Philanthropy Today
Philanthropy Today
Midwest Dream Car Collection on the GMCF Community Hour Show Episode - 306
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We talk with Jennifer Elliott about how the Midwest Dream Car Collection has become one of the top car museums in the country by pairing world-class vehicles with real storytelling and up-close access. We also dig into the Route 66 centennial exhibit, hands-on family activities, and the member events that make a return visit feel like a tradition.
• Travel + Leisure recognition and what sets the museum apart
• Storytelling behind the cars and why it matters
• Route 66 100th anniversary exhibit with Pixar Cars characters
• Rotating displays and what’s kept in the vault
• Family features like scavenger hunts, activity sheets, and a kids audio tour
• Larry’s car and other hands-on moments for kids and adults
• Dream Cars Club membership benefits and member reveals
• Amphicar picnic at Tuttle Creek with rides
• Summer calendar highlights including Start Your Engine kickoff and community programs
The website is Midwest Dream Car Collection.org if you'd like to find out more. But stop by, take a look around.
Sponsor And Segment Setup
SPEAKER_00Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. In this episode, we feature a recently broadcast segment of the GMCF Community Hour, as heard on News Radio KMAN. And the GMCF Community Hour continues on News Radio KMAN. The
Why MDCC Earns National Recognition
SPEAKER_00Midwest Dream Car Collection is uh just a wonderful asset that we have in our community. And joining us today via Zoom is the Director of Marketing, Jennifer Elliott. Good morning, Jennifer.
SPEAKER_01Good morning, Dave. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we're delighted to talk about some things that are happening with uh, as it is abbreviated, the MDCC. The Midwest Dream Car Collection recently um recognized as one of the top car museums in the country. That has got to make you smile.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. It does. It does. We're honored to have received that recognition from travel and leisure.
SPEAKER_00What's that mean for you?
SPEAKER_01Well, it it number one, it's a huge honor. There's lots of car museums across the the U.S. And to be, you know, in the in the top eight is a huge honor. It's a nice recognition. Um, it makes us unique, um, you know, because we combine world-class automobiles with storytelling and accessibility. And I think that Travel and Leisure recognized that. And I know a lot of our visitor visitors have recognized that. Um, you know, you can see everything from early cars, like the 1886 motor wagon to some of the modern icons, like the Ford GT at MDCC. Um, but you know, it's really uh about the stories behind the cars and how they connect to American culture and history. It's you know, lots more than than just about the cars.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, and uh being able to tell the stories. And that, you know, that's one of the things that Americans have, these great love affairs with their cars.
SPEAKER_01Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, we have a great blend of you know, pop culture uh as well, with we have lots of cars that folks would recognize from movies and music. And I think really uh, you know, what's unique about our museum as well is that our cars, they're not hidden behind ropes or walls. Uh, we want our visitors to be able to walk around the cars and see them from every angle. Um, and I know a lot of people don't know, but we rotate our exhibits about every three to four months. So there's always something new for people to see.
SPEAKER_00A lot of people don't know about those extra cars that are back there in that storage vault that you have back up back in there.
SPEAKER_01But uh yeah, yeah. Lots more uh behind the, you know, behind uh in the uh in the vault in the museum uh versus what's out on the floor. So that's it's fun to be able to rotate and get some new things out.
SPEAKER_00So the day I was looking at some of the uh pictures of cars in the museum uh, you know, that were posted on social media.
Route 66 Centennial Meets Pixar Cars
SPEAKER_00And you have a special exhibit right now, which I think is going to trigger a lot of uh a lot of interest. And it doesn't matter how old you are uh to have this uh Route 66 exhibit at the Midwest Dream Car Collection. How'd that come about?
