Gateway Colorado Automobile Museum

The Gateway Colorado Automobile Museum , generally known as just the Gateway Auto Museum, is located on the grounds of the Gateway Canyons Resort just west of Gateway, CO. The museum features automobiles from the private collection of John and Maureen Hendricks. The overall theme of the museum, and the title of a book about the Hendricks collection, is "The Performing Art of the American Automobile", and I have to say there are some very elegant machines on display. The 50 or so autos housed in the museum are chosen for their singular contributions to automotive engineering, design, and or culture. A tour of the museum begins with a short video narrated by Walter Cronkite, then it's off to the automotive wonderland. Automobiles are displayed in several galleries and are loosely grouped into eras in automotive history.

The automobiles on display occasionally get moved around or changed out for others in the Hendricks collection. My first visit to the museum was in May 2019, so hopefully when I go again there will be some new eye candy on display. Most, but not all of the vehicles were identified by signs. I did my best to fill in the blanks but I'm not an auto aficionado, so there's a (real) possibility that I may have misidentified one or two. If anyone spots an error, please let me know so I can correct it.

Click here to view photos as a slideshow.

Fancy Carport

Ford F-100 Good Humor Truck

1939 Chevrolet Pickup?

Gateway Auto Museum

Lobby wallpaper

The Journey Starts Here

A little about the collection

Mass Mobility Gallery

This gallery is devoted to the start of the automotive industry and contains the earliest automobiles in the collection. I especially liked the 1906 Cadillac, that looks like the proverbial horseless carriage.

1910 Hupmobile

1916 Indian 61 Twin Board Track Racer

1914 Ford Model T Runabout

1912 Ford Model T Speedster

1906 Cadillac Model H Coupe

1913 Pierce-Arrow Model 38C Brougham

1930 Model 353 Cadillac Convertible Coupe

1934 Ford Deluxe Rumble Seat Roadster

Timeline Gallery

I've arbitrarily labeled this gallery the Timeline Gallery because it contains several automobiles that are described in the afore mentioned book in a chapter titled "Timeline: The American Car Evolves".

1928 Cadillac Series 341 Dual Cowl Sport Phaeton

1937 Cord 812 Supercharged Convertible

Instrument console of the 1937 Cord

1938 Cadillac V-16 Town Sedan

1937 Terraplane Convertible Coupe

1941 Lincoln Continental Coupe

1940 Indian Motorcycle

1941 Packard 120 Woody Wagon

1947 Chrysler Town & Country
2-door Convertible

Coca-Cola Drive Refreshed

Oil company maps

1950 Packard Super Eight
Victoria Convertible Coupe

"Hollywood High Style" Gallery

This gallery features some of the limousines and other luxury autos favored by the 1930s Hollywood glamour kings and queens.

"Hollywood High Style" Gallery

1932 Auburn 8-100A Speedster

1936 Auburn Model 8-852
Supercharged Cabriolet

1931 Stutz Model DV-32

1930 Model J Duesenberg LWB Cabriolet

1939 Packard Super Eight Convertible Victoria

1929 Packard Model 645 Deluxe Eight Roadster

Oil company maps

1929 Packard Model 645 Deluxe Eight Roadster

Hollywood High Style Gallery

1936 Auburn (left) 1932 Auburn (right)

1939 Packard (left) 1929 Packard (right)

Fifties Style Hallway

A hallway connects the Tiimeline Gallery to what I'm calling the Main Gallery. Along either side of the hallway were vehicles spanning the years 1952 to 1957.

1952 Chevrolet 3100 5-window Pickup

1953 Plymouth Cranbrook 2-door Coupe

1954 Packard Caribbean Convertible

1955 Nash Metropolitan Convertible

1956 DeSoto Adventurer

1957 DeDoto Firesweep

Main Gallery

The Main Gallery (my name for it) houses vehicles from the 1950s and segues into the American Muscle Gallery. An exit into the museum gift shop and lobby is also found here.

Main Gallery

Exit to gift shop

1953 Chevrolet C-1 Corvette

1954 Buick Skylark Convertible

1954 Kaiser-Darrin Roadster

1953 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible

Cadillac (left) and Buick (right) Convertibles

1953 Cunningham C-3 Continental Coupe

1954 Oldsmobile F-88

The Oldsmobile F-88 was a one-of-a-kind concept car created in 1954. It borrowed a lot from the Corvette, including its 102 inch wheelbase, fiberglass body, and rear axle assembly. It has a 324 cubic inch Super 88 V8 engine with a four-barrel carburetor and a customized instrument console that includes a tachometer. The F-88 was and is considered by many to have ushered in a new era in automotive styling. John and Maureen Hendricks bought the car in 2005 for 3.24 million dollars, and I imagine it's the crown jewel of their collection.

Oldsmobile F-88 Gallery

1954 Oldsmobile F-88 Concept Car

American Muscle

This gallery is devoted to the era of American muscle cars, and there are some real beauties. I've included the 1934 Ford Custom Coupe, In Excess, in this section because it truly is a muscle car, having won the ISCA 2003 International Rod Championship.

1934 Ford Custom Coupe In Excess
2003 International Rod Champion

1957 Ford Thunderbird

1957 Chevrolet BelAir Convertible

1956 Buick Century Converible

1957 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible

1963 Chevrolet Corvette

Chrysler 1961 300G Convertible

1967 Chevrolet SS427 Camaro

1965 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu SS Z16

1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS LS6

Interactive gear ratio exhibit

Muscle car gallery

Retro soda shop
(60s style?)

Dessert cooler

Mustang Alley

This gallery changes names periodically. When I went it held modified mustangs, racing paraphernalia, and the Andrew Hendricks race car.

1970 Mustang Mach 1 428 CobraJet

1969 Ford Shelby GT500

1967 Ford Shelby GT500

No Clue - Custom Cobra?

No Clue - 2007? Custom Mustang

Andrew Hendricks' No. 5 Mustang FR500S