HICKORY CORNERS, Mich. – This is the time of year when enthusiasts across the country struggle through a bout of cabin fever while they emerge from the winter doldrums and eagerly await the start of the car show season. If you live in the Midwest and feel you just have to see some classic sheet metal to make it through to the spring, then your cure is only a drive away for a visit to the Gilmore Car Museum. That’s where you’ll find two smile-inducing displays featuring two of America’s most historically impactful automotive segments -- station wagons and muscle cars.

By now we’re sure you know about the Gilmore Car Museum, located between Kalamazoo and Battle Creek in western Michigan, just south of Grand Rapids. We often visit to cover some of the many annual events held on the museum’s historic 90-acre campus, and last reported on the “Muscle Car Meet Up,” presented by MCACN that took place this past June. When our roving photographer, Ford Marketing retiree turned Ford Performance photojournalist Bill Cook, drove out from the Detroit area to attend the 2024 edition of the Meet Up on the grounds of the Gilmore, he also noted two special displays indoors: “Born to Perform: The Era of The Muscle Car,” and “Are We There Yet? Seeing America from the Family Station Wagon.” We felt both are worthy of their own photo gallery, so that’s why we didn’t include them in Cook’s Meet-Up coverage last summer and offer this look now for your enjoyment below.

Word is the muscle cars will become a permanent part of the revolving indoor displays at the Gilmore and updated regularly. However, the special display of great American station wagons – including some notables from Ford as the noted Wagon Master of that era – will only run through the end of March 2025, so plan now to make the trip if you’d like to see these gems in person. And don’t forget to bring the kids, because what’s a road trip in a station wagon without hearing “Are we there yet?” from the back seat?

FORD PERFORMANCE PHOTOS / COURTESY BILL COOK