The Gilmore Car Museum Collection, Offered at No Reserve: A Practical Look

With the occasion of this collection sale, we are excited to announce a new partnership with the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan (on the heel of the Michigan mitten hand near Kalamazoo, for anyone curious). The museum features a collection of over 400 vehicles, and also hosts seven independent marque- and model-specific museums on their 90-acre campus. The Gilmore is focused primarily on American vehicles from the 20th Century, but their selection of vehicles changes over time, which is why they approached Bring a Trailer for this first collection sale. Here we have five American-made vehicles ranging from 1930 to 1973 that will be sold with no reserve, including Indycar team owner Jim Gilmore’s personal Cadillac Eldorado convertible. The Gilmore Car Museum is itself a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and proceeds from the auction, including the BaT buyer’s fee, will go toward the museum’s mission of preserving the history and heritage of the American automobile.

Auctions will begin going live on Monday, March 9, and additional lots will be added in the days to come. A preview of the Gilmore Car Museum Collection continues below.

1930 Hudson Model T Rumble Seat Coupe

1930 was the first and only model year for Hudson’s “Great Eight,” a full-size, straight-eight-powered luxury car that was available in Model T (short wheelbase) and Model U (long wheelbase) chassis topped by your choice of 11 different bodystyles. This example is a two-place coupe with a rumble seat out back, and was refurbished by its previous owner before it came to the Gilmore Museum in 2021. Features include wood-spoke artillery wheels, running boards, windshield and side window visors, cowl and driving lamps, and a rear luggage trunk.

1957 Pontiac Chieftain 4-Door Sedan

Sometimes the Pontiac Chieftain gets lumped in with the Chevy Tri-Five, and while the cars were similar in most respects, the two were independently-designed platforms. This Chieftain is a four-door sedan from 1957 that came from the factory in this subtle two-tone scheme of Lucerne Blue and Sheffield Grey. Prior to the Gilmore Museum’s 2016 acquisition, the car had remained in one family from new, and was refurbished in 2015. Under the hood is a 347ci “Strato-Streak” V8 paired with a four-speed automatic transmission, and the car received a tune-up, oil change, and a new battery in preparation for sale.

1961 Checker Superba Station Wagon

The Checker Motors Corporation was a company with a checkered history, pun very much intended. As a contract vendor that changed hands and locations several times over the course of its lifetime, Checker was by nature opportunistic, and survived for six decades, building fleets of cars and buses for corporations and municipalities across the US. Their single foray into consumer vehicles came in the late 1950s and early ’60s with the A10 Superba. This wagon variant remained in one family from new until 2021, and, remaining true to its stolid taxicab origins, rolled its odometer thrice during that time. It has been in the Gilmore collection for five years, and comes with its original window sticker showing a purchase price of $3,234.

1966 Lincoln Continental Convertible

Few cars have more presence than the fourth-generation Lincoln Continental, and when finished in black over gold leather the effect is only intensified. Before retiring to the museum, the car spent its life in the New York metropolitan area, where it probably had a hard time finding a parking spot. Since 2014, it has resided in the Gilmore collection, but that doesn’t mean its driving days are over. It was serviced in preparation for sale with new tires, a tuneup, and a rebuilt radio and power antenna.

Ex–Jim Gilmore 1973 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible

The final car in the collection is this Cadillac Eldorado convertible, which once belonged to Jim Gilmore, who sponsored A.J. Foyt and the Coyote race car that delivered him his fourth Indy 500 win. The car was ostensibly purchased to allay Foyt’s concerns that the model was not fast enough to serve as pace car for the 1973 race, but with some modifications to the carburetor and exhaust, he was able to sustain the requisite 120 mph over one lap. Gilmore sold the car on after the race, and it was refurbished in the 1980s, which included a color change to Firethorn Red. It wasn’t until 2013 that this car made its way to the Gilmore Museum (founded by Jim’s uncle and aunt Donald and Genevieve, incidentally), where it has remained up to the present. The well-optioned car has the larger 500ci V8, and most recently received an oil change in late 2025.