Classic car museum near Buffalo keeps pieces of history out of the junkyard
WRIGHT COUNTY, Minn. — Instead of watching old, classic cars leave the state, a museum in Wright County is trying to keep them around at the Veit Museum near Buffalo.
"My folks were going through the Depression, so they saved stuff. I just picked up on it," said Vaughn Veit.
From the outside, one of Vaughn's buildings looks like a good-sized dairy barn. But inside, it's a car-lover's dream, housing a collection of classics as far as the eye can see.
"Some people are in awe. It's because there are a lot of car museums but none like this," said Vaughn.
He's the man behind the vintage vehicles. He started the Veit Automotive Foundation 25 years ago when he noticed too many life-long car enthusiasts selling off their collections as they aged.
"And I thought, I'm not going to collect for 40 or 50 years and have it spread all over the country," said Vaughn.
So, he stores his cars and others on a 500-acre piece of land near Buffalo.
"Every one is a little different. No two are the same," said Vaughn.
He still has the first set of wheels he owned, sold, bought back and restored. It's his favorite among the nearly 100 automobiles on site.
"'33 Fords. I don't know they are just, they only made them for eight months and they are kind of feminine in their design and I just like them," said Vaughn.
There are also collections of gas pumps, signs, pedal cars and bicycles.
And the buildings themselves are unique. The posts came from a mill in Connecticut and the flooring is from a tobacco barn in Kentucky. The rafters came from a schoolhouse in British Columbia.
"It likens to how Vaughn loves to use recycled materials. And to have it fit the Central Minnesota look inside and out, I think he did an excellent job on that," said Kari Heinzmann, Vaughn's assistant.
The same can be said for the round barn next door which contains a Woody Wagon with basket weave seats and a Ford Sedan that's similar to Bonnie and Clyde's getaway car. But the main attraction might be the Dussenbergs.
"They were the most expensive luxury car ever built in the United States," said Vaughn.
In 1930, a Dussenberg sold for up to $30,000 while the Model A was selling for $450.
"They went 112 miles an hour, the Model A went 45. They were fast cars," said Vaughn.
Only a few hundred of these cars were ever made. Now, they're valued at roughly $3 million, according to Vaugn.
The cars are on display because Vaughn's foundation can't bear to see them in a junkyard. Now, it's like a city of chrome smack dab in rural Minnesota.
"Pictures do not do it justice. It's a feeling that you get here. People leave with huge smiles on their faces," said Heinzmann.
The Veit Museum is located in a rural part of Wright County and they do give private tours. For more information, click here.
