Are you looking for a fun afternoon getaway from Atlanta? Then, you should add the “Miles Through Time” museum to your shortlist of fun possibilities.
Located about 85 miles from Atlanta, this 10,000 sq ft museum currently houses roughly 40 full-size vehicles plus vintage bicycles and pedal cars. There is also a full-sized wooden car, a train, and over 1,500 model cars on display for good measure.
The museum resides inside the 70,000 sq ft Clarkesville textile mill. This automotive collection is noteworthy because it is a “living” co-op-style history museum.
The exhibit is not the result of one person’s lifetime of passionate automotive collecting. Instead, it is a cooperative collection of dozens of supporters with some pieces over 100 years old.
As a bonus, the former Mill also houses one of the largest indoor antique malls in Georgia.
The 5th annual cruise-in planned for June 26th provided the perfect excuse to head north up 1-985 to Clarkesville to see what “Miles Through Time” offers.
Starts With One Cadillac
The Miles Through Time (MTT) journey has all the components to be a good story. You see, Sean Mathis started the museum with just his grandfather’s 1959 Coupe De Ville Cadillac and a desire to honor his memory.
What makes it a great story is that with no training, no money, and no location, Sean jumped in and created an automotive museum. Yes, with just one car, he set out to bring his dream to reality.
So on June 9, 2017, Sean opened the doors to Miles Through Time (MTT) in Toccoa, Ga. In the early beginning, the museum received exhibits from the local area community.
Once he began to house select vehicles on a consignment and storage basis, the collection quickly grew. In fact, by 2019, the display had grown to the point he needed a larger facility and others to help.
Near the close of 2019, Sean decided to move the collection to its current location in the Old Clarkesville Mill. During this time, MTT became a 501(c) 3, and Truitt Phillips became Executive Director and Curator.
The addition of Truitt was vital because he embraced the foundational concepts of the museum with an equal amount of passion and energy. The onset of the COVID-19 virus outbreak caused many setbacks, but the exhibit finally opened to the public in May 2020.
In the end, the good story of the Miles Through Time (MTT) museum has grown to become a great story with a bright future ahead of it.
1995 ZR-1 Spotting
You never know what rare treasures you might see at a car show. We would have never imagined we would run across Ernie & Debbie with their beautiful 1995 Arctic White ZR-1.
In fact, only 448 ZR-1s were built during its final production run. The last one rolled off the assembly line and went straight across the street into the National Corvette Museum.
General Motors sold an impressive 3049 ZR-1s in its 1990 debut year. Another run of 2044 in 1991 followed up that strong production start, but sales fell sharply from there.
Some may not remember that Mercury Marine built the 5.7-liter LT5 V-8 engine that powered the “King of the Hill” ZR-1. The 32-valve DOHC power plant initially put out 375 horsepower and 370 pound-feet of torque.
The transmission of choice back then was a ZF six-speed. In the end, the Lotus-designed, all-aluminum LT5 V-8 was among the most sophisticated engines ever put into an American production car.
The last rendition delivered 405-horsepower with a peak of 385 pound-feet of torque at 5200 rpm.
Performance for that era was impressive no matter how you looked at it. The 315/35ZR17 Goodyear Eagle GS-Cs gave enough grip to accelerate down the quarter-mile in 13.1 seconds at 112 mph.
From a dead stop, zero to 60 mph was only 4.9 seconds away. For those going on to 100 mph, the ride was just another 5.9 seconds.
Lastly, for those brave enough, you could rocket the ZR-1 to an adrenaline-pumping top speed of 180 mph.
In April 1995, after a six-year production run, only 6939 of these historic ZR-1 Corvettes had been produced.
Come For The History, Stay For The Stories
A stroll through Miles Through Time (MTT) takes about 45 minutes to an hour. Admission is $7.00 per adult. 6 to 12-year-olds pay $3.00 while those under 6 get in free.
MTT does one large car show annually to celebrate the museum’s anniversary. In addition, the museum hosts several smaller cruise-ins throughout the summer and makes the parking lot available to any other organizations to have a car show for their organization.
If your Corvette club is planning on attending the annual cruise-in, you need to get there before it starts to get a good parking spot. More than 120 cars registered for the June 26th car show.
Over 200 vehicles in total attended the event with over 1000 visitors, and it was tight.
Sean Mathis is fond of saying, “Come for the history, stay for the stories.” In the end, the greatest story could be Sean’s pursuit of his dream and the fun he’s brought to Clarksville.
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