Largest privately owned auto collection-world
record set by LeMay Museum
TACOMA, WA, USA -- Harold and Nancy
LeMay amassed in excess of 2,000 vehicles and thousands
of artifacts which were donated to the LeMay Museum-setting
the world record for the Largest
privately owned auto collection.
Photo: Some of the LeMay car collection
is currently housed in a facility in Spanaway. Photo by DREW
PERINE/The News Tribune (enlarge
photo)
In 1998, Harold and Nancy LeMay formed the 501c3
charitable organization, The
Harold E. LeMay Museum, and committed themselves to
donating the vast LeMay Collection to the Museum for the benefit
of the public.
The LeMay
Museum was chartered to secure, preserve and interpret
the valuable LeMay Collection, along with additional vehicles
and artifacts that it may acquire, in order to explore the
broad themes of American mobility and lifestyle in an instructive
and entertaining manner. The magnitude of the LeMay
Collection, and its power to relate the story of the
American experience with the automobile, demands a new paradigm
in transportation museums.
The new museum will be an inviting place,
eliciting memories and stories from those who visit. It will
provide a venue to explore history, design, technology and
restoration. In short, the museum will create “America's Auto
Experience” and become a world-class tourist destination in
its own right.
A gleaming beacon above the city of Tacoma's
growing city, LeMay
– AMERICA'S CAR MUSEUM® will be a technologically
advanced, interactive automotive museum and educational center
that will showcase the cultural impact of cars, motorcycles
and trucks on our uniquely American way of life.
Based on the LeMay
Collection, currently consisting of over 2,000 cars,
the new Museum will ultimately house 1,000 diverse vehicles,
spanning a century of automotive history and the future of
our transportation system.
Upon completion, this $100 million project will
be the largest auto museum and attraction in the world, and
will bring an estimated 500,000 visitors and some $34,000,000
to the local economy annually.
Nancy LeMay is thrilled with the plans for the
Museum's future home. “Harold would love the design, the way
it suggests a car, and most importantly, that it is designed
to become a gathering place for the community. I believe this
is a great vision and that we can and will get it done”.