I received this via email today:
“My great uncle has a 1975 Mercedes in Sweden that he’s transformed into a wood gas Engle (very good condition and can run up to 200 miles on one load). He’s looking to donate to a museum that will look after and appreciate it. Any suggestions of museums would be greatly appreciated. Kind regards, Kristina Barbet”
Anyone have a suggestion for Kristina?
göran is the person for it. he has a private museum yet and takes much care to his objects…here the mercedes would be in the best hands
Johan and I have been dabating wether this is about Gunnar’s car.
At the top of my head I know no automotive museeums close by, but someone else may.
Göran, Johan and I met Gunnar at the meetup back in May. If it’s about his car, he should have no problems donating it. It’s a masterpiece. Just look at it.
I know of a few small motor museums but unfortunately I don’t think some of them should have such a nice car like that as 1. they don’t have the room and 2. I fear it would be neglected. In my opinion it needs to be both taken care of and more importantly have someone that knows how to operate it, not to be put away in a corner but used and run to be able to show people, preferably to give rides and smiles. It would be nice to find such a vehicle museum and I am guessing that they have been looking for something like that around where they live already.
That to me is a challenge to find, I just want the best for the beautifully built gasifier and car as I believe is what they would want too.
In Denver we have the Forney Museum of Transportation. I have no idea whether they would want a woodgas vehicle. But they have an old steam loco, airplains, very early bicycles…
Rindert
I would want to make it my daily driver but I’m too cheap to pay shipping. That boxy style with the front grill is cool, and it still has the mercedes hood ornament! (they all got stolen in the US after the Rappers made them cool to wear as necklaces.)
I think i would look for an antique equipment focus. A place that has old farm equipment. It would be outside their normal focus but it would attract the people who would appreciate the wood gas system. I don’t know what good farm equipment museums are out there. But i would consider that or antique engines in general maybe even a steam engine focused museum.
I was waiting to see if anyone else knew of something more appropriate.
When I visited the Forney Museum of Transportation I saw a number of exhibits that were ‘under maintenance’. And some exhibits were very dusty. Some cars had a flat tire or something like that. I later learned that most of the donors of the exhibits also maintain them. I suppose maintenance could be thought of as similar to a storage fee.
Rindert
Chris, I hope the Mercedes will end up in good hands. I don’t think there is anyone among us who wouldn’t want to have a car like this, but we gather here with people who are trying to build their own wood-burning system for a vehicle, it gives a person a special satisfaction.
A car like this Mercedes doesn’t belong in a museum, where it will stand abandoned in a corner and visitors will walk past it and think “ah,
an old Mercedes, nothing special, it says it runs on wood, probably a hoax”. It is a work of art, as JO said, it deserves to be driven downtown on a Sunday afternoon, where people can hear and admire it,… I hope it gets a grateful and caring owner
I agree it should go to a DOW person who will take very good care of it and drive it as a testimony of what he built showing the Pass, Present, and Future of Wood Gasification for Vehicles in your country.
the question is if the granduncle from christina will give the car to someone private, who takes care and uses it sometimes ecc…
or his heart hangs so on his car that he preferred to see it in a museum, where there is no more consume of it and is conseved “forever” as a " holy cow"…
i know a private woodgas museum, a large collection of a rich man, but as i would prefer the first solution, i cannot tell the adress of the museum-collection