A Day at the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in Dearborn, Michigan

We got in late to our Detroit AirBnb thanks to some timely traffic, but I was excited to have a 2 night stay and take a break from driving.

Knowing that Detroit was going to be one of our stops, I wanted to make it a point to go to an automotive museum - to see vintage cars and witness how these machines have evolved over the years. A quick search pointed me to the Automotive Hall of Fame, but it was closed. However, right around the corner was the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation.

With a name like Henry Ford attached to it, I was thinking that it would be all about Ford vehicles - probably see a Model T, some Shelby’s, maybe even a Pinto - but it was a lot more than what I was expecting.

Once I was through the museum’s main entrance, I had my pick of different exhibits to see. Being a museum of American Innovation, there were exhibits for airplanes, telephones, furniture, farming equipment, firearms, and civil rights among many others. But I was mainly here to see the cars, so that’s where I spent most of my time.

The first exhibit that I saw was a row of retired presidential vehicles. Yeah, these were the actual limos that presidents rode in, quirks and all. On the Reagan car, you could see where bullets hit the car during an attempted assassination. On the Kennedy car, you could see the rivets of the bulletproof hardtop that was added after 1963, and on FDR’s car, you could see that the president’s doors hinged from the rear so that his wheelchair could go in and out more easily. Besides the fact that U.S. Presidents rode in these vehicles, looking at the evolving styles of these Lincolns were something to appreciate.

Moving along the exhibits, there was a row of vehicles that showcased the evolution of the automobile. The early days of the automobile looked like carriages missing a horse. But as the years went on, we moved from steam power to combustion engines, from gas guzzling boats to economical sedans, rugged Jeeps to VW buggies, and everything in between. And it all ended with an iconic vehicle that we’ve all see on the road today — the Toyota Prius. Like it or not, the hybrid system that Toyota put into the Prius deserves it’s place in history.

The last exhibit in the automotive section was all about race cars. All types of racing. There were cars that won Nascar races, Le Mans, drag races, and hill climbs. Knowing that technology has changes so much since racing started, the placement of new cars next to old was a sight to see.

After looking at all of the cars and exhibits, there was one car that literally gave me the chills. Now it’s not the Ford GT where there were a lot of folks ooh’ing and ahh’ing over, but it was a Ford Fiesta ST with a big ol’ Monster energy logo on it. This Fiesta belonged to the late Ken Block and it’s the exact one he drove in San Francisco for Gymkhana 5. If you haven’t seen it, just look it up. The exhibit was complete with his helmet, boots, and sunglasses. Rest in peace to a legend.

By the time I was done with the automotive section, I was getting a bit hungry, so I sped through the rest of the museum. Some big highlights were a working replica of the Wright brothers’ first airplane, a model of Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, and the actual bus that Rosa Parks sat in and refused to give up her seat.

I feel like I could have spent a few more hours in the museum, but getting a Detroit style pizza was more important at the time. Overall a great experience!