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About Us

The Northwest Vintage Car & Motorcycle Museum is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization comprised of people who are interested in vintage cars, trucks, and motorcycles. We are dedicated to providing a public facility for the preservation and display of automobiles and motorcycles from the past. The NWVCMM is an entirely volunteer, membership-owned Museum open to people of all ages, with or without a vehicle. We are a member of the Oregon Cultural Trust.

Mission

The mission of the Museum is to educate the general public about the heritage, history and evolution of automobiles and motorcycles older than twenty-five years. The Museum will support life-long learning and community involvement through activities which will generate interest, fundraising and a sense of camaraderie among its members and visitors.

Location

We are located in the heart of the Willamette Valley near I-5  and exit 263 at 3995 Brooklake Rd NE in Brooks, Oregon at Powerland Heritage Park which is comprised of 16 different museums where Oregon’s agricultural heritage comes to life.

Events

Our Museum is open weekends from June to September. We hold a Northwest regional Car and Motorcycle Show that attracts many interesting vintage vehicles from the region. It is open to vintage vehicles of all types. Whenever there is an event at Powerland Heritage Park,  we will have an open Car Show of vintage vehicles.

Goals

We are expanding our Display Building by adding a two-story steel and concrete structure to the existing building to give us an additional 12,000 square feet. The first phase, which is fairly complete, is to construct the exterior walls as well as lighting, heating, windows, and doors for meeting rooms, a gift shop, display areas and bathrooms on the first floor. The next phase will be to finish the upstairs interior with a theater, library, bathrooms, and office space. The current Display Building will be freed up for a display area and functional museum space. The new section will give us room for groups to meet, hold banquets, and host school field trips. Our immediate goal is to raise $250,000 for construction. We are seeking contributions of money and like-kind donations focusing on completion of the interior of the structure, including building materials, to make this happen. An endowment fund will be established to receive donations for long-term support. All donations are tax deductible.

Officers/Committee Chairs/Directors

President: Ron Smith: 503-931-7879

Secretary: Neil Beutler:

Treasurer: Ruth Jarmuz:

Docent Chairman: Doug Nelson: 503-399-8889

Speedster Chairman: Don Blain: 503-585-8078

Maintenance Chairman: Gary LeMaster: 503-393-6069

Safety Chairman: Rick Simmons

Display Committee Chair: Tom Ruttan:

Education Committee Chair: Ray Hansen: 503-393-4228

Editor: Laura Nelson: nelsonducks@gmail.com                  

Webmaster: Mark Moore: webmaster@nwcarandcycle.com

In addition to the officers listed above, the following are currently Directors:

Don Blain, Al Hall, Gary LeMaster, Mark Moore, CJ Nelson and Doug Nelson.

We are always looking for folks interested in serving on our board of directors. Contact Tom Ruttan if you have a desire to help our organization grow and to help see that future generations can enjoy what we have started.

History

After being organized as a non-profit corporation, a group of inspired people came together to plan the steps for creating the museum.  This involved many generous individuals who donated labor and materials for the first phase of the project.  Funds were raised and memberships came into being.

The first project was to create a period gasoline station of the 1938 era as a Texaco station. This was begun in early 2003 and completed in January 2004.

The next effort was to clear the rear most area of the museum site which was a massive task in that it was littered with abandoned machines and materials and was largely a weed-patch dump.  Again donated labor and materials flowed in and it was turned into a beautiful lawn-like area, ringed with sweet gum trees and complete with an underground watering system.

Next came the creating of the gazebo on the lawn area.  Here again, it was built with member labor and materials and today serves many groups who use it for a wide variety of events.

Finally sufficient funds were raised through generous donations and sale of bricks to begin the construction of the main museum building.  Due to limited funds, only the rear two thirds of the building was completed. The front section is a two-story structure that will house a gift shop, library, and display area. The rear building is now completed and it provides an area for the display of vintage vehicles and motorcycles as well as many photos, signs and automobile memorabilia.

As more funds are raised, the interior will be completed to depict an early automobile dealership with period automobiles displayed there as they would have been in a real car dealership of the era.

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Club Members

The following clubs are members of the Northwest Vintage Car & Motorcycle Museum:

EarlyFordV8ClubofAmerica

Columbia River Region Group - Early Ford V-8 Club of America

HACOa

Historical Automobile
Club of Oregon

VCCAa

Columbia River Region of the
Vintage Chevrolet Club of America

Essex

NW Chapter Hudson-
Essex-Terraplane Club

OTCLogoa

Oregon Trail Chapter
Antique Motorcycle Club of America

MAFCAa

Willamette Valley Model A
Ford Club of America

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Willamette Chapter
Studebaker Driver's Club

Motorcycles

Nowhere in the country is there a museum dedicated to preserving the heritage of both cars and motorcycles combined.  Yet, this is such a logical and worthy enterprise since both categories of vehicles serve many of the same needs and users.

A goal of these motorcycle enthusiasts is to display their machines at the Museum in revolving exhibits telling their stories about unique applications and qualities over the more than a hundred years they have been produced and used.  Of special interest to the NWVCMM is to illustrate the relationship and dependency of cars and motorcycles from a technological and application standpoint.

We are supported by a multitude of motorcycle organizations and clubs in the Northwest that have shown strong interest in and support of the museum project either through sponsorship or through membership. That includes the Oregon Vintage Motorcyclists (OVM) and the Oregon Trail Chapter of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America (AMCA), a nationwide organization counting thousands of members.

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