whirlcool
Well-known member
Today I was invited to go visit John O'Quinns personal auto museum here in Houston. The director of his museum invited a few pilots he knew for a personal tour. This museum is not open to the public, but by invitation only.
I was flabbergasted by the size of the collection. Six hundred cars! The museum building is an old tile warehouse that has been modernized and upgraded. White epoxy floors with a shine that you can see your face in, sheet rock walls, the entire place is air conditioned complete with humidity control. There are loading docks for 18-18 wheelers on the side. That's how big this place is.
Now to the cars! Remember the Pope's Ford Escort on Ebay last fall? Well, it's in there, complete with a custom set of rosary beads.
There are rows and rows of Rolls Royces. Remember the auto in the Titanic movie? It's in there. I think there is a 1907 Rolls and everything up to 1966 Rolls. Shelby Mustangs? An entire row of them! 1950's cars? Sure, rows and rows of Hudsons, Fords, Chevy's, Nashes, Chrylsers, etc. Hot Rods and totally stocks. Quite a collection of Ford Skyliners. There's even a few Kaiser Derrins in there too. Lot s of one of a kind cars too. A 1948 Packard Roadster with a manual let down hard top roof, just like the Ford Skyliners. President Kennedy's 1963 Lincoln complete with the "bubble top" is in there as well.
Lots of concept cars that have come from manufacturers auto shows, the most notable is the Ford Equator SUV. He's giving that one away to a charity to auction to raise cash!
Batmobiles galore from all the recent Batmobile movies. Talbots all over the place! Jaguar XK 140's, an absolute pristine 1954 Caddy Convertable. Woodies from every manufacturer that made them. And lets not forget the Ferraris and the Matserati's either.
And a lot of these cars have been owned by famous people too.
Theres a 1947 Lincoln convertable that was owned by Joan Crawford is in there.
We were told that this will be one of the very last viewings of this collection in its entirity. Mr. O'Quinn plans on building several automotive museums ala the Petersen Musuem in LA around the country and will rotate the collection between them. This collection is worth, over get this, $100 Million Dollars! BTW, we were told that the Petersen Museum is rather small compared to this collection.
There is even a dedicated staff of people who take care of this collection. The executive director used to be a ballerina in a ballet company and now travels the world looking for new acquisitions. She jokes that she used to worry about ballet shoes, now she worries about brake shoes!
Mr. O'Quinn himself came down to welcome us. He seems like a very nice freindly kind of guy. I think he was more interested in what we do rather than talk about his collection!
Oh yes, every last one of these cars is in perfectly mint condition, except the Pope's last Escort. It has a few dings and dents that the Pope put in himself. This car is special because Pope John Paul II was the only Pope that took his personal car to the Vatican with him when he became the Pope. And all the options work on every last one of these cars! There was a 1966 Olds Toranado that had a note on it "Overhaul A/C". All the 1955 Mercedes Gullwings had the correct original luggage in the rear hatch. Same with all the Rolls. And all the cars work, are regularly started up and driven. It takes quite a few full time people to do this task!
I had my camera in the car, but was told no photos, please put your cell phones away.
All in all it was one of the most breath taking experinces I have yet to encounter!
I was flabbergasted by the size of the collection. Six hundred cars! The museum building is an old tile warehouse that has been modernized and upgraded. White epoxy floors with a shine that you can see your face in, sheet rock walls, the entire place is air conditioned complete with humidity control. There are loading docks for 18-18 wheelers on the side. That's how big this place is.
Now to the cars! Remember the Pope's Ford Escort on Ebay last fall? Well, it's in there, complete with a custom set of rosary beads.
There are rows and rows of Rolls Royces. Remember the auto in the Titanic movie? It's in there. I think there is a 1907 Rolls and everything up to 1966 Rolls. Shelby Mustangs? An entire row of them! 1950's cars? Sure, rows and rows of Hudsons, Fords, Chevy's, Nashes, Chrylsers, etc. Hot Rods and totally stocks. Quite a collection of Ford Skyliners. There's even a few Kaiser Derrins in there too. Lot s of one of a kind cars too. A 1948 Packard Roadster with a manual let down hard top roof, just like the Ford Skyliners. President Kennedy's 1963 Lincoln complete with the "bubble top" is in there as well.
Lots of concept cars that have come from manufacturers auto shows, the most notable is the Ford Equator SUV. He's giving that one away to a charity to auction to raise cash!
Batmobiles galore from all the recent Batmobile movies. Talbots all over the place! Jaguar XK 140's, an absolute pristine 1954 Caddy Convertable. Woodies from every manufacturer that made them. And lets not forget the Ferraris and the Matserati's either.
And a lot of these cars have been owned by famous people too.
Theres a 1947 Lincoln convertable that was owned by Joan Crawford is in there.
We were told that this will be one of the very last viewings of this collection in its entirity. Mr. O'Quinn plans on building several automotive museums ala the Petersen Musuem in LA around the country and will rotate the collection between them. This collection is worth, over get this, $100 Million Dollars! BTW, we were told that the Petersen Museum is rather small compared to this collection.
There is even a dedicated staff of people who take care of this collection. The executive director used to be a ballerina in a ballet company and now travels the world looking for new acquisitions. She jokes that she used to worry about ballet shoes, now she worries about brake shoes!
Mr. O'Quinn himself came down to welcome us. He seems like a very nice freindly kind of guy. I think he was more interested in what we do rather than talk about his collection!
Oh yes, every last one of these cars is in perfectly mint condition, except the Pope's last Escort. It has a few dings and dents that the Pope put in himself. This car is special because Pope John Paul II was the only Pope that took his personal car to the Vatican with him when he became the Pope. And all the options work on every last one of these cars! There was a 1966 Olds Toranado that had a note on it "Overhaul A/C". All the 1955 Mercedes Gullwings had the correct original luggage in the rear hatch. Same with all the Rolls. And all the cars work, are regularly started up and driven. It takes quite a few full time people to do this task!
I had my camera in the car, but was told no photos, please put your cell phones away.
All in all it was one of the most breath taking experinces I have yet to encounter!
