1/15/18

The Tallahassee Automobile and Collectibles Museum

We were supposed to visit the museum yesterday, but then we went to lunch. We visited a brewpub in Tallahassee called the Fermentation Lounge. Mike had a local brew, and I had a glass of hard cider along with our lunch. As you might guess, we just wanted to head back to the RV and take naps while our substantial lunch digested. On the way to the RV, I checked the hours for the museum and found they opened at 8:00 a.m. this morning. That made it easy to put off our visit until this morning.

Let me tell you, the museum was so much more than antique cars. Holy Moley! I didn't know so many things existed in the world. After seeing this museum, I can say with confidence that if the thing exists, it exists in a collection at the museum.

At the front door was a non-working fountain. With the cold, I'm thinking the fountain is shut off for the time being. Nevertheless, there were manatees there. I knew right away I was going to like this place.


Also outside, the Elvismobile. Despite having been born during the 14th Century, Elvis mania was just a tad before my time, and so I'm not sure what the Elvismobile was all about. When we got to the Batmobiles, we were talking my language.


Inside, we paid our admission ($15 a piece for seniors), and it was well worth it. This was an amazing place. It was so much more than an antique car museum, although it certainly was that.


They had on display the earliest known pre-production car built in 1894.


Here's some information about it.


This is the hearse that carried Abraham Lincoln's body for burial.


Here's an antique Florida Highway Patrol car.


The cars were lined up by vintage, starting with the earliest and moving forward. Mike pointed out that in a period of two years, they went from carriage wheels to rubber tires.


In a matter of four years, they went from squeeze bulb-style horns...


to electric horns.


Here's an antique milk truck. Milk delivery was a little before my time as well, but I like to imagine it was wonderful having fresh milk delivered to one's door back then.


The father of a high school friend was a milkman. I sent her this image to see if this was like her dad's truck. She thought his was the next newer model.


I think the thing we really came to see was this Tucker. In 1988 there was a movie made about the Tucker called "Tucker: A Man and his Dream," and it's worth seeing if you haven't already. There's an interesting story about bringing this car to market.


Here's some information about it.


There was a large Corvette collection going back to the earliest models. There at the top of the image below is the very car Mike has. His doesn't have the decals on the side, but it's the same car right down to the color, called "Millennium Yellow."


Here's an antique school bus.


Everything you've seen so far was in the downstairs part of the museum. We walked up a long ramp to the upstairs. We first saw this collection of about a billion golf clubs extending from the right of the image below on into infinity toward the left of the image.


And here we saw things that made our eyes pop. Collections of cash registers and fans...


Telephones...


Typewriters...I think I learned to type on one of these.


Then, in my former life as a legal secretary, I had the pleasure of working with a correcting Selectric II like this one. It was state of the art. When one interviewed for a job as a legal secretary, one wanted to know what kind of a typewriter would be provided. If it was anything less than this, then one would probably want to look for a different job.


Later on came the Mag Cards and Memory typewriters, and the correcting Selectric became old hat.

Okay, and this whole long aisle was a collection of knives on both sides...and there were more knives. This was only the beginning.


There were vintage motorcycles.


Here was the other thing we came to see...the Batmobiles. There were three of them and the Bat ski boat there in the back.



This next one was the one used in the television series.


I knew you'd want to see the vintage sewing machines. The first ones were off in a little room, as if they weren't quite ready for prime time.


There was some engraving on the stitch plate. I tried to get some pictures you could read, and that's what you'll see in the next two images.





There were more sewing machines in the main part of the museum. I'm not an antique sewing machine aficionado, but I know some of you are. Here's the sign that accompanied them.











Oh, and there was so much more. I thought Mike's head would explode when he saw this collection of outboard boat motors.


This whole wall was fishing lures, and they extended around the corner covering another whole wall.


Here were some toy pedal cars.


Radios, and these too extended around the corner covering two whole walls.


There were sewing implements in this glass case.


Here, I stood to the right so you could see everything.


Oh yes, and belt buckles.


Here's one of those carnival fun mirrors. We're looking good since going on diets, don't you think?


Now this display was kind of back behind the reception desk. Initially, I didn't take any pictures, but then decided I wanted to remember it. It's a display of KKK memorabilia. Kind of creepy, but it's all from the local area. They carried membership cards and special KKK knives and other items that kept them apprised of secret meetings and identified them as members. Ick.



On a brighter note...pun intended...was this display of Steinway pianos. We were told that one of the pianos is currently on loan to the White House for some function or another.


And don't think that I've shown you everything from the museum. I most definitely have not. It was the most unbelievably eclectic collection of collectibles either of us has ever seen. If you get a chance, it's well worth a visit and the price of admission. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

From there, we had just about an hour to clear out of the Tallahassee RV park and make our way to our next stop at the Ochlockonee River State Park. It was just about 40 miles down the road, and so it was a quick drive today.


And nothing could happen until we got Himself out for a walk.


It was so warm in the sunshine that we brought our shadow selves along.


It was a rather short walk because we were hungry for lunch. It was such a lovely day that we sat outside and enjoyed the warmth and sunshine. Looking up we saw blue skies, oak, and long leaf pine trees.


Do you ever get the feeling you're being watched?

I'll tell you more about the park in tomorrow's post. We can see the river from the RV window, and so we want to get out and do a little hiking before it starts to get dark. We have four nights here, and we're expecting good weather.

16 comments:

gpc said...

