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By Joe Boomgaard | M&C
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The vehicles at the Gilmore Car Museum are spread across many themed exhibits, like the current one on the history of stock car racing, above, rotate through the museum. PHOTOS:  JOE BOOMGAARD

HICKORY CORNERS — Driving along M-43 just north of Gull Lake, motorists might notice a plat of land with what might seem like an inordinate number of barns, but most people probably just keep on driving. They don’t know what they’re missing.

The people that do stop at the Gilmore Car Museum are treated to one of the most comprehensive collections of vintage automobiles in the country and a real education in the history of American car culture.

The museum traces its roots back to 1963, when former Upjohn Company President Donald Gilmore got his first Pierce Arrow as a gift from his wife. A hobby was born — albeit in his front yard under an Army tent, which in the affluent Gull Lake neighborhood, didn’t go over so well. Soon thereafter, he purchased two farms to the north of the lake, plotted the roads and built a machine shop.

From there the collection grew — and not just of classic automobiles. Jay Follis, marketing director for the museum, said Gilmore also had an affinity for saving old barns. When he’d find classic barns, he’d buy them, disassemble them piece by piece and then bring them to the Hickory Corners site, where they were reconstructed.

In 1966, Gilmore opened his collection to the public. Gilmore died in 1979, and his wife helped start a foundation that turned the collection into a full-fledged museum. Each of the barns or individual floors in the barns have unique themes, ranging from the earliest models of gas, steam and electric vehicles — No, it’s not a Nissan Leaf. The oldest EV on hand, a Columbia Electric Runabout, dates back to 1903 — to luxury vehicles and even period-correct car dealerships and a gas station.

Today, the museum regularly displays about 250 cars, although the overall collection sits at about 350 vehicles, Follis said. The museum doesn’t own all of the vehicles on display. In the mid-1980s, it began partnering with car clubs to open exhibits in various barns. For example, the Classic Car Club of America has its own barn and shows cars owned by its members.

“The challenge is that we don’t usually buy cars,” Follis said. “In the last three years, we’ve had 65 donated to us, so it’s a question of where do we put them all?” By working with the clubs, the museum has expanded the breadth of the cars it shows, as well as found ways to expand by adding new barn facilities. “Going back seven or eight years, we’ve had about $15 million in investment. We’ve done it in a poor economy and with private funds — and with no tax dollars. This has been all private individuals that have given us that.”

The Gilmore Car Museum recently completed a $9.5 million fundraising campaign to support an additional expansion in line with its master plan. The project will add a 32,000-square-foot facility to be called the Automotive Heritage Center, that will house the main offices and two banquet facilities. The new building, which features brick construction designed to look like an early automotive factory, will serve as the new “front door” to the museum.

Kalleward Group Inc. of Kalamazoo is serving as the general contractor for the project, which was designed by Bosch Architecture of Portage. The museum took advantage of the buyers’ market and favorable pricing in the existing construction market and got the project cheaper than it would have been able to get it a few years ago, Follis said. The staff hopes the addition will open by Nov. 1.

Moreover, Follis said the dedicated banquet facilities will open new opportunities for the museum. Currently, the Gilmore does host some events like wedding receptions, but mostly in outdoor tents. The staff didn’t feel it was fair to take over portions of the museum for special events because doing so would take away opportunities for paying customers to see the vehicles. Glass doors will serve to separate the banquet halls from the public space when in use. While the new facility will be tied into existing exhibit barns, it will be set up so that events won’t deprive any patrons of seeing exhibits.

The Gilmore Car Museum is in the middle of a major expansion to create new exhibit and banquet space that will also serve as the new “front door” to the museum. The new brick building is styled to look like an early automotive factory. PHOTO: JOE BOOMGAARD

While 32,000 square feet might not sound like a lot of space, Follis said some existing exhibits will relocate to the new facility, which would open up exhibit space in other barns and even result in freeing up entire locations for exhibits, as will be the case with the research library barn. Part of the funds raised in the recent campaign will go to upgrading the other spaces, and that should have a great impact on the available space for displaying other vehicles in the Gilmore collection, he said.

The expansion coincides with another major change for the museum. Starting this year, it plans to be open year-round.

“Organizations turned to us to open up a museum onsite. We’re the only car museum large enough to allow other groups to come in,” Follis said. “Plus, we’re an educational outlet. We can reach more students and be more of a community resource (if we’re open all year.) … As we were adding staff and the new building, we said, ‘Why not be open year round?’”

The museum employs a staff of about 45 people, although that number normally increases in the summer months when it adds docents. Being open all year does pose challenges for Follis and his colleagues in that the winter months were often the time when the staff worked on developing marketing materials and new signage for exhibits, but he said the whole organization is excited to reach more people. M&C

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• automotive heritage center
• donald gilmore
• gilmore car museum
• hickory corners
• kalleward group