kind of guy who’d stop at a drive-in for lunch and once he was through with his food – and he ate fast – it was off and back on the road.
We had to make 300 miles a day for the schedule to work and that took concentration. 41 was two lane in most areas. At an intersection there would be the same gas station on both sides because you couldn’t cross over for the constant stream of traffic.
These trips though would take us through places like downtown Nashville…places you never get today if you stay on the freeway.
I too am guilty of road-trip Costanzaness (“I gotta make good time!”). There is no good reason for it, other than a desire to just keep moving for the sake of movement. I think it’s related to car lust.
Wow, didn’t think I would see the 2 different Pontiacs I’ve owned as a teen. First drive was an 85′ 6000. and 3rd was an 88′ Grand Prix. Both were the base and the ones displayed here are the performance models, but It’s absolutely remarkable there is a Pontiac 6000 in any museum that isn’t about Grandma’s Sunday drive to church.
Kids these days. The first road trip I took were navigated using paper maps. Google Maps hadn’t been invented, and wouldn’t be for decades.
….. Do you want us off your lawn?
I too am guilty of blowing by this place on road trips but never actually stopping in. Same for the Auburn Cord Duesenburg Museum just north of Fort Wayne, IN. For the moment, I’ll have to keep telling myself “one day…”, but it will happen.
You absolutely must got to the ACD Museum. It’s one of the very best.
Another Illinois option is the National Corvair Museum, not far away – https://www.corvair.org/index.php/preservation-foundation/corvair-museum
OH GOD I HOPE YOU WENT TO WALLYS!
Forget that, Mercedes could’ve stopped at Rip’s in Ladd.
unless she was down there on Monday or Tuesday, then no chicken for you
second that notion. Wally’s is, um, well, it’s Buckee’s. Just as cool.
What I’m grappling with is that Mercedes said that she had to go ‘west’ to hit Pontiac. From the Rockford area, it’s almost directly south. Illinois Rt 23 is the most direct route.
A Firefly!
I don’t spot any Trans Sports, I think that’d be hard to miss in the background if they do have one.
I want to say I read somewhere that blue is rarer than red on the AWD 6000 STE but can’t remember where. I’ve been hoping to spot a 6000 of any type around – over the last year, I’ve come across clean examples of every other A-body and hoped to round out the quartet. A Celebrity, a Century wagon sans woodgrain (seems less common than with it), and an ’88 Ciera XC Special Edition that I see somewhat regularly now.
The Pontiac 4H campground has been the site of several great BMW and sidecar rallies over the years. There was even a local BMW club called the “DINKS” (Double Income No Kids)!
The Pontiac Oakland museum is a wonderful little place, I’ve been there several times with Pontiac Vibe friends and they’ve always warmly welcomed us all. Another awesome little museum in Pontiac is the Route 66 museum that’s basically in front of the Route 66 mural. Now I can’t wait to head back that way to visit that great little town again.
Great article Mercedes…awesome museum…I miss Pontiac!!!
like most rural Illinois towns, it was a lot nicer 40 years ago. I guess Pontiac isn’t too awful, just don’t stray too far and end up in Streator
That looks like a peachy little museum. Next time we’re traveling through that part of the country, we’ll have to stop and check it out. I used to travel like you did, Mercedes, but owning EVs has opened my mind up to a more relaxed way of traveling, more akin to what I imagine it was like to take long road trips back in the 30’s. Back then, travel was more leisurely due to cars being much slower, and needing to have maintenance and perhaps tire replacement along the way while on a long trip. With an EV, you know you’re going to have to stop for recharging for at least an hour every few hours, so you start looking for things to do while you’re replenishing electrons. “Surely though, there aren’t any chargers in little ol’ Pontiac, IL”, I thought. Oh, but there are! At Wally’s gas station, a mere 2.5 miles from this very museum. A leisurely stroll from the charger to the museum and back, and perhaps a stop for a bite to eat, and you’re ready to roll again. This approach to traveling has led my wife and I to finding many out-of-the-way gems that we would never have been aware of if it hadn’t been for needing to stop and charge.
Here in the Detroit area, we used to see a LOT of Pontiac 6000s. A lot of folks thought the 6000 LE was a “Gooolie.”
