RonnieAdventure #0335 - Hollywood Cars Museum, Las Vegas, Nevada

Hollywood Cars Museum (aka Hot Rod City and Liberace Garage) has moved locations a number of times; but it is now located just south of the Interstate-15 Tropicana Exit in Las Vegas. The complex is kind of a hodge-podge of movie cars, reproductions, custom built cars, hot rods, motorcycles, scooters, and one section of the museum is dedicated to Liberace. For guys who bring their wives that are not the least bit interested in the automotive world, there is a ladies "seating area" where women can relax in large custom made bucket seats and look at Elvis on a George Barris "Versa Trike" while waiting for their husbands. The Versa Trike's center of gravity is toward the back of the trike, so when the driver pops the clutch, the trike does a wheelie. The trike is used for parades and the kids love to watch it travel down the street on the rear two wheels. Also located in the lobby is a "Liberace Piano Hot Rod." A Grand piano was placed on top of a "T" chassis with a beasty Chevy 350 engine, so the driver can sit behind the piano and play music while driving down the street. According to a museum docent, the Piano hot rod was built after Liberace died and was never owned by Liberace, so the hot rod is not located in the Liberace Garage.

I think every automotive museum in the country has at least one vehicle that was used in a Fast & Furious movie.  There is also a stunt car from Starsky and Hutch, the original Coyote stunt car that was used in the Hardcastle and McCormic television series, and the original 1947 Desoto Taxi from the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

But not every museum has a "Skate Car," or a replica of the Beverly Hillbillies jalopy. When the museum was moving the jalopy from California to Las Vegas on a flatbed truck, Granny's rocking chair accidentally fell off the back of the truck, landed on the freeway, and broke into a number of pieces. Fortunately, other motorist saw the accident, stopped the truck driver, and they were able to pick up enough pieces to reconstruct the rocker.

A placard by the side of the Dukes of Hazzard 1969 Dodge Charger General Lee stated that this was the stunt car that made a jump of 150 feet in front of city hall. The car was totaled after the jump and had to be completely rebuilt, including new body panels, then the vehicle toured with the Hazzard County Stunt Team to numerous events.

Batman was represented in the museum with the Batcycle and a Batmobile from the Batman TV show, and a Batmobile from the Batman Returns movie. 

I did not ever see the movie Porkey 2, but the pink Hudson was on display in the museum.

Bond, James Bond, was well represented with a BSA A65 Lightning motorcycle that was fitted with machine guns and used in the movie Thunderball, a replica of the Flying AMC Matador Coupe from The Man With The Golden Gun, one of the Lotus Esprit Submarine Cars (six built for the movie) from The Spy Who Loved Me, a replica of the BD-5 Microjet used in Octopussy, the Land Rover from Skyfall, and the Renault 11 Turbo Taxi used in A View To A Kill.

Also on display were a Knight Industries Two Thousand (Kitt Clone) 1983 Pontiac Firebird as used in Knight Rider, a reproduction of the Delorean used in Back to the Future, a recreation of the Chitty Racer from Chitty Chity Bang Bang, the actual stunt van used in A-Team, a mock-up of Doc Hudson from the animated Disney film Cars, a Herbie reproduction, a reproduction of Grandpa Munster's Dragula Coffin-Mobile, and the death car used in the movie Bonnie & Clyde. (The actual death car is on display in Whiskey Pete's Hotel/Casino in Primm, and there are a number of reproductions of the death car located in museums around the country.)

For aquatic enthusiast,  the actual lifeboat that was used in the movie Captain Phillips is on display.

The stretched pink Limo, as seen in various movies and advertisements, is equipped with a red heart-shaped hot tub and is longer than it appears in pictures. 

Also on display were some Flintstone vehicles, miscellaneous vehicles for youth, a snow mobile from GI Joe, Rise of the Cobra, and a collection of motorcycles, and all types of scooters. 

And, in a separate part of the museum was the Liberace collection, featuring some of Lee's cars, clothes, and one of his many pianos.

Liberace's 1961 Phantom V Rolls Royce (Only 7 of this model were made with the retractable landau top and this is the only one in the world with left-hand drive.) This is the actual car used in the movie Behind the Candelabra.

Liberace loved cars and had several of his cars mirrored and/or painted with flamboyant colors, including his 1952 Bicentennial Rolls Royce that was used as a prop when he wore his Red Jumpsuit and played "Stars and Stripes Forever. The car was loaned to Radio City Music Hall in New York City for the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty. 

During the 1970's gas crises, Liberace wanted to do his part to save gas, so he had a custom-built VW Bug (called a "VolksRolls") that he used for transportation. He had it painted pink to match one his pink-feathered costumes. The car is still used for parades. 

Another one of Lee's fuel-efficient cars was a custom-built Bradley GT that was built on a Volkswagen chassis, but patterned after a Gull-Wing Mercedes Benz.

Liberace's "Rinestone Roadster" was adorned with thousands of rhinestones to mach his Ice Blue Costume and Rhinestone Baldwin Grand Piano.

