This Car Museum Liquidation Auction Is Packed With Absurd Vehicles

For more than 30 years, the Days Gone By Museum in Portland, Tennessee, has been a destination for early automobile, airplane, and locomotive enthusiasts to visit some well-kept historic metal. But soon, the museum will be selling off its entire collection ahead of a new chapter in life for the owner. The museum has set up an online auction with some genuinely interesting vehicles from the early age of the automobile coming up for grabs.

The Days Gone By Museum was created by Joey and Kathleen Collins, a husband-and-wife pair of collectors obsessed with transportation. Kathleen sadly passed away back in 2019, and while Joey initially strove to keep the museum going, it appears he’s now ready to move on managing such a massive collection. The museum housed everything from a 1903 Dart Truck to a Douglas C-47 arctic research plane, and all of it is listed for sale at the link provided here. Some automotive highlights of the collection include a bright blue Model T Speedster, which retains an early racing carburetor setup. There’s also a unique 1920 Chevrolet that was converted into a snowmobile in-period. Perhaps the cleanest of the automobiles is a 1918 Panhard fuel truck, which has undergone a complete restoration. There are also a few later vehicles in the collection worth noting, including an incredibly original V-12-powered Pierce-Arrow, which even retains its factory interior appointments. The budget-minded might be interested in something like the 1972 Fiat 850 Spider up for offer, as rough as it might be at this moment. Most of the incomplete vehicles appear to be largely intact, and could be brought back into service if someone wanted a restoration project.