The Frederick Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum is undergoing a spectacular, $85 million transformation. Borrowing from the success of popular theme parks and advances in digital-age technology, the new Frederick C. Crawford Museum of Transportation and Industry will be a far cry from the auto-aviation museum located in Clevelands University Circle. The new museum, which will be in Clevelands vibrant downtown, will feature state-of-the-art activities along with a wonderful collection of classic autos and aircraft. It will stand a stones throw from Memorial Shoreway, one of the nations oldest expressways. The new museum, which will encompass some 150,000 square feet, will use digitalized and interactive displays to create an educational and entertaining experience for visitors of all ages, director Ed Pershey says. Museum visitors will experience what it was like to ride in a one-cylinder automobile or compete in a 1930s air race. At the Assembly Line Diner, visitors can get in classic vehicles parked outside the eatery, turn on radios, and learn about the cars and their owners. The museum will feature eight environments. Among those is the Time Zone, which will house some of the Crawfords formidable collection of automobiles, as well as aircraft and a locomotive. About 60 automobiles at a time, from the museums collection of 190 cars, which include everything from the worlds first enclosed car, an 1887 Panhard et Levassor, to the March Indy car Bobby Rahal drove to the win in the first Cleveland Grand Prix, will be on display. Meanwhile, all 15 of the Crawfords classic aircraft will be on permanent display. The new facility will feature a multimedia theater located inside a 1930s airship, highlighting Clevelands role in aeronautics. From 1929 to 1949, the Cleveland National Air Races were a showcase of design and performance. The new Crawford museum was set to open in 2004; funding problems and a limping economy have pushed completion to 2005.( Autoweek )(6-30-2003)
