Muscle Cars in East Tennessee – Part II

…continuing with the visit of our friends Bruce and Margaret from St. Louis Missouri.

This is Part II of our exploration of Floyd Garrett’s Muscle Car Museum in Sevierville Tennessee.  Bruce is a muscle car fan…big time.  We’ve been here once before…with another fast car fan, Dawn Marie.

This is an original unrestored 1969 American Motors Company AMX 2-seater Sports Coupe.  It was named “Big Bad Orange” and it’s equipped with a 390 cubic inch/315 HP engine with a 4-speed transmission.  Only 284 Big Bad Orange versions of the AMX were built.

This is a 1957 E-Code T-Bird. (Ford Thunderbird) This was the last year for the T-Bird 2-seater.  A total of 1,500 E-Code T-Birds were built.  These cars came with a 312 cubic inch/270 HP engine and 2 4-barrel carburetors. 

This is old #77, a racing Chevrolet from the “Honest Charley Speed Shop” in the Cleveland Ohio area.  It was driven by Joe Lee Johnson when he became the 1959 National Champion in NASCAR’s convertible division.  Joe Lee Johnson also won the inaugural World 600, (now the Coca Cola 600), in the first race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.  Johnson also owned the Cleveland Motor Speedway.  After several other owners, it was demolished just last year.

I have a hard time thinking of a Sunbeam as a ‘muscle car’, but I guess that any car can be reconfigured/redesigned so that it can enjoy its day in the sun. (Intentional pun).  In this case, famed auto designer Carroll Shelby helped create the Sunbeam Tiger V8 Mark I. (Shelby is played by Matt Damon in the current movie “Ford vs. Ferrari”)

1,768 Sunbeam Tiger I’s were sold in the USA.  This particular car went through a ‘rotisserie’ restoration…from top to bottom!  It has less than 25,000 miles on the odometer.

Maybe you’re not really into cars… There are a few vignettes like this scattered around the outside walls of the museum.  I date back to the days of the corner soda shop so this did bring back memories.  Note the James Dean figure, Elvis of course…and a cute car hop.  The other period pieces in the scene help bring home the feeling.  In addition to Coca Cola I noted RC Cola and Nehi ‘sodas’…or bottles of ‘pop’, depending on where you were brought up

This 1940 Ford Deluxe Coupe had a ‘shady’ history.  Back in its early days it hauled whisky (aka moonshine) here in East Tennessee.  This car delivers 85 HP, and it has all original paint and upholstery.  It only has 12,200 actual miles on the odometer.

 

The Ford Deluxe Coupe was designed to bridge the gap/market place for customers seeking something more than a standard Ford but something less than a Lincoln.  I found some nice Ford Deluxe Coupes on the Hemming’s website for between $45,000 and $138,500.

This is a 1947 Dodge Coupe.  These beauties seem to be a bit more affordable but they also appear to be popular with those who want to modify a car and convert it to a ‘street’ or ‘hot rod’.  To view a beautifully converted 1947 Dodge D24 Coupe ‘hot rod’ just go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tXHGAWahaA.

This is a 1963 Corvette Split Window Coupe.  With a 1963 base price of $4,037, a total of 10,594 of these cars were built.  They came with a 327 cubic inch engine with a standard 250 HP but optional engines were available that would provide up to 360 HP!  Hemming's has several of these cars listed on their website ranging in price from $90,000 to $160,000.

Any proper muscle car museum has to have a Race Shop!  This one features a Chevrolet Camaro (1971 I think) with an engine built by Pro Stock legend Dick Arons.  Arons won races with the Camaro, but he more famously teamed up with Wally Booth and in the fall of 1971, they transformed the American Motor Company’s ‘square’ reputation into one of a ‘performance powerhouse’.  With Arons’ engines installed, the team scored 5 Pro Stock wins and a pair of runner-up finishes with AMC cars.

Old #66, named “Torture”, was locally built in the Southeast Speed Shop in nearby Blountville Tennessee.  To me it looks like a 1956 Chevy Bel Air…seriously modified for racing with a 301 cubic inch engine and a fuel injected carburetor!

This Corvette is the official Indianapolis 500 Pace Car from May of 1978.  It has only been in the sunlight 4 times and it only has 157 miles on the odometer.

FYI, the 1978 Indy 500 was won by Al Unser Sr., it was his third win at the 500!

Corvette pace cars are fairly commonplace in this day and age but the tradition of using “America’s Sports Car” as an official pace car at the Indianapolis 500 actually began in 1978.  Chevrolet built copies or “replicas” of the 1978 pace car to sell to the public.  The base price for a standard Corvette in 1978 was $4,300 less than the base price for the ‘Pace Car’ version.  The latter sold for $13,653 base price.  I found one of these replicas for sale in St. Charles Missouri for $22,995.

As this photo and the background in many of the previous photos in Part I and this posting show, it’s not all about muscle cars.  It’s also about the era of the classic muscle cars!  The walls of Floyd Garrett’s museum are covered with automotive related signs, celebrity pieces with autographs, cast iron toy cars, racing memorabilia, plaques, souvenir cups, gloves, etc., etc.  One could spend another hour just looking at the collectibles…

We couldn’t decide if this 2014 Chevy Camaro Z28 Coupe was for sale or not.  Looking at the sticker, I did note a sizable ‘gas guzzler tax’ upcharge.  The original sticker shows a price of $75,000 for this 505 HP 7.0 liter V8 engine with a 6-speed transmission.  It is ‘race car ready’.  Replacing tires on this beauty by the way…cost $500 each back in 2014.

To see a review and track test of this beast of a Camaro, just go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8xBRNvIrok.

Yes indeed…model railroad equipment too.  There were a couple cases containing valuable and collectible rail cars and locomotives that covered Bruce’s other main hobby too.  I particularly liked that big Union Pacific Steam Locomotive #4006!

There were a number of authenticated autographed photos of movie stars and celebrities.  Luci and Desi were huge back in my teen days!  They are positioned right above Wizard of Oz memorabilia.  Another example I saw that will stand the test of time was by John Wayne.

I’ll end this post with one of my favorite singers/musicians, Elvis Presley.  As you can see, Floyd Garrett and I obviously have somethings in common.  We’re both older than we’d like to be and we liked Elvis!  I do have lots of Elvis music on CDs and a collection of 17 of his movies, (not a great actor and not great movies), but the music was always good.

Floyd Garrett’s Muscle Car Museum is located at 320 Winfield Dunn Parkway in Sevierville Tennessee.  Admission is $11.00 for adults.  Phone: 865-980-0882.  Website: https://musclecarmuseum.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave