Last week my wife had to sit for a certification exam for her profession. It was conducted over multiple days and held in Phoenix, AZ. That is about a 1.5 hours drive (unless I’m driving the Vette, just joking always, obey the speed limits kids!!) north of Tucson and it made sense to grab a hotel room and spend 3 days. While she was enduring the slow torture that they cleverly called “taking the exam”, I was left with a very rare, continuous span of free time.
I don’t know about you, but when I end up with unappropriated time and I’m in a hotel room, I don’t spend it watching HBO. I’ll jump on the WiFi and find some car action. This was a perfect time to find some local car shows or events. Just so happens on the way to the hotel I saw a sign, a few exits before the one we exited to reach the hotel, that read “Auto Museum”.
I gave that a Google and found the exact address. The museum was called Mel Martin’s Auto Museum – “Phoenix’s Largest Auto Museum” and it was only open from noon to five the next day and asked for a $5 donation. So I put that on my to do list and head there the next day.
The museum is on a one way frontage road. The building looks to be an old self-storage place converted in to businesses. The museum entrance looks unassuming and you wouldn’t think it large enough to house 60 cars and a ton of automobilia.
Here are some highlights:
What kind of car museum would you be without a Corvette or two?
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This beautiful 427 is an eye catcher!
Check out Corvette Row!!!
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Here is a Vette you don’t see anywhere!!!
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The 1992 Lister Corvette
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Great lines…barely resembles a C4.
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Front end looks like a Jaguar’s
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I think the 17″ wheels are great looking!!!
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The hood has those breathing holes for a reason. The LT1 under the hood…yeah it’s Vortech Supercharged!!! 500HP and 454 LB-FT of torque!!! Only automatic produced.
It also included the 1978 25th Anniversary Indianapolis Pace car.
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Only 15 miles on this well-preserved beauty! (No, I don’t know why I took the pic this way.)
Thanks for reading. More coming up on Mel Martin’s Auto Museum.
Tim