Museum Closing

[joefrazer]

Unfortunately, this is happening more and more often...museums close and fine collections are scattered across the country. The club had the opportunity to tour the collection and use the adjoining facility a few years ago when our national meet was located in Shipshewana.

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2018/02/01/board-of-directors-votes-to-close-hostetlers-hudson-museum-liquidate-inventory/?refer=news#comments-block

[Dragon]

What a great museum that was.  I also remember the founder speaking at our banquet.  He was a very interesting fellow.

[boatingbill]

So sad. I have four grown sons none of whom are interested in older cars or trucks. In the years I had my '51 Kaiser Deluxe, they
only rode in it once. Is this the future of our club?

[Gordie]

This is an example of a wealthy collector who bought 15 acres of land and donated it to the city along with his collection of rare cars in exchange for the city providing a building to house the collection and maintain it.  As soon as the donor and his wife passed away the city took away the money that they were using to maintain the collection thru hotel tax that had been provided by the city.  Now the city can no longer maintain the expenses of a museum so the city decides to close the museum and sell all of the cars for millions of dollars.  What a shame!  The donor could have sold everything himself but he wanted his collection to be kept together.  The son is fighting it and I wish him luck.  We did get to see this great museum when we visited Shipshewana for our National Meet.

[MarkH]

Not having first hand knowledge of the finances there, I can certainly relate how this would be going down here in the peoples republic of Illinois. The hotel tax increase to fund the museum would continue to perpetuity, the collection & property would be sold off and all funds soon squandered away on a "temporary budget  shortfall". In the meantime, nothing would be done to curb over spending.

It's a real loss and I wish the son good luck in his fight against "city hall", he definitely needs it.

[Doc]

What’s next for the Hostetler’s Hudson Museum collection?
https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2018/02/06/whats-next-for-the-hostetlers-hudson-museum-collection/?refer=news

[dogwalkfinds]

Are they really expecting to get an average of $73,000 per vehicle ($4,000,000 / 55)?
He really trusted a bunch of brainiacs with his collection.
These are works of art - part of our heritage, NOT investment assets. If the town promised to preserve and protect then they should be held to that.

[darrin145]

 It looks like there are some beautiful vehicles in that collection but if you research the hundreds of Hudsons for sale on line, not many even have an asking price anywhere that $73K mark, for nicely restored cars. Auctions, if it gets that far, do get a little crazy from time to time and prices could go sky high...but I doubt it.
 Certainly, it must be heart wrenching for the late owner's son to watch his dad's dream slip away. Here's hoping everything works out for the best, like maybe another museum, or the town not getting half of what they expect! Greedy bast....

[njpatera]

First mistake was giving the city ownership of the cars.

[joefrazer]

If you've ever visited the area and had the chance to see the museum, then you know the handwriting was on the wall. The building and grounds surrounding it were destined for township control and unfortunately, I think the elder Eldon knew it. He did his best to promote not only the museum but the town as well. He was a man who was well known and well respected but no matter how much work he did, ultimately it wasn't enough to save the collection and its home. The Hudson guys are all aware of the collection's fate and I am sure when it's sold off, it will bring fair market value, if not a bit more...owing to the respect Eldon deserved.

I recall the afternoon we visited the museum. Eldon was there and invited us into his office for a brief chat. An hour later we were still talking about cars - both Kaisers and Hudsons!

[Roadmaster49]

First mistake was giving the city ownership of the cars.

Absolutely.  I have ZERO good to say about the morons in Shipshwana. 1st all, the TOWN CENTER was a city building. So why did they have to sell it?  They didn't. 

2nd, admissions and a "partial" use of the Hotel tax would have easily maintained the collection for years. AND the city was making money off events held at their de facto "community" building. 

My 1st thought was how does a museum cost $700,000 a year to run (or whatever, there has been more than one figure) THEN I see they sold it to a greedy private enterprise that wants $154,000 in rent annually!!! 

Again, Shipshewana city government is in bad hands and they should have no right to the sale proceeds. What a mess.   

[RogerDetroit]

Hello Roadmaster:

You are absolutely right that the city did not have to sell the Town Center Building.  Why they did is anyone's guess.

I can tell you from running an automotive museum it does not cost $700,000 per year to run.  That $700,000 figure was an estimate by the city as to how much they would have to contribute over a 5 year period - another estimate was as high as $1,700,000 the city would have to kick in over 5 years.

Problem is that museum admissions were only $17,000 in 2017 and $23,000 in 2016.  Heat, A/C, insurance (cars & building) and other utilities could be easily be $50,000 per year.  And that would be before any staffing fees or the rent of $154,000 per year.

I attend the national meetings of the National Assn of Automobile Museums and I don't know of a single auto museum that can survive from museum admission fees alone.  You either need a "sugar daddy," a large endowment to fund the losses.  I guess the city was not in a position to fund the losses.

Sad to say, but it was a rather poorly structured agreement on a lot of points that allowed this to happen.

 

[Roadmaster49]

Yes, poorly and greedily structured.  I don't think that museum would have ever cost more than $10,000 a month to operate.  I just can't imagine.   The deal that did it in was rent that was demanded by a new for profit owner.  THAT is on the city.  They KNEW exactly what they were doing.  There must have been some underlying antagonism between the family and the city.  That's all I can think.

But on a broader note, we are seeing collectively, museums closing, never getting opened for our hobby and it kind of makes me think we should have a national automotive history museum.

Some might say we do - the AACA Museum.  Never been there, but the AACA is kind of considered the "core" of the hobby from which all other clubs sprout out.   

There is of course, the Peterson Museum in California and the Gilmore.  The Gilmore, if it has the room - again I have never been but it is on my bucket list - should be "encouraged" to be a strong regional museum.  Donate, go and visit, spend money, OR don't and watch it eventually become too costly to operate. 

I prefer to drive my old cars, not look at static displays.  I think this should be a "cornerstone" of any old car museum - offer up the old cars to ride in, not necessarily drive, but ride in, or drive some.  If this sounds crazy it is not.  I am also a Rail Fan.  I have a model train layout, read railroad history, just go watch trains, - AND - take excursions. 

The Illinois Railroad Museum is an interactive museum and should be a bench mark for the automotive museum.  Most weeks of the year, they run trains.  You can do steam, diesel, whatever, but you can ride the trains, AND IT WORKS!  Nobody gets killed, injured, and everyone can experience the trains in operation.

Now imagine if you could go to the Gilmore and they fired up a 1950 Kaiser and said "OK, for $30 you can be a passenger in the car for a 10 minute ride".  Or a 1936 Cord, or whatever you can imagine - they could have a schedule just like the Illinois Railway Museum so you could know what would be available to be a passenger in that week or weekend. 

That would make a huge difference to young people.  When we had the Buick Club's National meet in 2010 in my backyard, my daughter and I got to be passengers in an early 1920's Touring and my daughter got to experience some time in the rumble seat of one.  Priceless stuff. 

Just a thought "outside the box" as they say nowadays.

[pjkaiser]

It's already being done out here in So. Cal., it should be done around the country!!!

https://www.automobiledrivingmuseum.org

A little about us.

Welcome to the Automobile Driving Museum, one of Southern California’s premier destinations for car enthusiasts where museum visitors experience a wide range of vehicles from years gone by. The Museum is committed to the preservation and maintenance of these cherished age-old automobiles for generations to come.

[joefrazer]

Another calling itself a national museum - http://natmus.org