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Volo Auto Museum shows prices on cars, but that is because most of the cars they have on display are for sale. Only museum I have been to that showed "values" on the cars.

There are museums that put prices on objects. They are called dealers. Some of them even call themselves museums/collections.

I can understand why static museums don't put prices on display - such is not available and verifiable. History buffs seem to be fanatics about accurate facts and figures as a refuge from today's lie driven culture where people lie about the time of day and dishonesty is the national currency. I mean really. Most people I deal with think that I'm a dummy who believes all of their lies because I keep my cool and don't bounce around like a ping pong ball. There isn't much an honest man can do because the law is written to protect liars. That's because most law is written by lawyers. You just can't put somebody into a hospital bed for a vicious lie.

The museums also have to think about things like insurance and robbery. Keep in mind too that when you start asking about what objects are worth, the employees start looking at you as a potential thief. So not showing appraisals keeps things nicer.

As for the antiques junkshow, most of that stuff is just plain crazy. When I was a kid I had a little desk that came from Turnquist's mother. One day I decided I wanted to learn how to refinish furniture. I'm sure the Antiques junkshow people would have been horrified. I only did the top.

I would be interested on values to a point but if you have no plans to sell something or it is something that you had fond memories of there is no monetary value. Went to Graceland some interesting cars but was not thinking of value.

BigKev, founder of this website, which is a vaunted rarity; the epitome of class and profoundly appreciated, especially by those of us who know how small and petty some vintage/Classic car sites can be, sums it well above.

Most of us are irritated, sick, of the incredibly rude question, "What's sumthin' like that worth?" So for a museum to encourage that mentality is low, disturbing.

You don't see price tags on the art in the Louvre, only in the gift shop. So it should be in any museum.

To reduce history, that which endures, to price du jour, is base, crude folly.

An old friend with a '50s Ferrari and a '31 Alfa Romeo got so tired of the above question that, despite being a consumate gentleman, finally replied, "You know Oscar Wilde's definition of a fool? Someone who knows the price of everything, but not the value."

Can't believe that this site celebrating "the car built for gentlemen by gentlemen" should waste electrons on perpetuating "What's sumthin' like that worth?"

We've found over the decades that low horizon types asking this question, wanting to reduce everything to a price, usually have little interest in

the cars.

Profound thanks, Cardinal Kev, and yours really is the last word on this sorry subject, mine are but commentary.

As for the Behring/Blackhawk Auto Museum in Danville, in NorCal's East Bay, they have some impressive cars. But half those on display are Ferraris and other '50s GT cars,
most of those over-the-top, impractical, custom bodied, few with a grace of line that's aged well.

Most of the heavy iron '20s and '30s Classics are similarly transitory fashion statements, not really representative of most fine cars on such chassis from either side of the Atlantic.

In other words, think of the tulipwood-bodied, copper-trimmed, boattailed Hispano-Suiza H6 you've seen in countless "Classic car" tomes which quickly wind up in the discount bin of mall bookstores. Impractical nightmares like a three-ton, 21-foot Figone et Falaschi--"Phony and Flashy" as they were known by wags in the day-- Cadillac V-16 roadster for two people, including the driver.

Both of these are at Blackhawk.

If that sort of thing's your metier, you'll be in hog heaven at Blackhawk. Founder Ken Behring began with a used car lot in Wisconsin, then sold mobile homes to retirees in Florida, and built a retirement community there before coming to the California Bay Area, where he built Blackhawk,
a gated community of monster homes, "McMansions," on teeny lots so that the inhabitants can almost lean out their windows and shake hands with their neighbors, on arid, third-rate cattle country east of the corporate 'burbs for people with more money than brains.

Behring, owner of the Seattle Seahawks NFL team, shunts his cars between the Museum, open to the public at a hefty $20 per person, and the private wheeler-dealer Blackhawk Collection. By allying the "Museum" with the University of California, he reduces his taxes, while still charging steep admission to those of us who pick up the slack.

Behring's often gone big game hunting in Africa, killing endangered species including lions, leopards, elephants.

