Pontiac-Oakland Automobile Museum

Illinois featuring interior views
Visit a charming family-run museum where the owners’ passion for vintage cars is on clear display throughout all the exhibits.

The Pontiac-Oakland Automobile Museum features a wide range of classic cars on display in the town where they were first produced. Pontiac is the birthplace of the Pontiac and Oakland branches of General Motors. This museum celebrates these cars and their history. Come here to find a rotating range of vehicles on display.

The museum opened in 2011. It was established by Tim Dye, a Pontiac car enthusiast, and his wife Penny. He was traveling home from a Pontiac car show when he spotted a sign for the town of the same name and decided to investigate. It didn’t take long for him to realize this was the ideal place for a museum dedicated to Pontiac cars. With the help of several community figures, including the mayor of the town, the Dyes managed to open a museum here within just one year. Come today and see how fully their vision has been realized, with a huge array of wonderful cars in the showroom rotating throughout the year.

View cars that originate from various decades, including very old models as well as more recent ones. Many of the cars on display have been lovingly restored by Tim Dye himself. Sometimes he takes time out from working on a car to display it in its unfinished state, so that visitors to the museum can better understand the restoration process. See the before-and-after exhibits that show a similar model of a car before and after restoration work to get a sense of how much work and craftsmanship goes into each car.

Find the Pontiac-Oakland Automobile Museum just north of the Vermilion River in the small town of Pontiac. Check the events calendar before you visit, as car-themed activities are held here throughout the year. In the past, these have included hands-on group restorations of sections of vintage cars. When you have seen enough cars for the day, visit some of the other nearby attractions, such as the Catherine Yost House Museum or the International Walldog Mural and Sign Art Museum.

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