Antique Car Museum of Iowa

[Kohlsdorf] Featuring more than 80 vintage automobiles, the Antique Car Museum of Iowa takes visitors on a ride through motorcar history. Located within Iowa City's Xtream Arena, this one of a kind exhibit is the perfect stop for automobile enthusiasts.

[Tom Schuppert] Brooke, welcome to the Antique Car Museum of Iowa.

[Kohlsdorf] Thank you for having us. This place is a car lover's dream. Tell us a little bit about the mission.

[Tom Schuppert] Our mission is to preserve the history of cars throughout time. Our oldest vehicle is 1899. Our newest one is 1965.

[Kohlsdorf] Some of the first cars you notice when you walk in are some of these old Fords that you have set up.

[Tom Schuppert] Yes, these are the model A Fords. This is our model A collection. Over here, this is a typical model T. Well, we have a special one over here that is worth mentioning.

[Kohlsdorf] Okay, let's go take a look.

[Tom Schuppert] This is one we like to feature. This is a Mason. These were manufactured in Des Moines.

[Kohlsdorf] Oh, really?

[Tom Schuppert] What's unique about this is they only made them for eight years and they didn't make that many, about 1,500. Only six remain today. Three of them are in Iowa. These put out a pretty good beam of light. But you always had to have a box of matches with you because you had to light everything.

[Kohlsdorf] Tell us about this thing behind us. It also says Mason, right? 

[Tom Schuppert] Yes. You could order it with two bodies. It's called a 2-in-1 car. The magazine ad says that you can go to church Sunday in your car and then go to work Monday morning in your truck. The bodies are interchangeable with just six bolts.

[Tom Schuppert] We call this the blacksmith shop and this houses the motor buggies. Motor buggies were made to be affordable as possible. Many manufacturers already had the buggy making part down, so now they're just putting engines in them, usually under the floor. Wooden wheels were still cheap. Rubber tires were expensive. Plus a lot of people in rural areas were buying these because of the high ground clearance. Their roads were never paved, of course, so these did well in muddy conditions.

[Kohlsdorf] It's interesting history. I'm noticing Sears. Am I seeing that right?

[Tom Schuppert] Yes. That's a Sears automobile. You ordered it out of the catalog. So you had ten days to return it and there wasn't any truck delivery. So it was left at the railroad depot. But when you got it, all you had to do was put the wheels on it, put gasoline in it, and you could drive it home.

[Tom Schuppert] This car is fun to talk about. This is a Brush. The man's name was Alan Brush. He made cars for five years. He's trying to make them affordable. So both the axles, the firewall, the seats, the floor, even the entire frame is made out of wood. 

[Kohlsdorf] Really? 

[Tom Schuppert] Yes.

[Kohlsdorf] Was it popular?

[Tom Schuppert] It was. It was fairly popular. Everybody was trying new innovations to bring down costs. It was cheaper than steel. Now it's the other way around.

[Tom Schuppert] This is Maytag. These were made in Waterloo, Iowa.

[Kohlsdorf] They made more than just washers.

[Tom Schuppert] They did. They only made the cars, though, for three years. They weren't successful at it. So they refocused their attention on washing machines.

[Tom Schuppert] This is a car that surprises a lot of people. Tell me what you see here.

[Kohlsdorf] Ooh, batteries.

[Tom Schuppert] People are surprised that there was some 224 electric car companies in the United States before 1929. They all had this Cinderella carriage appearance with the tall windows. And the reason for that is because I believe it was 80% of the buyers of these cars were women because you didn't have to start them and you didn't have to shift and they were quiet. For the first 20 years, it was a toss up between steam and electric and gasoline, but gasoline proved to be the most convenient.

[Kohlsdorf] You have so many automobiles here. Who owns all of these?

[Tom Schuppert] The museum owns ten of them. There's 90 altogether. The other 80 belong to people here in town. And they bring them down here just to show them off. And they're protected in here.

[Kohlsdorf] Well, some of these cars are pretty old. Do they all run?

[Tom Schuppert] Actually, there's four that don't run. All the others – 

[Kohlsdorf]  Only four? 

[Tom Schuppert] Only four. We do have a car over here if you want to go for a ride. It's a 1924 Ford and we could take it outside if you like.

[Kohlsdorf] Let's go for a spin.

[Tom Schuppert] Okay.