the mormonicle chronicle: Vrooom.... An Unusual Museum Visit

The Saturday morning after our Easton, PA, adventure, Tony told me that he has a surprise adventure for me! I was a little leery when he said it was down by the airport since there is really not much there but swampland and industrial properties. But I was game for a surprise! On the way there, Tony told me it was a museum. Again, I was skeptical as there did not seem to be a cultural section in Essington! However, after a nice enough drive down we still were just seeing park and drives and car lots and factories and warehouses. Suddenly, I see a sign that says Car Museum with an arrow. Hmm... curiouser and curiouser! Tony is now getting VERY excited as we pull into a small parking lot next to a building which says Simeone Foundation. Tony reveals that this is a racing car museum that he has heard about for years, but never had the chance to go. It was truly an adventure!

So excited, he's doing a "Hazel"

Dr. Simeone was a physician with a serious passion for collecting classic racing cars. There are over 60 cars in the permanent exhibits. The day we were there, there was also a muscle cars exhibit which had Tony drooling. The cars are laid out in sections from the racetracks they raced on. We not only learned a lot about cars, but a lot about racing that day. I won't post every single picture I took, since it was a lot, but you can see on their website pics and histories of a lot of the cars if you are interested.

One of the first cars you see. The American Austin (obviously). It was a beautiful car.

As I mentioned, the museum is set up by famous world racetracks, and the exhibits are placed in settings that actually are reminiscent of the locations. The most amazing one is the Italian countryside exhibit. The majority of the cars shown had actually raced at the locations, and many were in almost-original condition. By the way, if cars aren't your thing... you can skip to the bottom of this post!

Pre-WWI Racing

1911/1913 Mercer Raceabout and 1916 Stutz Bearcat
See the Fairmount Park race leader board?

Automobile Racing Club of America (Between wars)

Do you think Tony was in heaven?? Oh yeah!

1929 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750cc Super Sport
Known for speed and reliability in European road races (20s-30s).

Watkins Glen, NY (Post WWII Racing)

They first started to revive sports racing in 1948 in Watkins Glen, NY.
Tony's parents went through here on their honeymoon just a few years later!

We will be heading through Watkins Glen this Fall so we are looking forward to it.

1950 Allard J2

Bonneville Salt Flats (Utah)

1937 Supercharged Cord - this car did the flying mile at 108mph and 24 hours at avg 101 mph.

1964 Cobra Daytona Coupe
This was the first one built of six. It set numerous speed records at Bonneville.

Nurburgring, Germany

1956 Mercedes-Benz Gullwing! Very cool car.
In the upper left corner you can see a patch of a movie screen which was showing a driver's view of a race along Nurburgring racetrack. We sat there and watched the entire 18 miles. It was exhilarating and you find yourself leaning from side to side as the car races through the track.

1938 BMW 328

Mille Miglia (1000 Miles in Central Italy) and Targa Florio (Sicily)

1926 Bugatti Type 35

1975 Alfa Romeo 33 TT 12 (front)
1937 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900A (back)

This 1937 Alfa Romeo placed second in 1937 Mille Miglia and is one of two in existence.
Can you believe how beautiful they made this display???

Rifornimento (Refueling station for Mille Miglia)

Sebring, Florida

1956 Jaguar D-Type
1953 Jaguar C-Type

Le Mans, France (24 hour endurance race)

1938 Peugeot Darl'mat Le Mans - Beautiful!

1954 Ferrari 375MM

1958 Ferrari Testa Rossa - arguably the world's most desired sports car.

First in line - 1970 Porsche 917 LH

Winner's Circle display

The blue on the left - 1936 Bugatti 57G "Tank"
This car set land speed records, won every race entered, including 1937 LeMans.

I'm Martin. Aston Martin.
1959 Aston Martin DBR1 - This car won 1958 Nurburgring.

Muscle Cars!!

1969 Ford Mustang like the one Tony sold here

Hood of the Mustang
A lot of the cars have hood locks to keep the hood from popping at top speeds.

This 1969 Camaro Z/28 was actually my favorite muscle car!
Tony says it's a chick car, but I think I could see Steve McQueen driving it.

Ford Mustang Boss 429!

GTO

So that is the end of the car museum!! Did you make it to the end of this huge post? Well, you're in for a treat. We needed to grab some lunch, and Tony remembered a place that he had seen many times from the highway, but had never been to. He remembered it was on a marina on the Delaware river so we drove around Ridley Park for a bit until we found it - A Taste of Key West. It was a hot day, so we sat inside, but it was fun to see the boats go by and watch people load and unload the boats. Tony had conch soup, which I think he was fine to never have again. I had a grouper sandwich which was pretty yummy.