Todd spends some time with Sean Mathis, who founded the Miles Through Time Automotive Museum in Clarksville, Georgia in 2017. Hear how Sean literally started from scratch with a single car, his grandfather’s resplendent 1959 Cadillac Couple de Ville, and he has built his museum to more than 140 cars. Sean had some fits and starts as he got the Miles Through Time up and running and it is now supported by an antique shop to make it more self-sustaining. Sean has also set himself up as the “hub of the wheel” by producing a car museum guide and a weekly newsletter that many in the car museum community have come to appreciate and anticipate. Also, hear the interesting story of how he came to Los Angeles to pick up a donated BMW and what happened when he came to drive it home. Visit www.milesthroughtime.com and see the guide at www.automotivemuseumguide.com.
Contnuing the visit to Los Angeles for the 2025 NAAM Annual Conference by talking with colleague Matt Anderson, Curator of Transportation at The Henry Ford Museum. The museum, founded by Henry Ford, holds a special place among museum fanatics. It is not only a car museum, but it sets out to preserve historical items, such as Abraham Lincoln’s chair from Ford’s Theater. The campous is also is home to Greenfield Village, where famous buildings, like the Wright Brothers’ bicycle shop and most recently, the house Martin Luther King, Jr. stayed while he was in Selma, AL are preserved. Visit The Henry Ford at www.thehenryford.org. (You can hear the street by the "studio" in the background. This might be the most car-sounding "LeMayZing!" yet.)
Eric & Todd continue their visit to Los Angeles for the 2025 Annual Conference of National Association of Automobile Museums (NAAM) and they spend some time with Rob Signom from America’s Packard Museum in Dayton, Ohio. America’s Packard Museum was founded by Rob’s father, Bob in Dayton’s original Packard dealership, which was started in 1917 and was restored in 1992. As his primary career, Rob produces stage shows in New York, but now manages both his career and his father’s passion for automobiles, particularly Packards (and Jaguars, but we won’t go there) and the operations of the museum. America’s Packard Museum is hosting the 2026 NAAM Annual Conference and Rob gives us a preview. Visit America’s Packard Museum at www.americaspackardmuseum.org.
Eric & Todd take the show on the road again, this time to the annual conference of the National Association of Automobile Museums, hosted by the Petersen Automotive Museum. During the conference, the group took several field trips to tour other car collections, including Jay Leno’s Big Dog Garage, made famous on his long-running TV series. While we didn’t get to interview Jay, he extensively toured the conferencees through his collection and was a kind and welcoming host.
In their final episode from Japan, Eric & Todd ruminate and bloviate about their epic journey across the land of the rising sun. No subject is off limits in this episode. As they sit in the ANA Lounge awaiting their flight home to Seattle from Haneda Airport, Eric & Todd discuss Japanese “gizmos” for every conceivable task, including high tech toilets, hotel room power, gumballs and the staggering Japanese infrastructure of highways and tunnels. They also reflect on how the trip opened their eyes to the graciousness of the Japanese people and their customs and traditions. This day, Eric’s birthday, started with Wim Van Roy’s interview at the Fuji Speedway (Japan episode 11) at 10 a.m. on Saturday; this episode was recorded at about 6 p.m. that same day and Eric & Todd arrived back at SEA at 2 p.m. the same day, hence, the 38-hour day.
In the penultimate episode from Japan, Eric & Todd visit with the chair of the World Forum for Motor Museums, Wim Van Roy, from Todd’s hotel room in the Fuji Speedway Museum & Hotel as the cars speed around the track on a rainy Saturday morning, the final day of the trip. Wim discusses his path to the chairmanship and the importance of keeping the museums networking with each other, sharing their ideas and successes and working together to preserve automotive history.
WFFMM Belgian delegate Sebastien de Baere joins Eric & Todd in this short episode for a subdued discussion from a cigar bar in Nagoya. Autoworld traces its roots to the earliest days of motoring. Their venue hosted one of the first auto shows in 1902 and features a wide variety of cars, particularly Belgian brands like Minerva, a favorite brand of Belgian royalty. Sebastien also shares his experiences of the ups and downs of the car museum business.
As we near the end of the 2024 World Forum for Motoring Museums in Toyota City, Japan, Eric and Todd talk to Scott George from the Revs Institute in Naples, Florida, who hosted the 2022 “joint conference” of the World Forum and the National Association of Automobile Museums (NAAM). Scott tells us of the incredible Miles Collier Collection and Rev’s important work around preserving automotive history by building an archive of over 700,000 photos, publications and historical items. Plus, they will soon be opening an automotive archive center in nearby Fort Myers. (Eric's Note: I love everything about how this is about the nerdy part of museums. And Why they exist. And how they exist. Scott is awesome, and I loved picking his brain and having it recorded.)
We continue our march through Japan as we chat with World Forum delegate Jon Murden, the Chief Executive at the National Motor Museum Trust in Hampshire, UK, more commonly known as “Beaulieu” (pronounced ‘beu-lee."). Jon tells us of his childhood infatuation with the collection at Beaulieu, which he now leads in the footsteps of Edward Lord Montagu (Edward John Barrington Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu) and Michael Ware, two legends of the British motor museum, which started with five cars in the foyer of Lord Montagu’s home. Also, hear Jon’s biggest surprises about Japan.
In this episode from Top Gun Bar & Grill in Puyallup, WA, Eric & Todd discuss their temporary venue nestled next to Thun Field Airport where you can see all kinds of interesting vintage aircraft and they reflect on how spoiled they felt eating Japanese cuisine and how returning to US cuisine was a bit of a let-down.
