On the Road – Reno, NV

This morning I woke up early.  I mean really early – because a bear and her cubs were rummaging around in the motel’s dumpster.  Not a big deal, just a little noisy.

It was a very pleasant motel in Walker, CA.  They had a dog named Socks and a big yellow tabby whose name I do not know, but it was very talkative and liked its head rubbed.

When I woke up for real I performed the traditional activities and then climbed in the Evolution and headed off to Reno and the National Automobile Museum.

It didn’t take but about and hour so I stopped for breakfast at Hamdogs.  Like a lot of places in Nevada it provides food and lots of opportunities to gamble.  The food was great and the price was excellent.

After paying for the meal and heading out the door I spotted a terrific looking Chevy truck.  I strolled over to take some photos of it and said hi to a couple of guys near it.   One was the owner, Bart, and the other was a fellow retiree Tom.  I took a couple of good shots and Tom told me that it had been used by L.L. Bean and other companies that needed and old pickup for their catalog spreads.  It was all original and was a rare four wheel drive version.

It is always a treat to see a neat vehicle like that as I travel around.

Then it was on to the National Automobile Museum.  It was not hard to find with the GPS or probably without.  Parking was easy as the lot was right next to the museum.

I really enjoyed this collection.  It is what remains of Harrah’s huge collection and has some of the most unique examples.  It certainly warrants a visit.

There are hundreds of cars on display and I cannot afford the space to present them all so I’m going to pick a few and add my comments.

Here is a small car that was sold by Briggs & Stratton.  How many of you knew that Briggs & Stratton provided most of the door, trunk, and ignition locks on American cars?

Here is an example of the Roll Royce that was manufactured in Springfield, Massachusetts, prior to the Great Depression.  I knew an older fellow that had the envious job of putting the first 500 miles on Rolls Royce cars while he was going to college in Springfield.

This 1937 Airmobile pre-dated the Tucker for forward thinking.  It had an air-cooled horizontally opposed four cylinder engine and was front wheel drive with only three wheels.

The Batmobile designed by George Barris from a show car that Lincoln had taken off the show car circuit.

Here is a Jeep I know Judy would like.  Harrah had a Ferrari engine put in his Jeep wagon.