Welcome to the International Model Car Builders’ Museum!
The International Model Car Builders’ Museum was founded with a simple goal: Preserve the memories of the scale vehicle hobby for all hobbyists – old and new – and promote and support contemporary contests and displays which encourage current builders.
Our initial effort, which started in 1988, has been to gather and chronicle the history of the model car hobby from the perspective of the builder. The Museum isn’t about collecting kits (though we have a modest collection of rare items). Instead, our goal has been to focus on those individuals who have expressed their craftsmanship and creativity by constructing scale miniature automobiles. In the service of that goal, the Museum has collected publications covering the model car hobby, gathering as many artifacts about services and supplies offered to hobbyists. To meet the goal of displaying truly historic scale vehicles, we’ve acquired display cases filled with the models of the famous and the obscure alike, each divided into topical displays: street rod, customs, replica stock and competition. We have a large library where more than three-thousand vintage model car magazines that have covered the achievements of individual great build with display cabinets dedicated to model car topics of all descriptions. The Museum has also collected memorabilia from contests and displays from around the world.
As part of the effort to chronicle and celebrate the history of our hobby, the Museum has created the Hot 150/Clone the Past program with its accompanying display case that identifies the most influential models in the history of our hobby, and then either acquires and restores the original model, or replicate (“clones”) that historically important motels and presents it in a chronological display. This program is an essential “core” effort because there needs to be a way of acknowledging, and understanding, the history of the technological development of model car construction since the hobby first kit emerged. We are pleased to display nearly three dozen replicated models from the history of the hobby.
Additionally, the Museum has created the Scan the Past program which focuses on the goal of digitizing significant model car magazines and related publications that have chronicled the history of our hobby. Said another way, we need to preserve the written history of our hobby while the original magazines are available to us. This Scan the Past program is based upon the burgeoning collection of magazines that we’ve been collecting since 1988.
On this new website, you will discover features of particular models that have characterized the development of craftsmanship. Go to the Historic Builders page. This section will grow later this year. In the meantime, check out these stories:
The “Merc in a TV” model by John Estlow
The Epochal work of Dave Shuklis
Richard Mike Johnson’s “Pegasus”
Car Model Magazine’s “Crusader”
We also urge you to check out the enormous Library that the Museum has collected and sponsored – there are multiple dozens of seminars and other details of the GSL Championship (that held it’s Finale in 2023), plus other videos focusing on how-to seminars and historic presentations. In the Library, you can also read all prior issues of to the The Builder that the Museum has published historically. Of course, we will resume publication of the newsletter later in 2024.
This new Museum site also offers features and information not found previously on either of the two historic versions of this website – check out our “News”. We also celebrate and note the lives of great hobbyists who have passed on; go here to see our “In Memoriam” list – this list was read at every awards presentation at GSL since 1995 – the year when each person is passed is noted on the list. Because the Museum is a vibrant institution that is seeking out key historic elements from the history of our hobby, there’s also a “Recent Acquisitions” page. Additionally, we have created for this site the “Specialized Collections” –a king of model car potpourri where great contests, model kit historic items, and related items can be displayed – coming soon!
The Future of the new Museum Site:
This new site will be continually updated with selected articles from the original website (which this site replaces). This site won’t be static: we will add new articles and research topics in the future including a new section about the future of the Museum.
Thanks for dropping by!
The Steering Committee and Staff of the International Model Car Builders’ Museum
April 2024
The Museum, formally titled the National Car Model Museum, is a US Tax Code Section 501(c)(3) organization. The Museum was organized as a Utah non-profit corporation on February 10, 1989 in Salt Lake City, Utah by the law office of Mark S. Gustavson, Attorney at Law. All legal steps necessary to maintain the non-profit corporation status have been undertaken since 1989. Donors are strongly advised to consult with their CPS or tax advisors for the tax impact of making contributions to the Museum.
The Museum files IRS Form 990N each year, as required by the applicable rules of the US Treasury. There has never been any challenge to the legal and tax status by the Department of the Treasury against the Museum.
The Museum rents space in Sandy, Utah. The Museum’s mailing address is:
International Model Car Builders’ Museum
10291 South 1300 East, PMB 131
Sandy, Utah 84094
You can email notes and questions to: museuminfo at themodelcarmuseum dot org Be sure to use “Museum” on the subject line.
Steering Committee:
The Museum is governed by its Steering Committee: Paul Anagnostopoulos, Alan Cozby, Mark Benton, Randy Derr, Dale Horner, Mark D. Jones, Vince LoBosco, Marc Weller, Giovanna and Doug Whyte, Bob Wick and Chairman Mark S. Gustavson