Looking Into The Past

Automobiles of the past were icons of passion, admiration, and affection. My visit to the Audrain Automobile Museum in Newport confirmed and reinforced this thought; the design and lines of the cars explained the main reason behind it. The short story: They were gorgeous! They were Cars, we now drive cars, vehicles and the current crop generally does not rise to their “grandparents” and grandparent’s bar the utmost exotics like the Bugatti Veyron.

My friend Jim spotted the museum during their breakfast visit to Newport. The next day we went to the museum which is located next to the Tennis Hall of Fame. The current exhibit is a collection of custom cars and hot rods, owned by a private collector. The museum, which opened just about one year ago, is staging its third exhibit of cars. The current exhibit contains 16 cars either built as custom cars or have been modified as hot rods. They were all modified, restored, finished, and presented with great taste and restraint. Jim, the docent on duty, told me that they are dusted every other day and their gloss was spotless. We enjoyed the cars on display, reminisced about the old days a little, left the museum with a wonderful experience.

Below, I am going to share with you some photographs of the cars on display. As you will see, there is no full car photograph due to space limitations, lighting issues, and the protective ropes around the vehicles. Those factors made us focus mainly on details and segments of the cars and the results represent the best lines from the cars and a collection of abstract photographs. Here is the Audrain exhibit.