Episode 22: National Automobile Museum

Curator's Choice

Today we are back in Nevada at the National Automobile Museum speaking with Jay Hubbard. Bill Harrah was an entrepreneur who created a money-making empire in Reno that began with good ol' bingo. He became a very rich man who had the money and the passion to amass one of the largest collections of automobiles in the world. When he died in 1978, 175 of those automobiles was set aside and given to the Museum.
From the Harrah's Collection, we talk about the 1906 Adams Farwell, the only one of it's kind still in existence today, and it's unique rotary engine. Then, we talk about the 1907 Thomas Model 35 Flyer, which was one of six automobiles entered in the New York to Paris race of 1908. This vehicle traveled over 13,000 miles in a worldwide sponsored race (which was meant to increase newspaper sales) and experienced quite an adventure!
Episode Links:

• National Automobile Museum's webpage: https://automuseum.org/

• The Thomas Flyer 1908 New York to Paris Auto Race on This Car Matters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffS8YDFgkTg

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Curator's Choice - A podcast for history nerds and museum lovers