Museum of American Speed

[neohic]

Has anyone else here been to the Museum of American Speed in Lincoln, NE? We’ve been talking about it for years but just never made the stop while driving from CO to MN. Finally did… it was awesome! I had to cut it short being we needed to keep going, but I honestly could’ve spent the whole day there!

 

It’s crazy to think about all of the historic custom vehicles and race cars there that we all know about that it seems like common knowledge that they just exist, but then you round a corner and you’re 2’ away from it. So many childhood dream cars that tell the history of what they are and where they’ve been! It’s not just cars either. In one wing of the museum was DOZENS of aftermarket and custom cylinder heads and parts for model A and B early Ford four cylinder banger engines. Every aspect of the museum tells a story! If you’ve got the opportunity, please stop by and enjoy what they have on display.

 

 

What I was drawn to most were the one-off custom engines and components that were clearly hand made or modified. I love the freak show style engines literally made by someone in they’re garage with enough know how to cut up two engines and machine a crankshaft after welding together the remains of the two crank cases or a cobby intake manifold sitting atop a set of super rare (and expensive for the time!) Ardun cylinder heads on a Ford V8. Parts like that really humanize the experience for me.
 

10/10 would recommend.

[fiatslug87]

20 minutes ago, neohic said:

 

Oh man that brings back memories, I had the Hot Wheels Red Baron back in the early ‘70s.

That looks like a great place to spend several days!

[89 MJ]

42 minutes ago, neohic said:

Here's something I learned fairly recently about Ardun heads for flathead Fords. Ardun is shortened from Arkus-Duntov and the heads were designed by Yura and Zora Arkus-Duntov, that latter of which became a large part of the reason that the Corvette is around.

 

That museum looks like a must see, I am adding it to my list! I love the Jeep side of the car hobby, but deep down, I think hot rods are my favorite and this place looks to have no shortage of those.

[Pete M]

wow!  so much history!!

[neohic]

1 hour ago, 89 MJ said:

Here's something I learned fairly recently about Ardun heads for flathead Fords. Ardun is shortened from Arkus-Duntov and the heads were designed by Yura and Zora Arkus-Duntov, that latter of which became a large part of the reason that the Corvette is around.

That little engine with the Ardun setup is hands down my favorite piece in the entire museum. It’s kind of tucked in a goofy spot, but, to me, I picture some young hot rodder in the ‘50s saving what they could to buy the ultimate in performance heads.

 

Picture this person planning the weekend around doing this huge upgrade: they leave Friday after work to pick them up, tear down the whole engine, get it all back together Sunday, and then realize that the old intake manifold won’t work. “$#!&!!” Then the not quite matching intake manifold is thrown together because he’s got zero money to get something proper but he does have the know how to stay up all night and build something thats kinda hot roddy. He also knows that this friends will poke fun at it for how borderline rough it is, but it’s also his way of getting to work on Monday.

 

It is beautiful! I live the mix of gas welded seams but also the brazing because his torch probably didn’t get hot enough to really penetrate into the thicker material at the flanges. It looks somewhat engineered in the crossovers of the runners, but also very “folk art” looking with the wrinkles of the sand and heat bent long, swoopy bends.

 

Same goes for the giant wall of flat head intake manifolds. Of all the polished aluminum and old chrome pieces, I sat and stared at how a few of them that were modified originals or scratch made aluminum manifolds.

 

 

So many things on display are FAR from perfect, but they really speak to me as a portal into the past by picking apart how they were made and maybe creating a story as to how or why.

[89 MJ]

28 minutes ago, neohic said:

That little engine with the Ardun setup is hands down my favorite piece in the entire museum. It’s kind of tucked in a goofy spot, but, to me, I picture some young hot rodder in the ‘50s saving what they could to buy the ultimate in performance heads.

 

Picture this person planning the weekend around doing this huge upgrade: they leave Friday after work to pick them up, tear down the whole engine, get it all back together Sunday, and then realize that the old intake manifold won’t work. “$#!&!!” Then the not quite matching intake manifold is thrown together because he’s got zero money to get something proper but he does have the know how to stay up all night and build something thats kinda hot roddy. He also knows that this friends will poke fun at it for how borderline rough it is, but it’s also his way of getting to work on Monday.

 

It is beautiful! I live the mix of gas welded seams but also the brazing because his torch probably didn’t get hot enough to really penetrate into the thicker material at the flanges. It looks somewhat engineered in the crossovers of the runners, but also very “folk art” looking with the wrinkles of the sand and heat bent long, swoopy bends.

 

Same goes for the giant wall of flat head intake manifolds. Of all the polished aluminum and old chrome pieces, I sat and stared at how a few of them that were modified originals or scratch made aluminum manifolds.

 

 

So many things on display are FAR from perfect, but they really speak to me as a portal into the past by picking apart how they were made and maybe creating a story as to how or why.

Those intakes are exactly what this hobby is about—making do with what you have. It’s easy to go out and buy parts, but it’s expensive and isn’t always realistic. 

[neohic]

On 7/22/2026 at 6:08 PM, 89 MJ said:

Those intakes are exactly what this hobby is about—making do with what you have. It’s easy to go out and buy parts, but it’s expensive and isn’t always realistic. 

Thats pretty much the definition of nearly all of my builds.