SPEAKER_01Well, it is the hundredth anniversary of Route 66 this year, which is a really big deal. Um, you know, Route 66 is kind of the mother road, uh, you know, lots of car history uh behind that. I know Doug, you know, Doug Malone, our curator, is a huge Route 66 fan. He's driven the the whole expanse of the road. Um, you know, so we wanted to do something special to celebrate, celebrate Route 66. And we've also had a focus on uh, you know, uh families and and getting kids in. We want them to be, you know, cognizant and excited about the history of automobiles. And so, you know, kind of the blend is obviously, you know, the the Disney Pixar Cars movies, you know, what better icons to represent uh the history of Route 66? So we have this exhibit until uh September. So we've got uh Mater, Lightning, Sarge, Doc, and some of their friends in the museum for the summer. So it's really fun. We've got that and and some, you know, uh different things around the museum talk about the history of Route 66.
SPEAKER_00I think that's one of the fun things I saw in the pictures was that you know, you the the cars became the characters. Some of the cars, like uh, you know, we talked about the super bird, you know, becomes part of the character of the tour at the car museum right now.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Some of the cars uh that are the characters, our our museum cars that you know we've added the eyes to um worked out really well. We've got Mater, uh great um, you know, uh Mater uh character that is on loan from a gentleman uh by Clay Center. And we've got Sarge. Um one of our uh museum members has a great uh military Jeep that uh we usually borrow every November for military month. But you know, right now this summer it's Sarge. So um we were able to create kind of a Route 66 highway throughout the museum with these characters. So it's been great. Lots of families have come in and had lots of fun and gotten their photos taken with with the characters, and we expect a lot more people to come over the summer.
SPEAKER_00And you've had Doc in there too. Doc's a longtime resident. Is he a Hudson?
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes, Doc Hudson, yes, yes. Uh really uh, you know, took on life of his own when he got when he got the eyes. So one of the one of our favorites in the museum.
SPEAKER_00You have a lot of things that that you have done. I remember I took my son to uh to the museum one day, and it was this was just after it was opening. So that's been what seven years, six, seven years?
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes, we just celebrated our seventh year.
SPEAKER_00And and I remember, you know, I introduced him to to Ward Morgan, and Ward was saying, hey, what are some things? And he was talking to my son, asking my son, what are some things that would be fun for the kids? And and having that connection, making that connection. And I know that, you know, Ward has asked uh a lot of kids, you know, and I know that Doug has done the same and other people that have been at the museum and you've probably done the same. What would be some fun things we can do for kids? And and and you've done some things, you've created some activities and created a number of experiences uh for kids. And when you do that for the kids, you you get the whole family involved. So what's uh what's new at the Midwest Dream Car Collection for the families?
Kid Friendly Activities That Work
SPEAKER_01Well, families are a huge focus for us. Uh, if if anybody hasn't been in, um, you know, we've got a kids' playroom for some of the smaller kids that, you know, maybe uh don't want to spend the entire visit, you know, out looking at the big cars. They can play with their own small cars in our kids' room. We've created different scavenger hunts, you know, for uh kids and and families. We've got a family activity sheet that they can, you know, go around the museum and find different icons and different pictures and things uh, you know, to kind of keep them engaged. Uh, we have uh an audio tour, which uh we've got three different uh routes that you can take in the audio tour, but one of those is specifically designed for kids under 12. So the kid-friendly audio tour. And then the biggest thing uh that kids and adults, I will say we see adults in it as well. We've got a car, it's called Larry's car. Um it was donated by a longtime volunteer that kids can climb into and pretend to drive. And so um again, I've caught numerous adults in there as well, which is great because it's a it's a car that the kids can touch and climb in and out of and and hunt the horn and pretend to drive. And so it's been it's been a big hit.
