Motorheads: point your compass toward Tacoma’s LeMay Museum. Opened in 2012 and widely known as “America’s Car Museum,” the LeMay Museum will unveil three new exhibits in 2015: Ford F-Series: The Truck That Grew Up with America, American Muscle: Rivals to the End, and an updated Route 66 display.
Opening Jan. 10, Ford F-Series: The Truck That Grew Up with America examines 13 generations of the Ford F-Series pickup, spanning 1948 through 2015. The exhibit traces the truck’s transformation from a purely utilitarian work vehicle into a versatile family hauler and, for many buyers, a symbol of comfort and prestige.
“The F-Series is a bellwether of cultural change in the U.S.,” said Scot Keller, chief curator at the LeMay Museum. “The Truck That Grew Up with America tells the story of how the F-Series began as a work tool and evolved into a family vehicle and a luxury option for the working class.”
Route 66: Dream of the Mother Road debuts March 27 and shifts the focus to vintage station wagons. The updated display highlights the wagon’s role as the quintessential road-trip car — from family vacations to weekend escapes — and explores its cultural significance along America’s most famous highway.
“We all have a station wagon story, whether it’s childhood games in the backseat or a nervous first date in your parents’ car,” Keller noted. “Featuring the station wagon in our Route 66 exhibit feels fitting: these cars helped shape the way Americans traveled and experienced the open road.”
Completing the trio, American Muscle opens July 9. The exhibit revisits the intense rivalry among American automakers in the 1960s and 1970s — when firms like American Motors, Chrysler, Ford and General Motors competed fiercely in showrooms and on racetracks. It charts the rise of the muscle car and the design, engineering and marketing battles that fueled the era, then explains how tightening emissions regulations, rising fuel-economy requirements and the oil embargo of the 1970s brought that period of performance competition to an end.
Together, the three new exhibits offer a broad look at American automotive history: the enduring popularity and cultural impact of the pickup truck, the station wagon’s place in family and travel lore, and the brief but unforgettable heyday of the muscle car. Each display uses period vehicles, interpretive panels and curated artifacts to tell those stories, giving visitors both nostalgic moments and historical context.
Whether you’re drawn by the engineering of the F-Series, the memories evoked by classic station wagons, or the raw power of vintage muscle cars, the LeMay Museum’s 2015 lineup promises a season of rich, immersive exhibits for car enthusiasts and casual visitors alike.