Fort Lauderdale Antique Car Museum

Thank you Scott for posting the site I will check it out -

 

The actually have a Packard on display in a glass cage on the baggage claim level of the Ft. Lauderdale airport.

 

I have seen it and it is ok.
I say just ok, because it is limited to Packards.
On the other hand, the cars are well kept / restored and interesting to look at.
I was surprised to learn who the owner of the collection was and I had not realized his busines had closed down.

 

Thanks for posting this; I'm a big Packard fan. I live in ATL, but work in Ocala, which is a long way from Ft. Lauderdale, but I do get around the state on business.I will definitely check this one out.

Thnks!

 

The owner was the late Arthur Stone, through an educational foundation that he established, I believe. His business, Buning the Florist, did not "close down." He sold it about 10 years ago to some of Huizenga's former lieutenants who promptly failed in the floral business. Arthur passed away a couple of years ago and the museum is run by his daughter and son-in-law along with his lovely widow, Shirley.

 

My uncles boss owns this museum, I got a private tour and it was beautiful. You should check out one of their events sometime.

http://carsofdreams.com/

 

Thanks for the update: I used Buning the Florist a lot and was bummed when I was told they went out of business, but I did not know about the details that preceded the GOB.

 

Arthur was a real character...a Damon Runyon type who came to Fort Lauderdale as a kid around the time of the first Depression. He began by selling flowers on the street. He built a real estate empire as well as a thriving retail floral business. He was a shareholder in many small banks as well as some of the big ones. He planned the museum for decades, storing even the Dade County pine trusses for years before he actually built the museum to display his beloved Packards.

He was always generous with letting charities use the museum for fund raising. He and I were a generation apart yet we got on like brothers. We were poles apart politically (an entire room of the museum is devoted to FDR memorabilia) but we never argued about politics. We shared an appreciation of fine cigars and automotive craftsmanship.

"He will be missed" has become a throw-away phrase, but Arthur Stone truly is missed by me.

 

Thank you for sharing this with us: although I never met the man, I alway thought his stores were well managed and staffed with people who knew what they were doing, unlike his competitors.
A disappearing breed.