We are pausing our Japan episodes to celebrate Christmas and family. In this episode, borrowing a title from the John Mortimer play, we spend some time with Todd’s Dad, Gene. Gene tells so many fun stories about family car trips and the cars they owned during memorable times in their lives. Having just celebrated his 90th birthday, he recalls having to referee fights between his twin brothers in the back seat of his father’s 1941 Buick; his first car, a 1947 Pontiac; and his life during his surgical residency in Philadelphia in the early 1960’s, a trip he took from Oregon on US 30 in his 1954 Buick three days after his wedding to Todd’s mom. Also, hear the family legend of a 1957 Cadillac traded for two Buicks! So many fun family memories!
A true “car fan” episode…Eric and Todd set up shop at a very plush pub-style establishment in the Nagoya Marriott and run a “gemba” assembly line of guests. In this wide-ranging interview, two of the British delegates to the World Forum for Motor Museums, Jim Mcclean from Motor Hub Warwick and Keith Benjamin from the Jaguar Heritage Trust discuss the pride the people of Japan have in their car culture, their philosophy of car manufacturing and a debate of car songs versus the “experience” of cars in music.
When Eric and Todd arrive in Nagoya for the conference, Eric is curious about Todd’s impressions of Japan since Todd isn’t known as an “experienced world traveler.” They offer some interesting insight on the graciousness of the Japanese people and the incredible lack of public garbage cans and benches…and how completely exhausted they are! Plus, Todd confesses his love of performing Johnny Cash karaoke and his less-than-stellar performance of “Folsom Prison Blues” on the tour bus microphone.
As Eric and Todd continue their whirlwind tour of Japan on their way to the World Forum for Motor Museums, we talk to collection archivist Jack Wiegman about a Southern California private collector during the Shinkansen trip from Hiroshima to Nagoya, making this their FASTEST episode! Listen how one organization is moving from a very private collection towards a museum model; his particular interest in 1970’s concept cars; and how Jack’s interest in art AND cars led him to the collection; plus bonus descriptions of sweet Japanese treats! (Hang on for this one…a fair amount of background noise, but a great interview! You can also hear the unique music that accompanies each train station as we pull into Kyoto.)
Join two very tired hosts, Eric & Todd, as they continue their journey across Japan on their way to World Forum for Motor Museums. In this episode, recorded late at night after a huge day of travel, they reflect on their first journey on Japan’s Shinkansen (known as the ‘bullet train’) from Yokohama to Hiroshima, a distance of about 500 miles, which they traveled in a little over three hours. They also share their struggles trying to understand their Japanese guides and laugh about a major snafu with Todd’s train ticket, which he needed to board the train. (Completely Todd’s error, by the way!)
As delegates to the World Forum for Motor Museums begin gathering in Tokyo, Eric and Todd start visiting with other delegates. In a Tokyo coffee shop, Eric & Todd interview their friend Darren Cunningham, the director of the Isle of Man Motoring Museum. Darren talks about life on the Isle of Man, the incredible transportation collection he manages (“anything with a motor”), and we deep dive into the famous Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) motorcycle race, held nearly annually since 1907, a deadly competition that could be held almost no place else in the world. Visit the Isle of Man Motor Museum at https://www.visitisleofman.com/experience/isle-of-man-motor-museum-p1291951
Eric and Todd kick off their epic “car & museum guy” journey across Japan on the way to represent LeMay Family Collections at Marymount at the World Forum for Motor Museums. The first episode comes from a tiny sushi restaurant within the world famous Tsukiji Outer Market in Chuo City, which is part of Tokyo. Eric and Todd discuss the welcoming nature of the Japanese people, the food, the interesting array of coins and currency, using Japanese TV remotes and stumbling through our basic Japanese. More episodes of our epic journey coming!
In this episode, join co-hosts Eric LeMay and Todd Kelley as they take us inside of car auctions, both as bidders and drivers. Learn terms like “buyers premium” and “reserve” and how it applies to bidders looking for a deal on a car. We also dive into some great auction sound and some stories involving the great Harold LeMay. We also give you a bigger peak behind the curtain of our upcoming trip to the World Forum for Motoring Museums being hosted in Nagoya, Japan. (Did someone say, "Toyota 2000GT?")
In this short, natural sound episode, join co-hosts Eric LeMay and Todd Kelley as they do a shuttle run between the parking lot and the drop-off point for guests visiting the 46th Annual LeMay Car Show on August 31, plus a return trip. Todd spent the entire day double-clutching a 1934 Ford bus. Also in the shuttle rotation was a 1945 GMC “Ride the Ducks” amphibious tour bus once used in Seattle and Lake Union. The Ford, widely believed to originally be a Yellowstone National Park tour bus, was restored by LeMay Restorations and is powered by the legendary Ford flathead V-8 and a “square gear” manual transmission. This bus will give any driver a true workout. (Todd clocked 347 zone minutes on his smartwatch that day!)
Join hosts Eric LeMay and Todd Kelley as they interview one of Todd’s high school friends, Russell Trahan, author of, “One for the Road: Cars and Cocktails that Share a Name.” Hear how Russell came up with the idea while drinking Manhattans (Kaizer!) with friends and how he researched the cocktail recipes, along with the car ads and descriptions that go with the drinks. Also, hear how Russell and Todd come up with names for their cars and how they recall the cars they drove while students at Beaverton High School in the (ahem) early 1980’s. (Russell hasn’t changed a bit! Good on ya, Russell!)