Audrain Auto Museum Land Yacht Exhibit
7/25/22
David: On a rainy day, I went to the Audrain Auto Museum in Newport, RI. This is another auto museum in Newport, but not as big as the Newport Auto Museum itself that I visited back in 2018. Be sure to check out that entry if you haven't already. Similar to that entry, I won't be writing be writing much in the descriptions for each car. However, with that being said, since the whole museum was setup as one exhibit, I will include a little bit for each car. The Exhibit was on land yachts of the 1950s and '60s, and featured some of the largest cars ever produced. It was mostly '50s era cars and early '60s cars, but there were a few muscle cars thrown in. We once again got to see another real Hemi Superbird as well, which was again, the main attraction. I hope you enjoy these cars as much as we did!
1948 Hudson Eight Commodore
Probably the oldest car at the exhibit, this was one of the most popular cars, according to the museum curator. He also mentioned a really interesting feature that I had never heard of before. If you notice on the drivers side dashboard, there's a small silver box right in front of the steering wheel. (You might have to look closely, try looking in between the spotlight and windshield wiper) That device was used to reflect the traffic signal from a mirror, so the driver could see the light on a sunny day. That's just genius.
1956 Packard Caribbean
One of the last cars Packard put out before shutting down in '58. If you're gonna go out, go out in style.
1961 Chrysler 300G
The '61 Chrysler represents the time when cars started to get bigger and wider. The '61 Chrysler also pioneered swiveling seats, and was technically a 2+2 style car. As big as it was, this had four seats.
1968 Buick LeSabre Boat Conversion
The king of the land yachts, this '68 Buick was certainly a sight. At some point in its life, the car was converted to something resembling a boat. The entire steering column was moved all the way to the back decklid, and raised up, so the driver was essentially sitting over the roof. This was by far the one of the most insane cars I've ever seen.
Above: 1966 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442
This was one of two muscle cars at the exhibit. This beauty was the real deal. Don't worry we'll get to the other muscle car.
Above: 1957 Chevy Bel Air
The most iconic 50s car ever?
1957 Cadillac Eldorado
The most expensive car in 1957. If you wanted to show off you had cash, you bought one of these.
1957 Lincoln Premiere
This is just beautiful. We'll never see styling like this ever again. I don't care if I sound like a boomer ranting at a cloud, but these cars are truly something to appreciate.
1958 Edsel Citation
Edsel was done so wrong. These are such nice looking cars, I'm truly shocked at how poorly these sold during their production run.
1965 Imperial Crown Convertible
Here we have what was probably one of the biggest cars at the exhibit...
1957 Ford Thunderbird w/ Hardtop
...And here we have what was probably the smallest car at the exhibit. I'm honestly quite shocked this was included. I never thought of these as land yachts.
1956 DeSoto Fireflite Convertible
Fun fact: These came optioned with a record player. I can only imagine what that was like when you hit a bump...
Above: Saving the Best for Last: The Iconic 1970 Plymouth Superbird
Lastly, we arrive at the Superbird. This is an original 426 Hemi car, and the second ever Superbird I’ve seen in person. As you could imagine, this was the star of the show.