America’s Love for Cars: Alive in Seattle at LeMay Museums

Catch These Amazing Collections of History

There are two locations in the Seattle area that are home to Harold LeMay’s vast collection of over 3000 classic cars. The LeMay-America’s Car Museum (ACM), next to the Tacoma Dome, includes a hand-picked selection of over 500 cars and dozens of motorcycles in a spectacular facility with a gorgeous view overlooking Puget Sound. It’s fun to see rumrunners from Prohibition and the NASCAR display. Jay Leno appeared at the museum opening and has featured LeMay vehicles in his show.

While the ACM is next to the highly trafficked I-5, the avid car fan needs to add The LeMay Collections at Marymount, housed in several large buildings on the former campus of a military academy just twelves miles away to their bucket list. Home to the bulk of the 3000+ LeMay Car Collection, you see cars stored three stories high in one of the buildings. It’s easy to spend 2 ½ hours going through the displays. A docent guides you through two of them, and you’ll be glad, because your guide makes sure you don’t miss any that should be pointed out. Several vehicles have appeared in TV and movies, such as “Happy Days.”

One of the buildings at LeMay Collections is arranged chronologically. The guide takes you through decades of car development, before tools were standardized, so the walls hold carefully labeled tools for each type of car. A 1914 Detroit Electric Princess Coupe, designed for women drivers with large, voluminous skirts and hats stands out as a unique prize not in the average car collection.

There is a workshop where we were able to visit with “Battery Bob” while he was working on engines for the Model T’s.

How did this collection become so large? As owner of a trash collection business, LeMay encouraged his drivers to let him know when they saw interesting old vehicles on their routes.

All in all, both museums are well worth a trip, mind you, two separate visits. These collections are bucket list items for the classic car enthusiast.

If you are in the Seattle area Aug. 26, 2023, stop by the free event at the 45^th LeMay Annual Car Show, perfect timing for a tour. Check out their site to get tickets and find more events.