THE CARS THAT SET THE STANDARDS FOR THE ENGINEERING OF AUTOMOBILES TODAY
Located in the Tampa, Clearwater, St. Petersburg area of west central Florida, the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum, features a unique collection of vintage cars and vehicles that demonstrate special creativity and imagination in their history and engineering. They include pioneering front wheel drive and rear engine cars from the 1920’s and 1930’s, and each vehicle was chosen based on the engineering achievements that made it an important part of the evolution of the automobile. Visitors enjoy a provocative blend of art and science in 18,000 square feet of gallery space. The history of the automobile is one of the greatest showcases of man’s creativity and imagination. The collection of the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum in the Tampa Bay area of the west central coast of Florida is perhaps one of the most succinct statements of that premise to be seen anywhere. Housed in the museum galleries are many of the finest early approaches to aerodynamic shapes and packaging, front wheel drive and rear engine-rear drive engineering, unibody construction, pioneering uses of materials like cast aluminum, pressed steel and more.
The innovation of engineers such as Paul Jaray (designer of the Zeppelin airships), Gabriel Voisin (aircraft designer from World War I), Edmund Rumpler (aircraft from World War I) and Jean Albert Gregoire (Tracta front wheel drive) are present in many automobiles throughout the collection. We believe that the Tampa Bay Automobile museum is more than just a collection of cars; it is also a celebration of the engineers that, through advanced thinking, brought us the car as we know of it today.