Recently, I went to visit a small local car museum – Stahls Automotive Museum – located about 50 miles northeast of Detroit, in Chesterfield Township.
The Collection – Stahls Automotive Museum
Stahls Automotive Museum collection contains around 100 cars housed in a 45,000-square-foot (4,200 m2) industrial-style building.
Since the museum owns more vehicles that they can exhibit, the cars on the floor are constantly rotated. So, supposedly, every time you return, you will see some other vehicles that you had seen on your previous visit.
The museum’s collection ranges from cars from the early era of automotive history, with the 1899 De Dion-Bouton tricycle being the oldest, to recent times with a few of modern muscle cars.
Most vehicles are actually from the earlier times of the automotive era, with the most from the 30’s and 40’s.
There are some real gems! Included in this amazing set are cars like the 1948 Tucker, one of the 47 Tucker cars still in existence, or the 1934 Duesenberg Model J.
There are also some cars from former makes such as Auburn, Benz, Cord, Dimler, Duesenberg, Hudson, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Packard, and many other less-known brands. Then there are vintage cars built by existing car companies – Bentley, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, and Ford, Rolls-Royce.
The collection also includes a few cars built for films, such as The Great Race, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. And replicas, like the DeLorean from Back to the Future.
While the main part of the museum focuses on automobiles, there is also a separate “music room” featuring organs and other automated musical instruments dating from the early 20th century. This small collection includes about 20 instruments. They are turned on at times during the visit to the museum. So, occasionally, you will hear, sometimes quite loud, short performances of these amazing pieces of engineering and art. In addition to the stunning car collection and the musical instruments, there is also a collection of gas pumps, road signs, oil cans, and other car-related accessories from the Depression era located throughout the museum.

The Visit
While checking out the collection, you are not allowed to touch, open, or climb inside the displayed vehicles. However, there are always a few in which you can sit, so you could get a nice picture there.
During your visit do not hesitate to ask questions, as many friendly volunteers are available, and since they are usually “car buffs”, they are an incredible source of knowledge of automotive history.
Considering that I went to visit the museum on Tuesday in the early afternoon hours, the place was quite crowded. However, when I mentioned it to one of the volunteers, she said: “Actually, today it is relatively quiet.”, indicating that usually they see even more visitors.

Directions
As I’ve mentioned earlier, Stahls Automotive Museum is located in Chesterfield Township about 50 miles northeast of Detroit.
The address of the museum is: 56516 North Bay Dr. It is located south of 26 Mile Rd.
If you are visiting or passing through Detroit, to get to the museum, you take I-94 E to Exit 247 for M-19 toward Richmond/New Haven. You turn left on M-19 N/New Haven Road. When you get to 26 Mile Rd, turn left. It will take you to N Bay Dr (on the left-hand side), where the museum is located.
If you prefer the GPS coordinates, they are: 42.71829122025777, -82.80460424579412.

Admission
One of the things that separate them from other automotive museums, is the fact that there is no admission charge to visit the museum. They rely on visitors’ charity, and there are donation boxes at the entrance and inside the museum. So, access to the museum is FREE!

Hours
The museum is NOT open every day. It is open once a week on Tuesdays from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm.
It is also open on the first Saturday of the month from 11:00 am – 4:00 pm.
There are occasionally some additional times when they are open, and for those check their website –at Stahls Automotive Collection.
Plan on spending about two hours in the museum.

Final Thoughts
Stahls Automotive Museum is one of those places where you are pleasantly surprised when you visit because there will be more there to see than you would have expected.
It doesn’t matter if you are interested in automotive history or not, the spectacular cars, and the automated musical instruments that are on display there will amaze you with their appearance, craftsmanship, and history if you take the time to read the placards.
Definitely worth the drive, even from downtown Detroit, or stopping by, if you are passing through.
I hope that if not my writing, the pictures will convince you to visit.

Resources

* * *
If you are interested in Stahls Automotive Collection, you might also want to check my posts that relate to other automotive museums in the Great Lakes region: