Tupelo Automobile Museum, Automobile museum in Tupelo, Mississippi.
The Tupelo Automobile Museum opened in 2002 in Tupelo, Mississippi, filling a 120,000 sq ft hall with 100 to 150 cars from Frank Spain's collection. Vehicles were set out in chronological order, from an 1899 Knox Voiturette to a 1994 model, mostly told from an American viewpoint. Open boxes let visitors watch specialists restore cars.
Frank Spain founded this automotive collection, which began as a private endeavor and later became a museum destination. The operation ended in 2019 when the collection was sold to support an educational foundation.
The collection included the 1976 Lincoln Mark IV previously owned by Elvis Presley and the Leslie Special vehicle featured in The Great Race film.
The museum closed permanently in 2019, so the collection can no longer be visited on site. Its roughly 178 cars were auctioned by Bonhams inside the museum on 26 and 27 April 2019, after a sale of the whole collection en bloc failed. The Tucker fetched US$1,985,000, and the total result of about US$10 million stayed below the estimate.
The collection featured a Tucker 48, a rare 1940s automobile, alongside a Dodge Viper with zero miles on its odometer. A 1976 Lincoln Mark IV once owned by Elvis Presley was among the museum's most notable exhibits.
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