The Model A Ford replica was built on a Ford chassis with a Mustang V-8 engine and was used at the Las Vegas Hilton to Chauffeur Liberace on-stage while he sat in the rumble seat dressed in a Red Jumpsuit and a White Ostrich-Feathered Cape. 

RonnieAdventure #0334 - Goodsprings, Nevada

It is that time of year again when the summer heat has been replaced by beautiful fall days, which means that it is time to start taking more Mojave Desert exploration trips.

Goodsprings (population 229) was once considered to be a ghost town, but it is now having a slight resurgence of residents. 

The Old Spanish Trail passed through the area between 1829 and 1843 and people often stopped at a spring along the trail to water their livestock. Joseph Good eventually settled in the area and the spring became known as Good's Spring, which was later changed to Goodsprings when the miners started arriving to prospect for precious metals. Over the years, the spring dried-up from excessive water uses and the basin around the spring is now filled with brush. 

A wide variety of minerals were discovered in the area, including gold, silver, lead, copper, zinc, molybdenum, vanadium, nickel, cobalt, platinum, palladium, and uranium. In 1901, the Yellow Pine Mining Company was formed by consolidating ownership of the area mines and several mills were constructed to process the ore. Foundations from the Yellow Pine Mill can still be seen on a hillside as you drive into Goodsprings. 

The larger Argentina (aka Argentena) Mine Mill is located just west of Goodsprings and many of the foundations are still standing. There is one grave site at the Argentina Mine Mill that is still maintained. All of the mine shafts near the Argentina Mine Mill have been sealed by the Federal Government, except for the dynamite storage shaft that only penetrates into the mountain for a few feet. 

In 2002, while playing an international intellectual live action contest called "The Game," the final clue directed teams to the Argentina Mine complex near Goodsprings. Participants in "The Game" were from various universities, members of think tanks, employees of advanced computer and technology companies, and many of the participants held high level positions in multi-billion dollar companies. To win the game was for the bragging rights, not the prize money, which was not enough to even come close to covering the entry fee, cost of specialty equipment, and travel expenses. 

Bob Lord, a Microsoft Software Engineer, and his team were the first to arrive at the Argentina Mine and misinterpreted a clue that said "1306 is clearly marked. Enter ONLY 1306. DO NOT enter others." There was a bright orange warning on the clue marking the wrong portal that read: "No! No! No! No! No!" Additionally, the mine entrances were well marked by the Federal Government with warning signs not to enter. However, Bob Lord, not being familiar with abandoned mines, ignored all of the warning signs and entered an open adit and fell down a vertical shaft, shattering several vertebrae and leaving him with severe brain damage and forever a quadriplegic. A Warning to Readers - Do Not Ever Enter Abandoned Mine Adits!

The reason most people visit Goodsprings is to see the famous historic Pioneer Saloon, which was built in 1913 by prominent business man George Fayle. The interior and exterior walls of the building are made from stamped tin that was manufactured and sold by Sears and Roebuck, and the saloon bar was crafted by the Brunswick Company in Maine in the 1860's. 

On July 3, 1915, during a poker game, a man named Paul Coski was caught cheating and Joe Armstrong, another player in the game, after a brief scuffle pulled out a gun, fired multiple times, and killed Paul Coski. Three bullet holes can still be seen through the tin walls. The holes have never been repaired, so outside light can be seen through the wall holes if you line up the bullets' trajectories as they passed through both the inter and outer walls. 

Another major event involving the Pioneer Saloon occurred on January 16, 1942, when Carole Lombard, wife of Clark Gable, was on a War Bond tour and the Trans World Airline DC-3 airliner she was traveling on stopped in Las Vegas to refuel. When leaving the airport, the pilot made an incorrect course calculation and crashed into Double Up Peak near the 8,300-foot level of Mount Potosi. It took several days to find and reach the crash site, so Gable sat in the Pioneer Saloon for the entire time drinking himself to sleep. There are still burn marks on the bar top where he dropped cigarettes when he fell asleep. A back room in the Pioneer Saloon is dedicated to Carole Lombard and Clark Gable and contains numerous memorabilia items. After Lombard's death, Gable joined the United States Army Air Force and flew combat missions in Europe. Hitler disliked the publicity Gable received, so he offered a bonus to anyone that could shoot down Gable's plane. Fortunately, no one ever received the bonus!

There was an open gate by the side of the saloon, so I walked by the sentry and discovered a number of locked wooden kegs, which I don't think were filled with water! 

The Goodsprings schoolhouse was built in 1913 (still in use) and the community library is located on the adjacent property. 

The town also has its own AM radio station, and a fire department. A water tower has been erected by the side of the fire department building for water storage in case of a fire. 

The "Clock House" reminded me of Confucius saying: "Man with clock always knows what time it is. Man with two clocks never knows what time it is."

An old windmill, wagon, and a few buildings are all that remain on the General Mercantile Site. One of the buildings is believed to be the oldest building in Goodsprings. There is even a Pomegranate tree on the site!

I assume the "Cottonwood House" received its name from the large Cottonwood tree that it sits under. 

Information signs are found at various locations around the community, but many of the old structures are unmarked. 

We also saw one of Mater's cousins (Cars movie) from Radiator Springs that was on vacation in Goodsprings, viewing some modern artwork. .