Maybe the museum has a picture of H. Ford and F. Porsche together from when he visited Detroit. *NM*

Have to take my daughter to U of Michigan for her orientation and will have 2 1/2 days of free time. Was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on car museums available to visit during my stay in the Detroit and surrounding area. Henry Ford museum is a must but what else is available? Too bad no Porsche museum

Personally, if it was me, i'd spend the day, at the ballpark if the Tigers are in town. I also think I've heard that there is a Mortorsports Hall of Fame there. Dedicated to racing in America.

But, to fill one day let alone 2 1/2 days in Detroit is not going to be too fun as it is probably one of America's fastest dying cities. Even before the auto industry went in the tank during the recent financial downture, the city was devastated by the housing crisis and may never recover. In fact, there are so many abandoned homes, the city is seriously thinking of bulldozing them and setting up urban farming districts. Yes, widescale farming within a city's limits. That's how hard Detroit has been hit.

Sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but good luck. if you set the bar low, there's nowhere to go but up, right?

Here's some info from someone that lives in the area..…

Think of the Detroit are as a big doughnut. The hole in the middle is Detroit and the surrounding area is just fine, with most of it downright very nice.

Detroit has problems, no argument there. But when, for example, 3 city blocks are inhabited by 4 or 5 residences it is a pretty good idea to consolidate the city (to save on electrical power service, plowing, sewer service, police and fire service) and use the open land for urban farming. It is a pretty novel approach and I believe that is setting the bar pretty high.

Back to the man’s question:

Local to Ann Arbor is the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum www.ypsiautoheritage.org. It is part of the last working Hudson Dealership in the world located in Depot Town in Ypsilanti. If you are in town on the first Saturday of the month, I will be glad to take you to the "Warehouse" (also in Ypsilanti), a rather plain building on the outside that houses millions of dollars worth of collector cars and is open on these days if you have the secret password. It is also the location of the Late David E. Davis' private office. If you are there on a different Saturday I can take you to a great Porsche hangout in Troy, MI at Neil Goldberg’s shop [neils356.com] There are typically 20 - 30 Porsche nuts there with plenty of cars to ogle. The Henry Ford/Greenfield Village in Dearborn is spectacular www.thehenryford.org. There are several others like the Gilmore near Kalamazoo and the Walter P Chrysler museum etc etc.

To put it simply, 2 1/2 days is not enough time to see what you are interested in.

Or, if you’d like, we can drive the beautiful back roads west of Ann Arbor--you can drive my Boxster, I’ll drive my 356 Cabriolet!

My daughter is an incoming freshman at U of M as well and we will probably be on the same schedule.

Regards,

Sebastian

Ann Arbor, MI







Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/19/2011 10:59PM by SPG356. (view changes)