If this is class and elegance to you, have at it. But if you want to see some quietly impressive cars, in the colors they wore in the day, the next time you visit the Bay Area, see the Academy of Art University Auto Museum on Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco's auto row since the teens. There, housed in a pair of elegant ancient auto dealerships nine blocks from each other, you'll see dozens of serious Classic and vintage cars as they really were. Over HALF of the '30s heavy iron are Packards, mostly Twelves. Google the museum and you can see a partial list of what's on display,
including a '31 Stutz DV-32, a quartet of Duesenberg J/SJs,
Pierce-Arrows, a Marmon V-16, '39 Lagonda V-12 Rapide, '37 Talbot-Lago 150 "Teardrop" aero coupe, one of 11 built and roadraced in the day, a lovely '38 Tickford-bodied MG-TA with three-position top.

I've lived on both coasts and visited the Henry Ford Dearborn Village Collection as a lad in Detroit. Have never seen a finer collection of cars more lovingly presented without hype or malarkey since the pre-Holiday Inns breakup of the 1,400-vehicle/boat/plane Harrah's Collection.

We were at Blackhawk last spring, and the Academy of Art Auto Museum just two weeks ago, so trust me on this. Even better, at the Academy of Art Auto Museum, under the watchful but lowkey eyes of enthused volunteers, you can walk right up to the cars, peer inside. The volunteers will readily open hoods, etc., patiently and with humor answer the questions your wife or girlfriend poses. Call or email first. Tickets only $10.

The Blackhawk Museum's lighting is dim, very, the cars well back, surrounded by robe cord. It's all about gee whiz bling, and some of the gaffes on the placards are unintentionally funny, with spelling mistakes that'd embarrass most junior high kids. Blackhawk's the sort of place that reminds you that money, even cubic tons of it, can't buy class. Blackhawk has a few nice cars, of course. But no match for the Academy of Art University Auto Museum's, where every bloomin' buggy is a lovely, real world stunner. www.academyautomuseum.org

Thanks again, Cardinal Kev.

Veering a bit off topic, I personally subscribe to the 'Noblese Oblige' way of approaching such matters of dollar worth. Not everyone is familiar with things Packard (*Horrors!*), so they fill in the gaps by identifying things that are readily understandable to them, and which convey something about the thing in question. And to most, it's about dollar value. People instantly associate a figure with not only 'Worth', but also it's place in history.

We are all keepers of fine historical relics, but more importantly, we represent the time honored values that these fine cars represent(ed). That necessarily means having to tolerate others ways of associating with the unknown without being rude or obnoxious.

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+1

You can say anything you want about timeless values or the Wilde quote, but the dickens of a lot of people are asking about dollars. The well schooled gentleman humors them politely....IMHO.

I wouldn't really expect a museum to post the price they paid for an item, however a value range for similar models would be educational and perhaps give the person looking at the exhibit a clue if he or she could even dream of owning such a vehicle in the future, seems like that would be good for the hobby.

Maxine and I operate a tiny mom and pop motel, our 1948 Packard and an old Farmall Cub sit under a carport at the end of the building, guests enjoy looking and I enjoy the conversation and showing off the car to them. Occasionally the question of value arises, the amount I paid some years ago isn't relevant today and I'm not looking to sell the car so no value between buyer and seller, yet I'm not offended that folks are interested in the value. I usually suggest that they visit eBay or other old car sites, that they will find a wide variety of prices for similar models depending on just how nice a car they desire. Maybe it's just talk to pass the time, but there's always the chance that it's the encouragement someone needs to join the hobby and find their own Packard.

Jim

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I have a proposed compromise - why don't museums list the price of the Packard in their collection at the time it was sold in comparison to the prices of other popular makes of the day? That way there is a good historical context and nobody has to worry about how much they should or could get for the car today!

My two cents worth......I believe that the commonly asked question of "what's it worth?", arises from the fact that for most of the General Public, it is by far the easiest question to ask. I always respond by saying "as much as some poor fool is prepared to pay!"

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How very vulgar

"if you have to ask, you can't afford it"