Savoy Automobile Museum - A Visit to this World-Class Car Museum in Cartersville, GA
This past weekend I traveled to Lindale, Georgia to pickup a vintage penny arcade game that I had bought off of a guy on FB Marketplace. When I was looking at Maps to plot my route I realized that I would be only minutes away from the Savoy Automobile Museum in Cartersville, Georgia. Opening at the end of 2021, I first became aware of the museum on Facebook not long after its opening. Savoy was one of those “if I’m ever in the area or passing through” deals, and it appeared this was going to be my chance! I took both my parents along for the trip.
The Savoy Automotive Museum is a beautiful, state of the art car museum that is situated on 37 acres in Cartersville, Georgia. And before I say anything else about the museum, this was also my first visit to Cartersville and it couldn’t have been more charming! Arriving early in town before the museum opened, we found ourselves walking into small shops, antique stores, looking at beautiful old houses, and visiting their farmer’s market downtown.
As the opening time of 10am arrived we were one of the first people to enter the museum. As we entered we were greeted by Shirley Muldowney’s hot pink “The Last Pass” dragster! A little further in and we entered The Great Hall which is littered with vintage racers, starting with a stunning 1952 Ferrari Type 375 Indy car. To the left of the hall sat other racing cars from the early 19-teens throughout the first half of the 20th century. Highlights for me in this hall were a 1912 Fiat raced in the 1912 Indy 500 and a 1929 Bugatti Type 35 Grand Prix racer. Towards the other end of the hall the Indy and Grand Prix cars displays become more modern.
There are four separate galleries that are attached to the Great Hall with revolving exhibitions that are changed out to keep things fresh. During my visit here (early July of 2024) the exhibits were Movie Cars, Women in Motorsports, Radcars of Savoy, Indianapolis Motor Speedway (which I talked about earlier), The Savoy Collection, and they have an extensive fine art collection featuring vintage car, petroliana, and vintage racing paintings and art. There is also a state of the art movie theater, gift shop, café, and ample ground for car shows and gatherings, and well as a massive pavilion for outdoor meetings and food.
I’ll let some of my photos do the rest of the talking below. But one thing I liked about this museum was the mix of different eras and styles of collectible cars. The years of vehicles displayed range over 110 years of both foreign and domestic builds, representing things both on and off the track. There were also muscle cars, cruisers, high tech, and early tech as motorsports evolved. And there are some real odd-ball things to feast your eyes upon as well! Personally, I loved seeing the ’58 Impala Sport Coupe from George Lucas’s American Graffiti (Steve’s car that Toad and Debbie cruised around all night in), the ’49 Buick Roadmaster Convertible from the movie Rain Man, the blue 1929 Bugatti Type 35, and their ’68 Shelby Cobra GT500.
I highly recommend the visit to Savoy. It is world class, sparkling clean, with very nice and knowledgeable personnel, and situated in a beautiful town that makes it well worth a visit!
The Savoy Automobile Museum is open Tuesday – Sunday, 10am-5pm, at 3 Savoy Lane, Cartersville, GA.
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Below: A rare look at the nerd that goes by 'Kanauga Kool".
