Detour Pit Stop #43: Lane Motor Museum, Nashville, USA
Lane Motor Museum
The USA is dotted with auto museums, most of which contain the usual suspects – muscle cars, chromed and be-winged 50s leviathans, Model Ts, Duesenbergs, Harley-Davidsons, maybe even an Italian supercar or three. The Lane Motor Museum doesn’t have any of those.
Established by super collector Jeff Lane in 2002, his eponymous 144,000 square-foot museum, based in a former bakery outside Nashville, Tennessee, contains a rotating display (150 are on show on any given day) of 500 of the strangest, weirdest cars and motorcycles ever made. With a focus on mostly forgotten European oddities, you’ll find microcars, three-wheelers, amphibious and military vehicles and bizarre prototypes in the Lane Museum’s cavernous interior. Highlights include the largest collection of Czechoslovak cars outside of Europe – including 23 Tatras – a 1951 Hoffman, generally considered to be the worst car ever made, and the 63-foot-long, 100-ton US Army LARC-LX amphibious cargo vehicle that is so large that it’s kept outside on the museum’s backlot, where it can allegedly be seen from outer space.
To give you an idea of Lane’s esoteric automotive credentials, his major interest lies in the none-more-obscure field of propeller-powered cars, with his favourite models being a 1919 Leyat Helico and a 1932 Helicron, both of which are part of the collection. Lane himself plays an active role in the life of the museum, and once drove his replica of architect and futurist R. Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion ‘Omni-Medium Transport’ vehicle 650 miles to the Amelia Island Concours event in Florida. Beat that, Jay Leno.
Ultimately the Lane Motor Museum is more than just a bonkers assortment of weird cars and bikes stuffed into an old factory. This vast place gives a fascinating insight into just how many progressive automotive ideas get thrown in the bin, as well as providing a home to many vehicles that time simply forget. If you just want to see classic Mustangs and Ferraris, you’ll most likely find them in the next town along.
Words Luke Ponsford