The Dodge Viper as we know it has left this world. The Connor Avenue assembly plant won’t simply sit and rot in Detroit, however. Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles has plans to turn the former assembly plant into a heritage museum.
Fiat-Chrysler Authority reported that the automaker plans to house heritage Chrysler Corporation vehicles at the former Viper plant. The plant also built the Plymouth Prowler. The site will also serve as a replacement for the Walter P. Chrysler Museum, which closed in 2016. According to the report, 85 of the 400 heritage cars will find a home at the to-be-named Connor Center.
So, we ask, should General Motors also bring its own heritage center to Detroit? The city, often nicknamed “Motor City,” lacks its own true auto museum and GM certainly has a quite a catalog of cars fit for a museum.
GM has recently begun exhibiting some of its vehicles at “GM World,” settled inside the automaker’s Detroit Renaissance Center headquarters. Right now, the automaker has a collection of vehicles from its various motorsport programs on display.
Would you like to see a dedicated GM museum? Talk to us down below.
Comments
Absolutely, GM Heritage should be open to the public. If they want a significant building in place of the current Warren location, consider Factory One in Flint. The building was bought by GM in recognition of GM’s birthplace.
While all the premium makes in Germany have their own museum, even Peugeot has a museum not far from the Schlumpf Collection in Mulhouse. Maybe under new ownership, Opel will also show their collection to the public again.
This is a no-brainer, just do it.
Here is the issue it is a very expensive proposition vs the number of visitors over time.
The Chrysler one is the second atrempt. They had a great museum before but after a couple years no one visited. It was later shut down.
The ones in Europe are in very desirable locations for tourist unlike Detroit. This keeps them busy.
Even places like the Peterson, Corvette and HFM are well funded by foundations not corporations to keep them alive otherwise they would have folded years ago.
The GM one is in a very cost effective Museum and though access is limited it is not difficult to get in with other groups.
If a foundation could be established it could be done but that is not an easy thing to do.
The expenses for places like this are high. The cost of the building and utilities are much. The cost of insurance is crazy, the cost of keeping it fresh to keep repeat visitors is much.
I hope GM can find a way some day to do this but for now I am just glad we can get in with groups.
It was not long ago these cars were scattered all over Detroit and you never saw them unless you knew someone.
While it is a no brained the trick is who is going to pay for a no profit venture? That is why a foundation works.
With the drop in automotive enthusiast I also see the others struggle . People are just not in love with cars like they used to be. I expect it to continue to decline with future generations.
We the enthusiast are becoming a dying breed.
If GM was to build this you put it out there for bids. Get cities to compete for it with tax breaks and incentives. You locate it in a true destination site to max the visitors. You make it a true tourist attraction vs some old museum in Detroit.
What would GM put in it? They weren’t exactly caring to what happened with significant vehicles in their history. After the photo shoots and promotional tours, most were sold off like any other vehicle.
The Heritage collection is a large collection of some of the most significant cars in the world.
The ones sold off generally were just custom stock production cars or were little known mules.
Google GM heritage collection and you will be amazed what they still have. The best is the X and Y job models consider two of the most significant show cars ever.
Gold 1955 50 millionth Chevy-Nope.