Many years ago I visited Bill Harrah's huge car collection in Reno, NV. A few weeks ago I returned to the National Automobile Museum and what is left of the Harrah collection. When Harrah died in 1978, he left no instructions as to what to do with his collection. The Holiday Inn Corporation bought Harrah's hotels and casinos and thus got the collection and vast research library as part of the package. They donated the library and 175 cars to the William F. Harrah Foundation, which became the National Automobile Museum now located in a huge museum in downtown Reno. The rest of the vehicles were auctioned off to new homes around the world.

While most cars are American, there are few foreign ones like this one-off 1961 Fiat 600 D Model "Y" Berlinetta.

On my original visit just before the collection was dispersed, some 1400 cars could be seen, if you had the time since they were in several warehouses. They were shown, as I remember, in a rather haphazard fashion. Today's museum is well organized with some 235 cars shown in pretty much chronological order in settings that include clothing, artwork and memorabilia of the particular era. One gallery is filled with about 50 cars from the brass era, 1890s - 1910s, covering early automotive history. Other galleries span 1910s - 1930s, 1930s, 1930s-1950s, and 1950s and beyond. Other vehicles of all vintages are parked along the curb of the realistic street scenes that connect the galleries.

Richard Buckminster (Bucky) Fuller's Dymaxion was one of the most advanced cars built in the early 1930s.

The collection includes many rare cars of historical importance starting with a 1892 Philion steam-powered Road Carriage, one of the oldest American cars in existence. Other ultra-valuable cars like the 1907 Thomas Flyer that won the 1908 New York to Paris "Round the World Race", and the most valuable car in the collection, a $5-million-plus silver 1936 Mercedes-Benz 500K Special Roadster.

The 1937 Airomobile was a three-wheeled front-wheel drive car intended as a low-cost mass-produced people's car. Only one was built.

There are several one-offs and prototypes that can be described best as "weird." This includes the only Buckminster Fuller's 1934 Dymaxion that exists of three built, a 1937 Airomobile experimental three-wheel sedan, a 1925 Julian Sport Coupe, the 1938 Phantom Corsair with its futuristic aerodynamic styling and the 1960 jet-powered Flying Caduceus Streamliner car.

The museum also has a large number of "celebrity" cars including Jack Benny's 1923 Maxwell, Mary Pickford's 1928 Ford, Al Jolson's 1933 Cadillac All Weather Phaeton, Sammy Davis' 1935 Duesenberg SSJ roadster, Lana Turner's 1941 Chrysler Newport Dual Cowl Phaeton, James Dean's 1949 Mercury coupe. There is also a 1973 Cadillac Eldorado that belonged to Elvis, John Wayne's 1953 Corvette, one of the many Lincoln Continential convertibles credited to John F. Kennedy and Frank Sinatra's 1961 Ghia L6.4. hardtop.

Lana Turner's 1941 Chrysler Newport Dual Cowl Phaeton, one of six built.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

National Automobile Museum
The Harrah Collection
10 South Lake Street
Reno, NV 89501-1558
(775) 333-9300
www.automuseum.org