Industry Spotlight: The American Muscle Car Museum

There is a new museum in Melbourne, Florida that we thought would be of interest to our automotive-minded audience. Because Original Parts Group, Inc. (OPGI) focuses on classic GM iron, we felt a new auto museum dedicated to domestic muscle cars might be of particular interest to our customers and guests, especially when the name of the facility is the American Muscle Car Museum.

The new museum houses the collection of Mark Pieloch, a pharmaceutical entrepreneur who amassed a collection of over 250 valuable and interesting vehicles. Back in the 1970s, Mark founded several very successful veterinary supply companies that worked with animal foods, medicines and supplements. Mark started collecting cars in 1978 (beginning with a 1957 Ford Ranch Wagon) and as his pharmaceutical companies grew, so did his car collection. By the year 2000, Mark had collected 50 cars. By 2010 he had 145 vehicles. Today, Mark owns over 250 cars.

The new 123,000 square foot museum facility houses Mark’s 40 year collection in a complex that includes 90,000 sq. ft. of vehicle display area, an 18,000 sq. ft. showroom and an adjacent 15,000 sq. ft. building that serves as an on-site maintenance and restoration facility. The collection is focused on the variety of classic 1950’s to 1970’s American muscle cars that Mark collected over the years. Mark says he did not sell any of his vehicles because he had put so much work into them. He also says that he didn’t do it to make money.

In fact, the museum is operated by a non-profit organization that will manage it as a private museum that will not be open to the general public at all. Instead, it will host non-profit activities and invitation-only car shows exclusively. The stated goal of the new museum is “To provide charitable fundraising activities, car club shows and activities and education for the youth of this country.” Although the museum is not open to the public, there are plenty of charitable events scheduled that will give the public an opportunity to see the cars with a small donation to selected charities.

The museum is literally a display of the “Who’s Who” of American Muscle cars, with 40 different Indianapolis 500 Pace Cars and Trucks, more than 30 Shelby-badged cars, over 80 first place national show winners, and the most extensive Yenko car collection in the world featuring at least one Yenko car for every make and model ever built. Within the collection there are over 60 cars with less than 100 original miles, 30 cars with between 100 to 999 original miles and 25 cars with between 1,000 to 9,999 original miles. In addition to the cars, the collection also has vintage bicycles, auto related neon signs, antique gas pumps, juke boxes, pedal cars, vintage soda coolers, motorcycles, and more related automobilia.

If you find yourself in the eastern central Florida coastal region, give the museum a call at 321-914-4322 to see what events are scheduled. Or just log-on to the American Muscle Car Museum website at https://www.americanmusclecarmuseum.com/ to see a full schedule.

Shop for restoration parts at www.opgi.com.

Be sure to follow us on the OPGI Facebook page. Click here!