Tampa Bay Automobile Museum

06/18/2026

Museum curator, Wayne, recently presented at an Exchange Club luncheon, sharing the story behind the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum’s collection.

Wayne gave attendees a closer look at the rare automobiles, innovative engineering and remarkable history preserved inside the museum. From groundbreaking European designs to one-of-a-kind vehicles, each car in the collection tells a story about creativity, problem-solving and the evolution of automotive design.

Thank you to the Exchange Club for welcoming Wayne and giving us the opportunity to share our passion for automotive history with the community.

Visit the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum to see the collection in person.

06/16/2026

This Father’s Day, dads get in for just $5! Bring the family and explore a one-of-a-kind collection of automobiles showcasing unique engineering, groundbreaking inventions, and automotive history you won’t find anywhere else.

Make it a memorable day out with Dad and experience something truly different together.

📍 Tampa Bay Automobile Museum
🎟️ Father’s Day Special: Only $5 for dads

06/14/2026

This silent Edison film, Automobile Parade, was published by Thomas A. Edison, Inc. in 1900, but the footage was actually filmed on November 4, 1899 in Madison Square, New York.

It shows an early automobile parade organized by the Automobile Club of America, with at least ten different makes and models passing by the camera. Some were powered by steam. Some were electric. Gasoline had not yet claimed the road.

Look closely and you can still see the old world sharing space with the new: bicycles, pedestrians, a horse-drawn cab and strange little horseless carriages all moving through the same city street.

More than a century later, this footage feels like watching the automobile take its first public bow.

See more early automotive innovation at the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum in Pinellas Park, Florida.

06/13/2026

One of the most unusual luxury cars of the early automotive age, captured here gliding through the snow.

The Owen Magnetic may look like a grand brass-era automobile, but beneath its elegant body was something remarkably ahead of its time: an early gasoline-electric hybrid system. Instead of a traditional clutch and gearbox, it used a gasoline engine to power a generator, creating smooth electromagnetic drive to the rear wheels.

Quiet, refined and almost effortless, the Owen Magnetic offered a driving experience unlike anything else on the road.

Long before modern hybrids became common, this remarkable car showed how electricity could change the way an automobile moved.

See an Owen Magnetic at the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum in Pinellas Park, FL.

06/12/2026

Henri Chapron helped shape the final golden age of French coachbuilding.

After World War I, Chapron began by transforming surplus Ford Model T chassis into practical custom-bodied vehicles. His reputation grew from there, and his workshop went on to create elegant custom bodies for royalty and legendary French marques including Delahaye, Hispano-Suiza, Talbot-Lago, Citroën, Hotchkiss-Grégoire and Salmson.

The Tampa Bay Automobile Museum has four cars connected to Chapron’s work: the 1952 Delahaye 235, the 1952 Hotchkiss-Grégoire Cabriolet, the 1953 Hotchkiss-Grégoire Coupé and the 1955 Salmson 2300S.

From royal ownership to advanced engineering and hand-built elegance, these rare cars tell the story of a remarkable chapter in French automotive history.

See them in person at the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum in Pinellas Park, Florida.

06/10/2026

Long before “hybrid” became a household word, there was the Owen Magnetic.

Built in the Brass Era and powered by an astonishing gasoline-electric drive system, the Owen Magnetic was one of the earliest hybrid automobiles ever made. Its story begins with Justus B. Entz, a little-known inventor who worked under Thomas Edison, filed dozens of automotive patents and imagined a smoother, quieter, more effortless way to drive decades before the world was ready for it.

Our latest article explores the rise and fall of this remarkable machine, from Entz’s early experiments to the luxury Owen Magnetic automobiles now preserved at the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum.

Read more:

There is a particular kind of inventor who never quite fits the era he is born into. Not because he lacks talent, but because he has too much of it, too soon. Justus Bulkley Entz (June 16, 1867 – June 8, 1947) was exactly that kind of man.It was marketed to people who wanted driving to feel effort...

06/09/2026

Our 1929 Tracta A is getting the spotlight it deserves in Crankshaft magazine.

This rare French racecar was featured in a beautiful article highlighting its innovative front-wheel-drive engineering, racing history and place in the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum collection.

We’re also proud to recognize JP Lansdale dale, the man behind the camera for so many of our museum car photos. From dramatic studio shots to detailed mechanical close-ups, JP has a gift for capturing each vehicle’s personality, craftsmanship and history.

His photography helps bring these cars to life long before visitors ever see them in person.

Come see the Tracta A and the rest of our collection at the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum.

06/08/2026

The Owen Magnetic was not sold as ordinary transportation. It was sold as an experience.

Because its most remarkable technology was hidden beneath the body, Owen Magnetic advertisements leaned into poetry, music and luxury. This famous ad compared driving the car to playing a masterpiece, free from the interruptions of shifting gears and working a clutch.

The message was simple: why should driving feel mechanical when it could feel effortless?

That promise attracted some of the most famous voices of the era, including opera legends Enrico Caruso and John McCormack. For men whose art depended on smoothness, control and power without strain, the Owen Magnetic must have felt almost perfectly in tune.

A little engineering. A little theater. A very early luxury hybrid with a song of its own.

See an Owen Magnetic at the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum.

06/07/2026

Henri Chapron’s craftsmanship in motion. Rare 1957 footage shows Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip during their official visit to Paris, riding in the presence of one of France’s most remarkable state cars: the Chapron-bodied Citroën Traction Avant 15 H Presidential Limousine.

Commissioned by President René Coty, this stretched four-door convertible was built for ceremony, visibility and elegance.

A presidential car, a royal visit and one of France’s greatest coachbuilders in the same frame.