Nashville hides one of the most delightful museums in the South behind the brick walls of a former bakery. The Lane Motor Museum, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization on Murfreesboro Pike, is home to the largest European collection of cars and motorcycles in the United States — and almost every vehicle in it seems designed to make visitors smile.
Founded by Jeff and Susan Lane, the museum gathers more than 150 unusual vehicles dating from the early 1900s to today. Instead of row after row of the familiar, guests meet tiny microcars, amphibious vehicles that can swim, military machines, alternative-fuel experiments, prototypes and one-of-a-kind creations that never reached the road. Many are the only examples of their kind in the country.
The building adds to the charm: the collection fills the airy former home of the Sunbeam Bakery, where high ceilings and wide-open floors let the little cars show off their colors. Rotating exhibits keep the lineup fresh, and many vehicles are kept in running condition — this is a working collection, not a warehouse of statues.
For families, gearheads and the simply curious, the Lane Motor Museum is a happy reminder that invention is often at its best when it is a little bit quirky. It is, quite simply, the most joyful garage in Tennessee.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