You’re not a Kettering grad by any chance? A frat I was rushing (didn’t pledge ultimately) had their place outside of town, with some acreage attached. During parties they would set up obstacle courses in the back yard and would always have a junk car or two to use to drive them – blindfolded. (The game was to pile as many people in the car as could fit in or on it, and then all the passengers would scream directions to the blindfolded driver to try and make it through the course. Injuries were surprisingly few!)
The most legendary of those cars was the Gooolie, a gold (were they all painted gold?) Pontiac 6000 LE. The lore went that a inebriated college girl stumbled up to the car, squinted at the badge, and asked “What kind of car is that, a ‘Gooo-le’?” And it stuck.
Nope, but I think I heard it from a local news story.
You have to admire cities that can leverage their names for the greater good. Here’s to you, Pontiac and Metropolis, IL.
If any of y’all are traveling through Washington state schedule in some time to visit LeMay Collections at Marymount just outside of Tacoma.
It’s a bit of a hoard so you’ll need a couple hours.
They have everything from Model T’s to a Unimog.
They even give lessons and let you drive a Model T.
It used to be a nunnery.
Pretty cool place.
How’s the “Mercedes’ Eclectic Museum of Transportation” coming?
There may be benefits if done right. (-;
That musuem is gorgeous. The architects, designers and exhibit designers did an incredible job.
The way they’ve dressed the display are wonderful, especially the campsite for the Phoenix!
I didn’t know about this place, so thanks for writing about it – not far away, and a nice day trip. I don’t know how you can be in and out in half an hour, though. Anyone else’s 30-minute museum visit is my 90-minute museum visit, especially if it’s art or cars.
Cars are art.
Well, yes, of course! but I mean like the Met or the Whitney or MOMA or the Tate Modern or the Art Institute of Chicago 🙂
Been driving by Pontiac Il for decades. Never knew. Will stop in sometime.
And I have to give s shout out to the National Transportation Museum in St Louis. Some interesting cars, but a train lover’s paradise.
The National Transportation museum in St. Lewis IS fantastic. Several sweet trains outside. Several early (late 1800s to early 1900 cars) And they have a 1960s Chrysler Jet Engine Car too!
Looks like a neat little museum, Mercedes! Thanks for sharing.
I’ve only ever seen one 6000 STE, this 1986 I spotted in 2010: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fuzzyplushroom/albums/72157623796151417
My Dad had one. First car I ever wrenched on, helping him change the oil when I was a little girl. I miss that car. Between that and my first car (a ’98 Bonneville), I fell in love with Pontiac.
My 1st was a 94 Bonneville SSEi (supercharged)!
I was lucky and I definitely fell in love with Pontiac then. It also had a HUD which most evs are coming out with now.
Super sad that GM killed them, I still lust after the G8
Out of curiosity, since it’s not far away: Did any of the cars in the collection have a blue sticker on the back from Detzler Pontiac in Oswego? It’s my hometown, and Jim Detzler was the town bigshot, and sold a ton of cars out of a very small dealership downtown. He was also mayor when I was in high school.
I’ve been trying to do better about taking more time when traveling, but it’s difficult.
If I am driving from A to B, my goal is to stop being in A and start being in B as soon as possible; I don’t dawdle along the way. Pit stops are planned but can easily be skipped if conditions warrant. Fortunately the current vehicle gets good highway mileage so there is less need to stop for fuel.
Normally I’m rolling solo so I’m not subjecting anyone else to the obsessiveness. That helps. 🙂
What a nice article. Mercedes, you and Sheryl should head over to the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, MI next time you feel like heading east instead of west. I know some people who would be happy to show you around the grounds.
And if they’re heading to Detroit, they could stop at Cafe Racer Ypsi – a custom bike shop in Ypsilanti, MI. It’s a little over 100 miles from Hickory Corners, slightly southeast of Ann Arbor.
(It’s been a while since I visited and had to confirm they’re still open. https://www.caferacerypsi.com/ )
Heck, if you’re in Ypsi, check out the small, Automotive History Museum, with their Hudson and Kaiser automobiles.
https://ypsiautoheritage.org/
The Firehouse Museum is another quaint little stop.
I was going to the Ypsi area for a business trip maybe 10 years ago and looked for interesting places to visit nearby. If I had known about the Automotive History Museum, I would have gone there as well – it sounds interesting. Thanks for the tip! 🙂
Unquestionably amazing campus of cars.