SPEAKER_00Ooh, that's that's even better than a simulator, isn't it? Yes, absolutely. Now,
Membership Perks And Summer Events
SPEAKER_00one of the things, you know, and there may not be a lot of people that that know this, if you're not a frequent attendee of the Midwest Dream Car Collection, you can become a supporting member. And there are a lot of activities that you do with your membership to to get them out. You have regular um the you know uh tread talks and and and so much. But let's talk a bit about some of the benefits of being uh a member of uh the Dream Cars Club.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Well, you know, there's lots of benefits to being a member uh to the museum. You know, obviously we have single memberships and family memberships, and you can come in whenever you'd like, you can bring some guests. We have when we've got uh new exhibits or new cars, we do special member reveals. Um, I would say the most popular benefit of being a member and it's getting ready to come up here in June is our Amphicar picnic. And so if you've been in the museum and you've seen the Amphicar, it is one of the cars that can drive right into the water and it turns into a boat. So not only uh do members get to see it in the museum, but we have an Amphicar member picnic out at Tuttle Creek every year, and we take every member for a ride if they'd like to. So um we have live music and food, and the uh AmphiCar ride is super popular. So um great, great benefit to being a member. Um, I would say that we have lots of events at the museum. Some are just for members, but we've got lots of events uh that are for um everyone. So summer is one of our busiest and most exciting times of the year, and we've got you know our monthly events such as Cars and Coffee and Open Hood Sundays and Tread Talks, but we're also participating in Sunflower Summer for Kansas families and the Blue Star Museums program, which offers free admission for um military, uh active military and their families. Um, but I want to mention we've got a special event coming up this week, uh, this Wednesday from one to four. It's start your engine summer kickoff. We were talking about, you know, being family friendly earlier. This is for uh all the families and it's a free event. Um, we're gonna have games and activities in the parking lot and free admission to the museum. It'll be a great way for families to kind of kick their summer off with something fun. So um lots of things going on at the museum.
Dream Picks And Pop Culture Icons
SPEAKER_00If you could take any one of the cars that is in your collection there at uh MDCC to drive Route 66, whether it be for 10 miles, 100 miles, or the whole stretch from uh uh from Chicago to LA, is it? Does it go to LA?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, Santa Monica.
SPEAKER_00What what car would you drive?
SPEAKER_01Oh gosh. I if Doug's listening right now, I know he's probably shaking his head at me. Um we all have our our favorites in the museum. My personal favorite is the 2014 Lamborghini that was uh Michael Andretti's. So um, you know, so I could only take one guest with me because it's only a two-seater, but uh that would be the one that I would drive.
SPEAKER_00You know, and and one of the things, you know, you talk about the Andretti car, and that's one of my favorites too, because of, you know, hear the story behind that car, who the owner was and what he was to the auto industry, especially in the in in in the racing world. That's what I love about uh each of these vehicles is that there is local history to some of them. There is history that is, you know, hall of fame historic stories to them. And you don't learn just about the vehicle, but you also tie in, you know, like you say, the dreams. The dream you got dream cars, and some people were able to have these dream cars and are gracious enough to put them on loan to the museum. Lots of great stories there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. There's so much history behind every car. Um, and I think we do a really great job of uh telling about that history. And we've also got a lot of, you know, like the pop culture and things of the times. Um, one of our most popular exhibits for the last year has been uh we've got the Back to the Future DeLorean from uh, you know, the time machine from Back to the Future movies. And so um, and we've also got Cher's Mustang. Cher just celebrated her 80th birthday this past week.
SPEAKER_00So we have Sonny's too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we have Sonny's too. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. So um lots of things. We've got the 1999 Skyline, uh, you know, which was in uh the Fast and Furious movies. So, you know, that's a that's a hit with the teens and the young adults. So doesn't matter what your age is.
SPEAKER_00Doesn't matter what your age is, you're gonna find a car that you can have some sort of connection to.
How To Visit And Final Thoughts
SPEAKER_00So Jennifer, thanks for thank you so much for coming on the air this morning and and sharing with us a little bit more about the Midwest Dream Car Collection. The website is Midwest Dreamcar Collection.org if you'd like to find out more. But but stop by, take a look around. You got some great opportunities, folks, to to explore into memberships and some fun things there. And also, you know, go check out the new uh the cars theme with the Route 66 100th anniversary. Jennifer, have a great weekend. Thank you so much, Dave. The Dream Car Collection. Oh, fun times. This is the GMCF Community Hour here on News Radio KMAN, back with some calendar items in just a moment.