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All the United States Colorado Denver Forney Transportation Museum

Forney Transportation Museum

Explore some of the most unique vehicles in history along with a cast of unsettling mannequins.

Denver, Colorado

Added By
Daniel R. Thorne
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Forney Transportation Museum   Dylan Otto Krider on Flickr
Forney Transportation Museum   Dylan Otto Krider on Flickr
The Big Boy.   Roy Luck on Flickr
Forney Transportation Museum   Dylan Otto Krider on Flickr
Forney Transportation Museum   danielrthorne / Atlas Obscura User
Amphicar Model 770 (1963)   danielrthorne / Atlas Obscura User
EGAD!   danielrthorne / Atlas Obscura User
Drunk Buffalo Bill.   danielrthorne / Atlas Obscura User
Spaced Out Amelia Earhart.   danielrthorne / Atlas Obscura User
Creepy Mark Twain.   danielrthorne / Atlas Obscura User
Amenia Earhart’s ‘Yellow Peril’ 1923 Kisses Speedster   joewesterdale / Atlas Obscura User
1954 Plymouth convertible   joewesterdale / Atlas Obscura User
1932 Ford Phaeton   joewesterdale / Atlas Obscura User
1923 Hispano Suiza Victoria Town Car built in Barcelona   joewesterdale / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Growing from a private car collection to the eclectic vehicle collection that exists today, the Forney Transportation Museum in Denver, Colorado, contains such oddities as Amelia Earhart's car, a bashed up Herbie the Love Bug, and one of the world's largest steam locomotives, all brought to "life" by aging, dead-eyed mannequins.

J.D. Forney, founder of Forney Industries, began his vehicle collection in 1961 after his wife and children gifted him an antique car like the one he had wooed his wife in. Starting with this single car, Forney began to expand, taking in not just unique cars, but strange vehicles of all kinds, adopting the slogan, "Anything on Wheels." Following this ethos, the collection came into possession of famous cars like Amelia Earhart's old roadster, the "Gold Bug," and a version of Herbie the Love Bug that was beat up from filming; strange custom cars with eight wheels and small plastic autos that rolled on just three; weird antique vehicles such as an old medicine show stagecoach and a steam-powered tractor; and maybe most imposing of all, a Union Pacific "Big Boy" steam locomotive, one of the largest 'engines' of its kind ever produced (there were only 25 of them ever made).

To fill out the refurbished vehicles, a handful of mannequins were placed behind the wheel or nearby as though admiring the vehicles with their unblinking gaze. Strangely, the original Forney museum location featured a whole exhibit on famed Colorado cannibal Alfred Packer, although this was rightfully mothballed when the museum moved to its current location.

Today the museum still presents one of the most unique vehicle collections anywhere in America, and arguably the world, with over 600 pieces currently in the collection. However, as the collection of odd conveyances continues to grow and change, the mannequins that live in the museum do not, although at this point their strangeness fits right in.        

Related Tags

Museums And Collections Museums Cars Trains Automotive History

Community Contributors

Added By

danielrthorne

Edited By

Martin, bobrenner38, EricGrundhauser, joewesterdale

  • Martin
  • bobrenner38
  • EricGrundhauser
  • joewesterdale

Published

November 19, 2014

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Sources
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forney_Transportation_Museum
  • http://dthornebooks.com/2014/11/18/the-bizarre-historical-wax-figures-at-the-forney-museum-of-transportation/
  • http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/1540
Forney Transportation Museum
4303 Brighton Boulevard
Denver, Colorado, 80216
United States
39.777722, -104.971014
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Nearby Places

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Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Denver

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Photo of Denver

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Stories 12

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