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Heartland
Horsepower If
you appreciate fine automobiles as much as I do, you’re going to love
the beautiful rides on display at the Kruse Automotive and A
component of the Dean V. Kruse Foundation, the 40,000 square foot museum
displays an impressive collection of wagon, buggies, carriages, antique
and classic automobiles, and some wonderful special interest vehicles. Included
in the museum’s displays are a horse drawn mail wagon, the forerunner
to modern day mail delivery trucks, and a horse drawn ambulance. Another
interesting horse-drawn vehicle is a carriage once owned by Buffalo Bill
Cody. You will also see a stagecoach and a covered wagon. But
while there are some beautiful horse drawn vehicles on display, this
museum is really about horsepower. Lots and lots of horsepower. The
collection of automobiles is what really did it for me.
The
museum’s classic car collection has something for everyone to covet,
from muscle cars to fine old rides that will take you back to the days
when gasoline was 24 cents a gallon and people went for Sunday drives
just for the joy of it. Young
men of my generation were often enthralled by the wildly customized
shows cars that graced the pages of Hot Rod magazine. For years Carl Casper and his Hollywood Production
company dominated the custom car scene, and the Kruse Several
vehicles on display will be familiar to television and movie fans. One
of these is another Carl Casper creation, the Batmobile use in the movie
Batman Returns, starring
Michael Keaton. Casper
built a total of three Batmobiles for the movie series. If you were a
fan of the old Night Rider
television show, be sure to stop and check out KITT, the stunt car used
in the NBC series.
Another
interesting movie vehicle is 1996 International armored truck used in
the movie Mission Impossible III starring Tom Cruise. Two trucks were
destroyed in the filming, and the one on display at the museum sports a
huge hole in the side from a blast scene in the movie.
As
you can see, the Kruse Automotive and The museum complex is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and is closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Days. Admission to the museum complex is $10 for adults. $8 for seniors age 55 and over, $6 for children ages 7 to 12, and children under 7 are free. Veterans and active military are admitted for $4, and World War II Veterans are free with proper identification. For more information, call (260) 927-9144 or visit their website at www.kacmuseum.org.
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If
your interest is in antique cars and trucks, step right up. They have
everything from a 1928 Mack truck to a beautifully restored 1963 Mack, a
vintage fire truck, a 1929 Cadillac Fleetwood used by President Herbert
Hoover, a Model A Ford, Cords, a 1935 Packard donated by television star
Andy Griffith, and a Duesenberg owned by 
collection has
some outstanding examples of 
If
you remember the old Happy Days television series that ran on ABC from 1974 to 1984,
I’m sure you recall the opening scene, where Fonzie rides by on his
motorcycle. In the early episodes Fonzie is shown standing by a Harley
Davidson, but that changed to a Triumph, which is the bike he is riding
in the opening credits. Few people know that actor Henry Winkler, who
played Arthur Fonazarelli, had no idea how to ride a motorcycle. He
recalled in an interview long after the series had ended that the scene
of him riding the Triumph was the only time he had ever ridden a
motorcycle, and that he forgot how to stop it and almost ran over a crew
member. That was the only time he rode the Triumph, which is now on
display at the Kruse Automotive and 
Racing
fans will appreciate the museum’s collection of race cars, which range
from the car that won the 1911 