Classic car fanatics could scarcely find a better home base than Tupelo, MS, where the Tupelo Automobile Museum features 120,000 square feet of automobile displays and open viewing restoration bays.

Classic Cars

More than 150 antique, classic and collectible automobiles are displayed chronologically at the museum, illustrating the progress of more than 100 years of automobile design and engineering.

The collection, valued at over $6 million, includes an 1886 Benz, representing the birth of the automobile, a rare Tucker, a never-driven 1994 Dodge Viper, movie and celebrity vehicles, Hispano Suizas, a Duesenberg, and many more rare brands and American favorites.

Tupelo's most famous resident, king of rock n' roll Elvis Presley, is also well represented at the Tupelo Automobile Museum. The museum's collection includes a 1976 Lincoln Mark IV he bought for $13,386 for a friend (the receipt is also on display), as well as a 1939 Plymouth, the same model driven by Elvis' family when they moved from Tupelo to Memphis. That car is on permanent loan to the Elvis Presley Birthplace and Museum in Tupelo.

Automobiles currently under restoration are added to the display area as they are completed.

Vehicle Restoration

Establishing the Tupelo Automobile Museum was a 28 year process. It began when founder Frank Spain acquired his first antique car in 1974. Spain and a friend, museum curator, Max Berryhill, spent the next many years acquiring from all over North America and Europe the 150 rare automobiles in the collection.

Until the late 1990s the vehicles were stored at various locations throughout the United States. Spain and Berryhill desired to develop a museum so the public could enjoy and learn from the collection.

Spain’s hometown of Tupelo, MS, rallied support for the museum. With the help of the Tupelo Convention and Visitors Bureau and Tupelo Mayor Larry Otis, placing the museum in Tupelo became a reality.

The Tupelo Automobile Museum opened in December of 2002 and was designated the official State of Mississippi automobile museum in the spring of 2003.

Take a video tour of the Tupelo Automobile Museum.

Tupelo Automobile Museum:

Directions:

Located ½ block off Hwy. 45, Main Street Exit

Adjacent to BancorpSouth Arena on Otis Blvd., Tupelo, Mississippi

Telephone: (662) 842-4242

Hours:

Tuesday - Saturday (Mar - Oct), 10am - 6pm

Tuesday - Saturday (Nov - Feb), 10am - 5pm

Sunday (Year Round, 12pm - 5pm)

Closed Mondays, Christmas, New Year's Day, Thanksgiving, Easter

Admission Fees:

$10.00 Adult • $5 Children ages 5-12

Children 4 and under Free

$8.00 for AAA members and Seniors

$7.50 Group discount for 10 or more people

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