Forney Transportation Museum

The Forney Museum of Transport is located in an industrial area north of central Denver, Colorado. The museum houses a diverse collection of cars, trucks, motorcycles, carriages and - interestingly - trains. In fact, the star of the collection is the Big Boy locomotive No X4005, a vehicle which really does live up to its name. It's positively gigantic and far too large to get a decent photo of. There are some other interesting vehicles in the collection which I'll cover in the post. It's not a huge collection, but certainly worth a good hour or so visit. http://www.forneymuseum.org/  

A small collection of horse draw carriages and buggies. The yellow buggy is a 1905 Auto Buggy, which was both a horse-drawn carriage and had a small electric powered engine. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1905autobuggy.htm

Military motorbikes and scooters. This is a Cushman utility van.

One of the stars of the collection is Amelia Earhart's 1923 Kissell model 45 roadster.
http://www.forneymuseum.org/FE_AmeliaEarhartGoldBug.html Kissell is a relatively obscure American car manufacturer but Forney has almost a dozen of them.

1909 Empire A20 Tourer. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1909empiretouringa20.htm

1924 Jewett Special Tourer. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1924jewett.htm

1923 Hispano Suiza 6 wheel custom Victoria Town Car. The car was owned by the film director D W Griffith. http://www.forneymuseum.org/FE_HispanoSuiza.html

1912 Metz Model 22 Roadster. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1912metz.htm

1922 Hupmobile Roadster. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1922hupmobile.htm

1917 Vauxhall

There were several interesting comments left by outraged and disappointed parents on TripAdvisor complaining that the cars were roped off and their children couldn't climb on them. Honestly! Have these people ever been to a museum before? Why would anyone think their little monsters should have a right to do what they please?



Rolls-Royce



1937 Cord 812. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1937cordbeverly.htm

1927 Rolls-Royce Phantom 1 formerly owned by Prince Ali-Khan. http://www.forneymuseum.org/FE_HispanoSuiza.html

1934 Pierce-Arrow limousine. http://www.forneymuseum.org/FE_PierceArrow.html









1941 Packard 120 Town Car (Rollson Bodied)

Packard

Trolley car



Vintage caravan display

1981 HMV Freeway http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1981freeway.htm and 1959 Messerschmitt KR200 three-wheelers http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1959messerschmitt.htm

1967 Amphicar. The strange, German built amphibious car was powered by a British Austin engine. Although it was a reasonably decent car and was quite capable in the water, it's still difficult to discern just what market this car was aiming for. http://www.forneymuseum.org/FE_Amphicar.html

A unique experimental flying, aquatic car. If the Amphicar was a confused concept, this was positively bonkers!



1923 Stutz Fire Engine. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1923stutz.htm



Samson truck

International Harvester







Two veteran cars sold through mail order catalogs. 1904 Searchmont http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1903searchmont.htm and a 1906 Sears on the right. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1906sears.htm

1904 Knox. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1904knox.htm

1906 Cadillac http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1906cadillac.htm

1905 Ford Model F. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1905fordroadster.htm

1905 Franklin Type A runabout. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1904franklin.htm

1908 Overland Roadster. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1908overland.htm

1916 Detroit Electric. http://www.forneymuseum.org/FE_Detroit_Electric.html

Neracar tricycle

Indian motorcycle collection

1923 Case steam traction engine. The Case was clearly modeled on a British steam traction design. These type of machines were largely obsolete by the 1920s, being replaced by diesel engined vehicles. Case would go on to become a major tractor manufacturer. http://www.forneymuseum.org/FE_CaseTractor.html



The front end of the Big Boy. The car is just visible in the distance. http://www.forneymuseum.org/Featured_Exhibit.html

1897 Forney Tank Engine. http://www.forneymuseum.org/FE_Forney_Locomotive.html

LeMay-America's Car Museum

During our recent trip across the United States we visited the LeMay-America's Car Museum in Tacoma, Washington State. LeMay Museum is reputed to the be largest car museum in the US. I'm not sure whether it actually is. The Tallahasse Museum collection in Florida seemed larger. http://www.heinkelscooter.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/tallahassee-motor-museum.html  This may have just been due to the layout. The LeMay Museum certainly looks impressive in its modern, hanger-like building. Beneath the curvaceous exhibition hall are four more floors, reminiscent of a parking garage. That said, the layout of the collection wasn't particularly engaging because it felt like a parking garage. The cars were not arranged in any particular theme. There were veterans, vintage and classics parked beside each other. I think the collection would have been better arranged by year or at least by marque so that you could be a witness to their evolution. The photos below follow the sequence of the display, highlighting its lack of clear theme. There were however some great cars in the collection and it was a pleasure to visit. http://www.lemaymuseum.org/

The magnificent exhibition hall featured a display celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Ford Mustang.

1951 Nash. I'm a big fan of these distinctive American cars. http://www.allpar.com/cars/adopted/nash.html

1937 Chrysler and 1942 Ford


1959 Chevrolet Impala.

1942 Chrysler Windsor Highlander

1952 Kaiser-Frazer Deluxe. http://www.allpar.com/cars/adopted/kaiser.html

At the head of the exhibition hall - a Tucker Model 48.

Few American cars are as legendary as the Tucker. Preston Tucker's radical rear engined car was an American re-imagining of the Czechoslovakian Tatra. It was powered by a rear mounted, air-cooled, six-cylinder, horizontally opposed 5.5 litre Franklin helicopter engine and included many innovative safety features.

All the cars were built using components from other cars, such as the steering wheel which was from a Lincoln and the transmission from a Cord, as Tucker had yet to begin manufacturing its own components. All the cars that were built were basically pre-production vehicles. 51 cars were built (of which 47 survive) before the company was driven out of business. http://www.tuckertorpedo49.com/index.htm

1907 Pierce Great Arrow

1916 Pierce-Arrow























Franklin air cooled















Mercedes-Benz 220

Mercedes-Benz

Veteran high-wheelers - Curved Dash Oldsmobile and International Harvester.

One of my other favourite cars of all time - the Cord 812.

Front wheel drive, streamlined and ultra-modern for 1937



International Harvester

International Harvester, now beginning to look a little more 'car like.'

Chevrolet Corvette - I think the Corvette is a much better looking car than the Ford Mustang.

More Mercedes-Benz

1963 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia coupe

Detroil Electric car



1903 Stanley Steamer

Motorcycle collection