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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1988-05-18, Page 18PAGE 16. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 1988. History of cars told in Ford Museum displays History cannot be altered, but the way we look at the past changes with time. That’s why the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., has undergone a massive $6 million (U.S.) renovation. The new display is called, “The Automobile in American Life,” and opened last fall. Instead of just a lot of old vehicles lined up like those in the used car lots, the new exhibit shows how automobiles have shaped everyday life. “We decided to try and show the impact of the automobile on the various ways in which we live and play, through all the things it brought about - like drive-in restaurants, motels and drive-in theatres. Those are things that might not have come into existence without the automobile,” explains Earl Dowdy of the museum’s public relations department. This is probably the only time a car museum has spent millions of dollars on renovations, and ended up with fewer cars to show. The number of vehicles is being reduced from 150 to 110 to make roomfor, among other things, a full-size 1940’s service station, an early Holiday Inn motel room, road signs, a drive-in theatre, and a McDonald’s restaurant. The McDonald’s has an old-s tyle single arch (circa 1960) unlike the double golden arches of today. A national search was launched to track down a single arch, but it turns out it could have been a civic search. One was found in suburban Detroit, rescued just before it was headed to the scrapyard, and then hauled a few kilometres to the museum. These are some of the elements being used to make the museum come alive, bring back memories and make the past easier to understand. The display is the brainchild of Albert H. Woods Associates of New York, the same design firm that was retained to dream up the Epcot Centre at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.; and the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tenn. The work began two years ago. About one-third of the 5,574 square metre building (60,000 square feet) has been completely revamped. (The rest of the muse­ um includes displays on farm implements, furniture, household appliances and even trains.) A major reason for the change is to help halt the deterioration of the vehicles. The museum was built in 1929, long before anyone realized the damage the environment can cause. So, for example, the skylights have been covered over to prevent the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays from fading the paint on the cars, and deteriorating the interiors. As well, the huge building had extreme seasonal temperature changes, which were harmful to the vehicles. So various modifica­ tions have been made to maintain a fairly constant temperature. In all, $1.2 million of the $6 million in renovations was spent on improving the environment inside the museum. The exhibit is divided into six sections. The Automobile As American Symbol, explains how the role of the car has changed, from the Ford Model T (considered a symbol of freedom) to the Pontiac GTO of the 1960s (a symbol of power). Getting Away From It All, shows various recreactional vehicles in a tree-shaded campground. The other sections are Design­ ing the Automobile; Advertising And Promoting The Automobile and Its Industry And The Automo­ tive Landscape. The museum features many cars that had a major impact on the industry. Among them: •A 1937 Cord 812, the first production car without running boards and with disappearing headlights. It cost a hefty $2,645 brand new. •A 1949 Volkswagen Beetle - one of only two sold in the U.S. that year. •The very first Ford Mustang that rolled off the assembly line on March 9, 1964 (which, inciden­ tally, was shipped to a Newfound­ land buyer before someone at Ford discovered the error of selling the first example). There’s no question about it: the Henry Ford Museum is one of the finest collections of historically significant vehicles in the world. About 1.2 million people went through the museum last year. It’s always been worth a week­ end visit-it’sdifficulttosee the entire museum properly in just one day. Locally owned and operated 190 MITCHELL AVE. S. Feed your car properly Your car’s digestive system is rather simple: It consumes what- everyou pour into the fuel tank, whetheritisstandard gasoline, diesel fuel or what could be termed junk food. In another sense it also con­ sumes what you pour into the oil sump, although in normal opera­ tion all of it doesn’t get burned up in the process. That’s why a proper diet is essential to the well-being of your car or truck engine. If you wouldn’t use cough syrup or other drugstore remedy when you’re well, why would you pour additives into a fuel tank? If your engine is sputtering, using too much oil or is starved for fuel, that’s another matter and there are products that may help. Make sure you follow the directions carefully. For example, if the fuel you use is a gasoline-alcohol (methanol or ethanol) mixture, adding gas-line antifreeze may increase the alcohol content enough to damage internal carburetor or fuel system parts. Keeping your fuel tank full and notallowing it to constantly run into the quarter-tank level is a better way to prevent water build-up in the tank than adding alcohol anyway. Buying your gasoline at a brandname station with enough volume to stop water build-up in the gasoline storage tanks under­ ground is another way to avoid fuel problems. If your engine calls for high- octane leaded gasoline, it’s much better to use a mixture of one part non-lead low-octane with three parts of premium or high-octane non-lead fuel than adding non­ leaded additives to your fuel. Unless you own a pre-1972 car and use it to tow a trailer or climb steep hills every day, most unlead­ ed premium gasolines can be used. There are some engines that require higher than the 93.5 octane available at service stations and you can experiment with some of the octane boosters. Buying clean fuel is easier than buying carburetor cleaners to rinse away dirt and grime caused by impure fuels. Again, brandname fuels from a well-patronized sta­ tion are best. It also helps if the owner has installed filters on each individual fuel hose at the pumps. 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