Wisconsin
Automotive Museum
The Wisconsin Automotive Museum is the state's
biggest auto museum that features an ever growing exhibition of
vintage, classic autos and automotive relics like the Kissel,
that had been built in the city from 1906 to 1931, with the most
famous model being the "Speedster" that would be affectionately
called the Gold Bug, and were owned by such great stars of the
period as Amelia Earhart and Fatty Arbuckle. The other exhibits
include; the museum's gift shop, an exhibit dedicated to the
Nash, that had been manufactured in Kenosha in 1916, industrial
and outboard engines that were made in Hartford from 1936 until
1992, an all-new exhibit area for the Hudson Essex Terraplane,
outstanding automotive relics like license plates, signs, oil
cans and spark plugs and more than 90 other rare treats like the
Pierce-Arrows, Pontiacs, Reos, Fords, Chevrolets and Studebakers
sitting in a marvelous art deco setting. The museum has just
finished celebrating its 25th anniversary and is looking forward
to many more years of car collecting and providing the finest
automobiles from history to all those that come to the region
for fun and excitement. The museum contains more than a hundred
of these exemplary autos, of all kinds and from all years, as
well as a magnificent 250 ton steam locomotive and Hugh Lionel
train layout. The structure that house this fantastic collection
was originally constructed as a cannery in 1905 and then had to
be rebuilt after burning down in 1918, with numerous autos that
had been produced in the state during the past century. The most
notable was the Kissel Motor Car Company that had been founded
in 1906 by Louis Kissel and his sons, William and George, who
would produce about 30,000 custom built autos and then later,
trucks, before having to cease production in 1931 because of
financial hardships brought about by the Great Depression; and
check out the company's most popular and luxurious model, a
two-seater 1919 Speedster that was nicknamed the Gold Bug.
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