LeMay - America's Car Museum named one of 8 big openings in 2012.  Click here to read the full article.

LeMay America’s Car Museum (ACM) opened its doors Saturday night during a one-night only sneak peek for 650-plus partygoers at the “Hard Hat & High Heels” fundraiser, the first event to take place on the nine-acre Museum campus.

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LeMay - ACM had an exhibit set up at the New York International Auto Show last week that sparked quite a bit of press coverage for the Museum. Here's one of many great stories posted on the New York Times blog last week:

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Rome wasn’t built in a day, so it shouldn’t be a big surprise that a massive undertaking like LeMay – America’s Car Museum (ACM), has taken nearly a decade to complete. “That’s not unusual for a museum project,” says Alan Grant, the chief architect of the 165,000-sq.-ft.  museum complex in Tacoma, Wash. Grant, co-owner of the architectural firm GrantPrice in Los Angeles, has designed structures around the globe, but ACM presented a variety of new challenges for him and his company. With ACM construction now more than halfway complete, Grant reflected on the “deceptively difficult” process of designing and creating a museum built principally through philanthropy that will serve “as the heart of world’s automotive culture.”  

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With Winter officially ending in about a week, so too comes the completion of the concrete structure of the LeMay Museum.  Little did we know that this Winter would bring with it bouts of snow accompanied by atypical high winds and heavy rains which our project team has managed to stay safely on schedule while building a truly impressive structure.  With Spring around the corner, we welcome the Heavy Timber Structure crew that will create the arched curve profile of the roof.  In addition to the construction of the building’s shell, excellent progress continues within the building’s interior.  Wall and soffit framing is underway and the mechanical and electrical crews are busy installing the building’s infrastructure.  Stay tuned for more updates and keep your eyes peeled for the assembly of the magnificent arched roof.

Here's an interview from March 3rd, with our President & CEO, David Madeira talking about the progress of the Museum, how it started and why it's being built in Tacoma. Don't miss it!

http://missmotormouth.com/2011/03/david-madeira-of-the-lemay-auto-museum-joins-autoline-after-hours-tonight/ 

Whether you live in the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest, or the East Coast, LeMay - AMERICA’S CAR MUSEUM is actively hosting and attending events throughout the country - and now, the world! Here’s a sneak peak at the exciting events happening in 2011. Click here for more details on these and other events.

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This comes from Sports Car Digest blog:

Among the major car collections in the world, there is one that stands out more than any other as synonymous with excellence: that of iconic American fashion designer Ralph Lauren. A selection of the most prestigious sports cars from the 1930s to present day is on view for the first time in Europe at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, with the exhibit running 28 April – 28 August, 2011.

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By: Karl Anderson, LeMay Board Member

In the summer of 1929, Martha Beck, of Boston, Massachusetts, packed up her two daughters, Barbara and Marjorie, and two of their friends, Iva Bryant and Else Rommelfanger, and embarked on an epic cross-country road trip in their new Ford Model A touring car. They drove through the Blue Ridge Mountains to Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona and New Mexico.

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This post comes from Classic Rallies.com:

Mark your calendars now for the Phoenix Classic and Exotic Car Auction on Friday, January 14th and Saturday, January 15 at Manheim Phoenix located 201 N 83rd Avenue in Tolleson, Arizona. This world-class auction, co- produced by Motoexotica and Manheim, will feature over 400 classic and exotic vehicles.

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This comes from Hemmings Blog:

As CorvetteBlogger.com reminded us this morning, it was 57 years ago today that Zora Arkus-Duntov wrote his famous letter to Ed Cole entitled “Thoughts Pertaining to Youth, Hot Rodders, and Chevrolet” and on display at the National Corvette Museum  in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Judging from the ubiquity of the small-block Chevrolet over the next half-century in just about every form of racing and hot rodding, it’s readily apparent Zora knew what he was talking about.

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With forecasts pointing towards consistent cold temperatures and rain for the next few weeks, the LeMay construction team is focused on maintaining a safe and productive jobsite.  Over the last few weeks the first level of cast in place concrete decks and ramps have been placed allowing for the structural crews to continue going vertically inside of the building.  The arrival of approved utility permits will kick off underground piping activities across the site and the massive stockpile of earth will begin to slowly shrink throughout the winter as it is placed across the site.  

By Ian Klein:
 
The first week of November started by delivering a relative monsoon followed by a  few days of record warm temperatures.  Last week also brought new crewmembers to the site with the concrete deck subcontractor mobilizing and installing ramps and horizontal deck formwork.  The dry weather towards the end of the  week allowed for the waterproofers to make substantial progress on the west below grade walls while the concrete crews continued to install shear walls, columns and pilasters.  This week will focus on more of the same as the standing shell of the structure is tied into its growing core.
 

By Ian Klein:

Two weeks following the erection of the concrete tilt up panels, building construction activities are focused upon placing concrete columns, pilasters, ramps and decks.  In addition to the concrete structure and on the seldom dry autumn day, the perimeter below grade walls are waterproofed with a 2 part, mesh reinforced, fluid applied synthetic rubber membrane that is covered by a drain board.  The electricians and mechanical crews continue to work in concert with the concrete subcontractors in order to rough in power, lighting, fire sprinkler, plumbing and other MEP systems. 

 

This post comes from Wired.com

Hold on to your Huey Lewis and the News cassettes: An all-electric DeLorean DMC-12 will be rolling through the country roads of Italy just in time for the 25th anniversary of Back to the Future’s original European release.

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Starting from the Beginning…

In 2009, Burt Richmond & Diane Fitzgerald, long-time residents of Chicago’s historic Old Town neighborhood and car enthusiasts, had their first exhibition of microcars and minicars.  In conjunction with the 60th Old Town Art Fair, which was just 2 blocks away, Diane and Burt displayed eight small cars (complete with information plaques) in front of their home and received an overwhelming response.  The small, fuel-efficient cars attracted so much attention that Diane and friends Rebecca Hoffman and Wendy Jarchow, decided to produce small car events - exhibitions and invitational car shows - to piggyback with Chicago's summer festival season – and Teeny Tiny Productions was born.

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This article comes from Carscoop.com

Though we'd all like to think we're pretty unbiased when it comes to gender roles in the workplace, there are still a few that manage to surprise us.

Take for example automotive designers. The list of male personas in the industry is almost endless: Harley Earl, Raymond Loewy, Ian Callum, Chris Bangle, Giorgetto Giugiaro... Now try and think of female car designers and you're unlikely to come up with even one name without Googling it.

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It’s no surprise to you that small cars = big smiles. But who would guess that little cars would be the gateway to interactions with such a broad group of people " kids to seniors? Children think microcars were made for them. Teens are amazed by their shape and color. Women love the design and think of them as “accessories”. Men are intrigued by the improbable technology. And seniors have stories from the old days and “old country” about these great, little vehicles.

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This blog post comes from Terry Parkhurst, a volunteer and friend of the Museum, who has also posted it on Automatter.com.

A DOHC 16 valve in-line four-cylinder engine displacing just 255 cubic inches, yet fully capable of producing 500 horsepower, normally aspirated, powers the “Zink Pink” Champ car of John and Barbara Nelson. Thing is, the car was built for racing way back in 1955. Honda wasn’t the first to exploit the full potential of four bangers. Offenhauser, who made the engine in the Nelson’s car, was doing that long before the S2000 ever made it to America.

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