Anticipating the completion and move into the new LeMay-America’s Car Museum building and the exhibits for the Harold E. LeMay Exhibit (including, as well, all other Americas Car Museum Exhibits), the museums vehicles have been going through several levels of conservation and careful display preparation. Cars, trucks and motorcycles will need to be fully assessed, cleaned, dressed and conserved. Much of this work is being accomplished through the generous support of our museum volunteer staff.

Recently, two volunteer staff training classes were conducted on Vehicle Assessment and Vehicle Detailing. Attending the Vehicle Assessment class were twelve volunteers, conducted within the Museums facility at Fife by the Director of Collections, Renee Crist. This class covered processes concerning vehicle authentication, research, and display assessment. Using all of the information gathered in this process, the Collection Management team can better plan for a cars preservation and conservation needs.

One of the highlights of this class was breaking the group of twelve 'assessors-in-training' into teams, all assigned to assess three of the museum's cars. Putting this exploratory process into action proved to be a helpful and informative experience for all the assessors, as well as a lot of fun! Staff Volunteer Pat Crist, part of the Collection Management volunteer team since the 2006, served as Crew Chief, sharing his experience, and counseling the teams as they eagerly poured over the cars.

A special four hour training class for our Detail Crew was also held at (America's Car Museum Sponsor) Griot’s Garage, focusing on the proper ways to utilize Griot’s extensive line of fine car care products.

Both classes had long waiting lists due to their high level of interest by museum volunteers. Those interested in attending should watch out for the new class schedule, to be posted sometime later this spring.