Page 17 - AAA Magazine – AAA Ohio Auto Club – September 2018

The golden age of Route 66 began after World War II with the prosperous 1950s and interest in leisure travel by car to explore the countryside.
ride and a powerful engine, it was the ideal car to travel Route 66. All the major car manufacturers made a similar model car. These four-door sedans had a surprising amount of room in the back seat.
Moving into the 1940s, longer trips and vacations were made more comfortable with newer car designs utilizing better brakes, transmissions, redesigned tires and more powerful six- and eight-cylinder engines.
Other cars that can be inspected at the Route 66
Car Museum include family sedans, large convertibles and sports cars that would have been seen on Route 66 (like the Corvette). Typical 1940s and’50s sedans exhibited in the museum are the 1948 Chrysler Town
& Country “Woodie,” complete with period luggage
on the roof rack and a 1948 Hudson Commodore, the top-of-the-line model for Hudson. Another is the 1957 Studebaker Silver Hawk. Of course, the 1950s and ’60s Cadillacs embody the ultimate driving experience, and the Route 66 Car Museum’s 1960 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible was about as good as it gets in luxury and a smooth ride.
Station wagons were first coming into their own in the 1950s and ’60s and were seen in numerous forms because of their roominess and comfort.
Construction of Interstate 44 and other superhighways resulted in commercial traffic moving off of Route 66.
It was actually decertified as
an official federal highway and changed to
Byway status in
June 1985. However, vacationers, including many international visitors, continued frequenting the Mother Road.
In recent years it has become popular for travelers from every country of the globe. International travelers have the same passion for cars and traveling Route 66 as Americans, often bringing their own classic cars and motorcycles to the
United States to experience
the Mother Road. About
30 percent of our visitors to
the Route 66 Car Museum
are from outside the United
States. They say that Route
66 carries the allure of
seeing the real U.S.
countryside and
experiencing our
friendly country.
Guy Mace is owner of the Route 66 Car Museum.
SEPTEMBER 2018 | 15