After losing money for the last few years, the Walter P. Chrysler Museum will close its doors at the end of the year when Chrysler buys its vehicles and exhibits.
The three-story, 55,000-square-foot museum opened in October 1999 in Auburn Hills, Michigan, on the same campus as the Chrysler corporate headquarters. It boasted a 125-seat theater, along with a centerpiece rotating platform that featured some of the museums prized possessions. However, as Chrysler faced bankruptcy in late 2007, it spun off the museum as a 501(c)(3) non-profit in February 2008, leasing the building to the museum, which operated independently of the company.
In recent years, the museum was challenged by economic factors and operated at a deficit, according to Chrysler spokesman Kevin Frazier. According to its IRS Form 990 statements, the museum lost $657,510 in 2011 and $803,758 in 2010 after operating in the black to the tune of $623,903 in 2009 and $5.4 million in 2008. Frazier said that Chrysler stepped in to purchase the museums assets, which include 67 vehicles along with the exhibits, to prevent the collection from being sold off piecemeal, yet Chrysler faced with the same economic factors that led to the museums losses will close the museum to the public, opening it only during special events.
At the same time, the Walter P. Chrysler Museum Foundation, the non-profit, will merge with the Chrysler Foundation to support Chryslers charitable activities. Frazier did not say whether Chrysler has any plans to re-open the museum should economic conditions improve.
