fort lauderdale antique car museum

I took my relatives here over the Christmas holiday in 2014 and we were all blown away. The knowledge of the guide who took us around and showed us the 30+ classic Packards was incredible. Big Band music was playing in this huge building, with Dade County Pine wood-paneling throughout. The walls are festooned with car memorabilia that spans almost 75-years. the museum captures The Golden Age of The American Automobile Industry. My favorite Packard was The Caribbean. It's sleek but bold styling seemed to capture the spirit of South Florida. But there are Packard's from every era and so much history to read about and see. Don't miss this spot. It's an incredible treasure tucked away in downtown Ft. Lauderdale. Buy the DVD they sell. It's fascinating!

The Fort Lauderdale Antique Car Museum has a collection of 39 Packards. Since I have a cousin that lives in Warren Ohio I always had an interest in Packard Cars. The Packard brothers started the car business in Warren Ohio around 1895 and only built cars for about 5 years in Warren then it moved to Detroit. The final car was produced in 1958. The museum is awesome and the cost of $10 is well worth the price of admission. Frank, who works at the museum is very interesting. Saturday morning we arrived just after it opened at 10:00 AM and Frank was moving the cars since they had a catered function the night before. Frank showed an hr video which is well done on the history of the Packard. Also, Frank gave the history on several of the cars and he built doorway that was owned by Samuel Morris and entry into the FDR room. I visited the Packard Museum in Warren Ohio which has the earlier cars, but this one has it all.

what a wonderful collection of cars from many eras, the exhibits rae great the quality excellent and the setting cool.

Booooorrrrrring! yawn! just a place to waste time and money. You can better cars on the road in South Beach.

Went on a rainy day and got the surprise of our lives. This is an antique Packard Museum. We never new the magnificent role Packard's played in the history of cars. Cars are displayed in realistic settings with short and long (for car enthusiasts) interesting descriptions. One of the staff also offered us a personal tour which we took advantage of. Even the unique way you enter the museum is wonderful. A must for all ages.

Awesome car museum. About 50-60 Packards from 1909 on. A great way to spend 1-3 hours. Owner is on premise and 96 years old!

An amazing collection of Packard cars all in running condition and lovingly cared for. Also collections of miscellany having to do with Packards and the heyday of the brand. A video on the history of Packard was interesting but a little slow moving. Location is out of the way but definitely worth the detour. Cash only!

I suppose that any lovers of vintage automobiles would like this exhibit, but it's targeted at those who are especially fond of Packards. There are plenty of styles and models, beautifully restored, and the lighting is adequate that (without flash) you can get some pretty good shots. In addition to the cars, there are lots of parts and accessories on display. One of the highlights was a continuous screening of an excellent TV documentary of Packard's history. My only letdown was that several of the last years of production were not represented in the display. I learned to drive in a family friend's 1962 Packard and was disappointed that the model wasn't a part of the collection.

Had a great display of packards, nostalgic items, movie to watch. We even got a pretty nice private tour with the small group who gathered around the gentleman who told us to follow him. He knew many interesting things about items in the museum. If you're lucky you'll bump into him too!

We went to this auto museum expecting all models and found out it was strictly Packards..... not a bad thing! We loved the cars and the collectibles. Near the end of our visit we were approached by one of the staff members and were given another personalized tour with explanations, that was reeeeeeeeeaaallly nice touch.

The museum is well cared for and so are the cars.If you enjoy looking at historic cars in great condition in an air conditioned museum that is very up kept then this is the place for you.I really enjoyed it and I'm not a car fanatic.The tour guides are also spectacular!

Went here on a brief visit to Fort Lauderdale. Well hidden but full of amazing quality autos and automotive memorabilia. Very well preserved Packards ranging from 1909 to the 1950's. All vehicles are running vehicles. For people who like cats this is a great stop in Fort Lauderdale.

This museum is a true step back in time with cars from days gone past, memorabilia from FDR and other presidential campaigns as well as some old newspapers from WWII era. A member of staff greeted us at the door, she was pleasant and provided us with some information about the museum.The entry fee of $10 per person was a little steep. Each restored car had a binder with information about the car, it's restoration process and details regarding its original price etc. There was a collection of hood ornaments, horns and various other car parts.It was nice to visit, a little something different but not very good value for money.

One of our family is a car enthusiast, so we ventured to this (slightly out of the way) museum. There is now a $10 cash only admissions charge. Collection includes sub collections car parts ie hood ornaments, cigarette lighters, kname plates, horns (including the Wolf Whistle with illustration that leaves no room for doubt), old Life Magazines, a room on FDR. (Packard being the number one luxury car for decades, was the presidential car, and several cars were former presidential cars or parade vehicles ie for Einstein in NYC.Clean, well organized, well displayed... Aesthetically pleasing array..The onsite curators, a marrried couple, is extremely accomodating and informative.Can take 1-5 hours, depending on whether you read all the information (each car has a dossier containing info from original price to restoration info, and articles from classic car magazines.

We visited this auto museum because the main collection is all dedicated to the Packard automobile. My father-in-law restored a 1940 one and we wanted to visit this museum, see other years and get a book and photos of the place to show my father-in-law. When we arrived, the front door was locked but a sign indicated to “ring the bell only once” and so we did and in a few moments someone buzzed us in. I was surprised when the admission fee did not seem to be as high as what I thought I read – only $10. We had a local coupon and got $3 off each ticket. From the very first sight of the first Packard, I just could not believe it. The quality and quantity of Packards there was just over the top. I was salivating at the mouth the entire time we were there!The original goal of the owners of the museum was to have one example of each year of production of Packards. Elsewhere it will tell you what those dates were but I think the last was 1958. I do not think every year was present, ut I was so impressed by what was there, who cares if one or more was missing. I just could not get over the restoration of every one of those was so perfect.We met “Miss Shirley”, the wife of the collector. I think she said she was 96 and that her husband had passed away 5 years ago. She was so pleasant to talk to and assured us that every one of the vehicles ran “some better than others” is how she put it! She also told us that we could take photos inside but requested no flash. The lighting made this a bit challenging, but I took as many photos as I could. Later we purchased the paperback book which was a bargain at $15 and has many good photos in there. Suggest you consider it. The museum is one couples life – items such as starters, cigarette liters, tires, etc. etc. hanging all over the walls, the ceilings and everywhere they could find room to put more items on display. It was such an enormous collection it would take many visits just to absorb all the detail in this exhibit. They added on to the facility in the past to expand the collection and it was occupied to full capacity. I just can’t say enough good things about this place. You just have to come and experience it yourself.Miss Shirley left right before we did for the day, but we are so grateful she shared with us their love of the museum and the Packard. We hope that we can revisit this facility gain when we return to Ft. Lauderdale.