Chrysler Museum Closing

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KosmicKuda

KosmicKuda

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I've been there and enjoyed the displays. :wack:
http://www.allpar.com/news/index.php/2012/11/chrysler-museum-semi-closing

The Chrysler engineering heritage is well worth preserving but as time goes by, it's getting to be less significant.
I don't care if they do stretch the Fiat 500 (500L) and electrify it (500E), it ain't gonna sell in America in big numbers. I expect the Chrysler brand to support Fiat here, not the other way around.
 
Sad to see it go.

Another example of how Chrysler is no longer supporting us enthusiasts.

They have also cancelled alot of restoration parts. Left us out in the rain....


This is one of the reasons that I don't buy NEW Chrysler vehicles (besides their lack of quality)....
 
There goes another place I wanted to visit taken off my bucket list
 
The article

The Walter P. Chrysler Museum will merge with The Chrysler Foundation on December 31, 2012; its collection of 67 vehicles and displays will be purchased by Chrysler Group LLC, which will preserve them. The gains from this sale and the Museum Foundation’s remaining funds will be transferred to The Chrysler Foundation, which supports charitable community activities and organizations.

The Museum opened to the public on October 5, 1999, around a year after Chrysler Corporation ceased to exist. Many Chrysler retirees have donated their time to the museum, acting as guides, restoring vehicles, and raising funds.

The museum lost money in 2010 and 2011; cumulative losses on the museum total nearly $2 million over the past three years. Museum Foundation president Brian Glowiak wrote, “Chrysler will continue to share its automobile heritage housed at the Museum with the public during special exhibitions.”

In a conversation with Allpar, Doreen Wright, the museum’s executive director, said the the Cars, Trees and Traditions exhibition will go on as planned, and the museum will operate relatively normally until the end of the year. However, programs like Adopt-A-Car, which allowed museum supporters to sponsor the maintenance and upkeep of the vehicles on display, will have to be discontinued because of the change in the museum’s status.

The fate of other programs, like the summer movie nights and cruise nights, hasn’t been settled, but if they continue, there will likely be changes based on the need to use the actual facilities. The CEMA show has already been relocated from the parking lot to another area on the Chrysler campus.

Ms. Wright also said there will be some jobs lost with the end of the museum’s operations as a year-round operation. She noted that a decision has not been made on which positions will be eliminated or the potential of placement elsewhere in Chrysler.
Click to expand...
 
There we go guys. The first step in shutting down the Chrysler line, legacy
And killing off it completely. We will all be owning orphens in a few years.
 
Chrysler is no longer an American Own company.......
 
:laughing: Perhaps that new "Dart" will be a collectors item rather quickly....
 
I probably would never be able to afford to visit, but anything like this is very sad. My only hope is that some guys on the caliber of Leno would buy it and keep it going, or at the very least, the exhibits go to similarly good places.
 
It seems the museum was a total seperate entity from Chrysler Corp.
 
Wow.... That is sad news indeed. My wife and I were there less than 2 months ago! I'm glad we had the opportunity to see it before it closes. Here are some pics we took while we were there. Check out the air raid siren! How cool is that?
 

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Bummer I never got to go there !! I have been to the drag race hall of fame in Florida and happened to be there durring a mopar show and got to meet Big Daddy Don Garlits that was back in 98 I think .
 
Did you guys not read the article or the section posted by ramenth? The exhibits will be kept and preserved by Chrysler and presented at events...

Still sad to see the museum go I definitely wanted to visit it some time in my life
 
Captain Canuck said:
Wow.... That is sad news indeed. My wife and I were there less than 2 months ago! I'm glad we had the opportunity to see it before it closes. Here are some pics we took while we were there. Check out the air raid siren! How cool is that?
Click to expand...

awesome pics ! :D
 
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Another blow to the Mopar world.
 
well this sucks,, but glad i visited it a few times,,maybe they wil fill the building with fiats they cant sell,,
 
I'm having Deja Vu here, Mitsubishi took over Chrysler in Australia with all sorts of promises. Once they had their slimy mitts on the property, no more new Valiants (as promised) and all the history of Chrysler was chucked out. I hope Fiat has a better sense of marketing than Mitsushitbox. Many old timers here have a hatred for anything with the three red diamonds
 
autoxcuda said:
It seems the museum was a total seperate entity from Chrysler Corp.
Click to expand...

Seems so.

hemmingsarticle said:
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 museum’s 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 museum’s 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 museum’s 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 Chrysler’s charitable activities. Frazier did not say whether Chrysler has any plans to re-open the museum should economic conditions improve.
Click to expand...

Looks to me the museum is only semi-closing. I don't know what "special events" are. WPC's birthday, maybe? I don't know. But when it's losing money to the tune of almost $2M in a couple of years, how can you justify keeping it open?

The parent company has stepped up to buy back the exhibits, as the article states, to keep them from being sold off piecemeal. The cynical amongst us may say it's a money grab and they'll wind up selling the pieces anyway. If that's the case, then so be it. They'll wind up in another museum, one that's making money, perhaps, and can afford to keep it's doors open.
 
Will be going there for the 5th or 6th time but the first time with my son next week when I am on vacation. Can not wait to see the cars and trees exhibit.
 
Captain Canuck said:
Wow.... That is sad news indeed. My wife and I were there less than 2 months ago! I'm glad we had the opportunity to see it before it closes. Here are some pics we took while we were there. Check out the air raid siren! How cool is that?
Click to expand...


Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the air raid sirens powered by the old style 50's Hemi....


They were so cool!
 
krazykuda said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the air raid sirens powered by the old style 50's Hemi....


They were so cool!
Click to expand...

Yeah Don Garlist Has one in his air raid siren


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEfYnByuTQ0"]Air Raid Siren with Robbie and Don! - YouTube[/ame]
 
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