No Cigar! (A Car Museum Worth Seeing)

So I told you last week that I was going to a racing car trade show at Lefthander Chassis, a business located just across the Wisconsin border in Roscoe, Illinois. And the president of Lefthander, Wayne Lensing, tells me he also has a museum I should see. So I'm thinking of a dusty little pole building with things like Richard Petty's go-kart and Barney Oldfield's goggles (or maybe Barney's last cigar).

So I get off I90/I39 at the last exit before the Illinois Tollway, turn right and go not too far, and here's this big sign "TRADE SHOW." And at the end of the street is this huge building with a parking lot full of cars and "Historic Auto Attractions" lettered on it. I go inside and see a Ford V-8 chassis, a cut-a-way Stutz display engine and a similar Carterpillar engine and some large tin signs for sale. About what I expected. Then I go to the registration desk and the pretty little gal points me towards a set of doors off to my right. I go through them and I'm like a kid in an old-car candy store.

Here's a list: John Dillinger car, Bonnie & Clyde movie car, Al Capone beer truck (I remember the Chicago auction where this one sold), Conway Twitty's Lincoln, the Johnny Cash one-piece-at-a-time Caddy, an Elvis car, a '53 'Vette, a room full of Presidential cars from Roosevelt up, plus cars from the Royal Family, Peron, King of Siam (ex-Imperial Palace), etc. Then an old ambulance, a room packed with racing cars, a room of Super Hero Cars (including the Ghostbuster wagon), a room of TV cars, Stalin's '37 Packard . . . the list (and the cars) just goes on and on.

Like I said, it's called Historic Auto Attractions. The place is easy to find. I must have driven past it on the highway hundreds of times. It offers you a fantastic journey through time. It's definitely a must for your summer travel list if you live in the Midwest or if you're passing through the Chicago area. Visit www.historicautoattractions.com to get all the other details. It's definitely worth a long visit.