Tucked away in a large building in Salem, Oregon, with no external signage and no obvious entrance from the street, is a truly large and astonishing car collection and museum. It is not publicized, and is hard to find. Most significantly, it is not open to the general public. Those who are fortunate enough to get in usually arrive by pre-arranged tours through special car clubs or, recently, as a fundraiser for a local charity group. The operation of the museum itself is unique. Its location is known, though there are no efforts to publicize it. The identity of the owners is a closely guarded secret. (Several websites have claimed to know, but they are likely in error.) Word is the brothers that own it do have some plans eventually to open the collection up to more public view, but that’s some time off. For the time being, tours can be arranged for a fee, with the proceeds going to charity.
In its more than 117,000 square feet of display area are housed some 600 automobiles, all in fully restored condition, including more than 350 muscle cars from the 1960s onward to the present era. Seen in its entirety, the collection is eclectic, and includes various classics from the Thirties, vintage cars from the Forties and Fifties, exotics from across three decades, and even a couple of wooden hydroplane racing boats—one a Ferrari and one a Maserati—from the 1950s. There’s a large display of Porsches, about a dozen Ferraris from the late Forties to the current era. There’s even a Bizzarini 5300 GT Strada—an exotic with swoopy Italian styling built over Corvette underpinnings. Several Ford GTs from the early versions right to the present model. Several vintage Jaguars from the XK120 to the XK150. A half dozen Mercedes, including a 1930s 540 and a 1950s 300SL coupe and roadster. An original 1970 Toyota 2000 GT sits by itself in the middle of a clear space near the front, its diminutive size somewhat surprising. There’s a 1959 Autobianchi Bianchina, representing the European post-World War II mini-cars of the mid-to-late Fifties recovery period. A Dual Ghia in a back corner is reminiscent of the “La Dolce Vita” era of 1960s Europe. A couple of Alfa Romeos, and the ubiquitous (for its time) Volkswagen Combi round out the view.
Photo by Don Homuth
The biggest and most notable contingent are the muscle cars. Those are clearly of special interest to the owners and comprise more than half of the entire displayed collection.
A long line of Hemi-powered Seventies Dodge Challengers and Plymouth ‘Cudas is displayed in long rows on both sides of one aisle. Not that these are the only Mopar cars on display: There are two identical Dodge Daytonas on turntables, and several more earlier Mopars are featured along nearby aisles. There are two racks of Mopars along one wall that couldn’t fit neatly into the rows, and there’s a Charger with a seldom-seen 426 wedge head with twin crossover four-barrel carburetors.
Ford’s muscle cars are well represented—a lot of Mustangs including some original Shelby GT350s, but also larger sedans and several race cars from the era. There’s a Ranchero pickup with a factory-installed Paxton supercharger that’s so rare that it’s seldom written about.
GM is represented by a long row of Camaros, including several COPOs and Yenkos. Even the 1967 Camaro Cherokee, an early one-of-one styling convertible exercise, is included. There’s a good selection of Pontiacs in their own enclosure, from a 1958 fuel-injected Bonneville convertible to a selection of Firebirds. In 1969, when the first Firebird Trans-Ams were produced, there were eight original Trans-Am convertibles; the rest of them were hardtops. Four of the convertibles are on the floor in this collection. There is a display of Corvettes, too, from the original 1953 through all the iterations since then, up to the present day. No Chevrolet collection would be complete without a 1962 bubbletop Bel Air 409, or a 1957 fuel-injected convertible.
Photo by Don Homuth
There’s a display of Shelby Cobras, both in racing and street trim. Of special note is the “one-of-none” Daytona coupe prototype that Shelby was constructing after the first 289-powered coupes raced at Le Mans. He had constructed a bunch of body panels different somewhat from the originals, and had intended to put a 427 engine in it. However, after Ford approached Shelby to run the Ford GT LeMans effort, the Mk2 coupe panels were simply stacked in a corner of the shop and the car was never actually constructed. It was only much later that the panels were brought out, the original drawings found and the car was built as it would have been run at Le Mans had the Daytona Coupe effort gone forward. It never was and never will be. It sits on a turntable where visitors can get within 10 feet of it.
AMC is represented by a couple of cars, including a RWB 390 cid V-8 Rambler American and the larger Javelin. There’s even an original V-8 Gremlin!
Other notable cars include an original Tucker close to the rope so visitors can look right down into the engine compartment. There’s also a 1946 Bandini, a tiny sports car so rare that few have ever heard of it. Included. too, are a couple of pristine pedal cars for children in as-new condition.
Listing them all would take pages and still not do each of them justice; the collection is just so large that it’s hard to take all of it in. Wandering through it is to be in a sort of automobile wonderland. It’s hard to believe all these great cars are all in one place.
The Brothers Collection got started in the same way people get started on smaller collection: it started with one car, then a few more were added, then a building was established to hold a dozen or so, then a few more cars were added, larger buildings were moved into, until finally it grew into its present size. The history and provenance of each exhibit is known, and many of the more significant exhibits feature thorough signage so spectators can read their history.
If you want to arrange for a tour or an event at the museum, you can email info@thebrotherscollection.com. This will put you in touch with a designated spokesperson for the collection, and any arrangements thereafter are a matter of individual discussion.
It boggles the mind that such a collection in private hands would even be possible, but here it is. It’s notable not only for the remarkable number of cars, or for the variety on display, but also because each and every one of them is restored to perfection. They are as they were when new. The owners continue to acquire new cars to add to the collection, and rumor has it there may be many more housed elsewhere that are currently in the process of restoration.
No one can just walk up, buy a ticket and get in. But if your group is willing, and can pay the fee for a tour, it’s worth every dollar to see it. There is nothing else quite like it anywhere in the country.