My mom had one of those old singers, from my grandma, until one in a series of sisters-in-law walked off with it (along with my brother's heart) and pawned it, the little tramp. :) The klan stuff is creepy for sure. Hard for my kids and their peers to understand that we 14th-centrury folks lived in a time when klan activities were frequent and unrepentant. We need people to remember that now, because it was not long enough ago to dare feel like it couldn't happen again.

QUILTING IS BLISSFUL, DI said...

Wow--what a place--
and as for milk deliveries--I do remember those and we had them way out in the country and even after I graduated high school in 66--my mom even had to cut the milk order in half after I left home--even though there was still 3 kids left at home ( I am the oldest) Also--my parents met at milk bottle making factory--Thatcher Glass in Elmira, NY in 1943-44--as they got married on Feb 21st, 1945--!!!!
I still love those kitties the best though--though those little toy cars were awfully cute!!!
enjoy, di

Quilting Babcia said...

Some of those museum pieces reside in my sewing room and are used on a daily basis, tomato pincushion and vintage Singers are an awfully familiar sight! What a fun museum!

WoolenSails said...

What an amazing museum, have never seen so much and so many different collectibles, in one place.

Debbie

Robin said...

Haven't been there but it is now on the list. BTW we had milk, bread and Herrs chips + pretzels delivered (all different people) in Wilmington, DE in the 50's-early 60's, they probably delivered before that but I only know from 1954 on. Even the pediatrition made house calls which I'm sure was a lifesaver for my mom as she had 4 kids & did not drive.

Robin said...

P.S. The "clan" I'm sorry to say is still alive and well especially in those north FL counties. 😡

Robin said...

P.S. The "clan" I'm sorry to say is still alive and well

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Love this kind of eclectic museum! BUT my first thought was - and you have to dust all that stuff!! It probably is more amazing to us as we HAVE used many of the displayed items in our life time. Had a great laugh at the mirror pic, thanks for that one.

piecefulwendy said...

I can't imagine documenting all that stuff! It certainly made for an interesting stop. I am also a former legal secretary and well remember the Selectric II and those funky font balls (PICA and Elite). I remember being trained in on the Mag Cards and Memory typewriters. It was really big stuff back then! I vaguely remember milk getting delivered to our doorstop as a kid, but we soon switched to the box variety from the store. What a fun day!

kc said...

Holy Smokes! You're right - there's everything there but the tongue depressors! (tho, they may have been and you just didn't show us the pic!!) Geez, we've been by there, I dunno, maybe 63 thousand times, and we've never even given a thought to stopping in. Now that we see all that's there, I'm not sure there's enough time in any one lifetime to see it all!

Glad you got some good weather for walking - I'm guessing that's where you're at now. I know we've warmed up some, but they are promising our coldest temps yet for tomorrow. Fun city, I'm sure. We even canceled our weekend campout because we didn't want to deal with walking our princess and working with frozen hoses and pipes. We WERE planning on being up in GA, but I don't mind missing out on all the fun that cold temps brings on.

When I first started typing, it was on an old black & gold Remington, I believe, with a red and black ribbon and round keys that went up to type-setting type keys that struck the ribbon. Mistakes were just that - permanent mistakes. Eventually, that gave way to the early punch card machines, where mistakes were once again permanent, unless you put in another card and repunched. That was why everything got "verified" by another puncher. Noisy suckers they all were too!

Looking forward to seeing the park through your eyes and lenses!
Safe travels..

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

Gee, I think your legs shrank in that mirror;) Love the machines. Some of the descriptions are interesting (never heard them called red dot decals before). You both would love House on the Rock in Wisconsin. It also has some great collections, and several 'bands' that you can hear. We spend most of the day at that one.

Brown Family said...

That is amazing! I am sure there was no way to see or remember it all! Where do you get cloths for short legged long body and arms??

heartsease54 said...

That museum must be huge! It looks like it would take more than a day to see everything, so interesting. Loved all of the pictures.

VickiT said...

Holy cow! That museum looks very impressive. It's fun to see things collected the way they have done. And they have SO many of each type of thing, not just one of them. I loved the Selectric II typewriters as well. In fact, I ran across one of them for sale really cheap back in maybe 1994-5. I don't recall exactly when, but do remember it was not long after buying the house I live in now. I may still have that buried in the back storage room. I also have a word processor which had its own screen and the daisy wheels to put inside for using other fonts. And then I got my first computer and shoved them all in the back room. (yea need to get rid of the cr*p in my house obviously)

In the collection behind the counter you almost didn't take pictures of and then changed your mind; did you happen to cath the error on the bylaws cover page? They spelled 'original' wrong. LOL

I agree with another comment saying you would love the House On The Rock in Wisconsin.

quiltzyx said...

WOW! What an amazing collection of collections! I also vaguely remember us getting milk deliveries when I was a wee one. Of course, my favorite was the Helm's bakery truck! Funny, what I remember best about the Helm's truck is the wooden drawers! I thought they were cool then & still do now.
Seeing the sewing machines reminded me of your antique sewing machine quilt :)
Love the FL Highway Patrol car! I will have to see if the Tucker movie is available on Netflix or Amazon Prime - I saw it at the theater, but now want to see it again!
Does Mike's Corvette change color? I remember there was one year of Corvette yellow that would do that - if it was parked in partial sun/shade, you can see a difference in the color. I can't remember what year it was though.
That last photo of the cats looking out thru' the screen looks like it's printed on fabric! Beautiful!

Gosh, thanks so much for taking us through the museum with you!

SJSM said...

Bakersfield, California had milk delivery at least two o the mid 70’s. Met my husband’s family then and was amazed that such a thing still existed.