The construction of a 165,000 square foot, four-story museum to house the breadth of American automotive history is a solemn and a mathematical dilemma.
Although the severity of the company can be transparent, a response to the initial question, “How many cars are we talking about?” It is not.
“I do not know,” said Madeira in a recent interview in The Times, when asked how many vehicles were in possession of Harold LeMay, trash magnate, whose collection of cars available to Americans who constitute the majority of the museum holdings. Mr. LeMay, who died in 2000, was prone to the purchase of a barn or a field that contains the old cars just to prevent its contents from landing in a junkyard. “He was not an expert, was a true collector,” said Madeira.
Since 2002, Mr. Madeira has been president and CEO of the LeMay Museum, which since 1998 has had a physical presence a little liquid on the campus of a former military academy on Interstate 5 north central focus Tacoma. Many of the museum cars are stored in specially built warehouses and a former gymnasium on campus. The museum has used certain events, including the New York Auto Show, to raise public awareness of the museum not only development, but the institution itself. In April, LeMay mounted a show of vintage mini-cars at the Javits Center.
In June, the museum, with a capacity “to 750” cars in the gallery spaces, according to Mr. Madeira, is scheduled to open in an area of ??nine acres near Tacoma Dome.n according to the scale the project, Mr. Madeira and the museum’s advisory board provides a national attraction, not a curiosity road.
“We went to Epcot, Disney, Universal CityWalk,” said Madeira. “We realized we had to do a destination.”
The collection has been killed in recent years, with the collaboration of the Board, Ms. LeMay and their children, “north of a thousand” automobiles, Mr. Madeira said. Still, the scope of the collection was such that the name of the new institution, the Museum of American cars, he deserved, he said.
“The first car is from 1903,” said Madeira. “His tastes were everywhere. We have everything from an AMC Pacer to a Duesenberg.”
Much of the work of Mr. Madeira has consisted of fundraising, a process complicated by the financial crisis of 2008. “It looks bad for a while there,” he said.
The museum has 53 corporate sponsors, including local corporations such as Boeing. Napa auto parts retailer, contributed $ 500,000 as well as equipment for maintenance facility on the site. Hagerty, the insurance provider car collector, and State Farm are among other sponsors of the museum. He also received a federal grant of $ 1 million to help in construction. According to a press release, the museum expects to contribute $ 34 million to the economy of Seattle-Tacoma.
The board of the museum also intends to use the site of 3.5 acres of field show that the new home of the Kirkland Concours d’Elegance, the show’s main harvest in the Pacific Northwest. The museum’s inaugural contest is scheduled for September 9, 2012.
The collection of Mr. LeMay is spinning inside and outside the exhibition space, but Mr. Madeira anticipated that there would be space to accommodate the vehicles of visitors from other private collections. The watchmaker Nicola Bulgari, an avid car collector of mid-century Americans, who also serves on the board of the museum, are expected to exhibit some of their cars there.