Throughout the 9+ years of this blog, we have taken you to some unique places. The World’s Largest Duck. The World’s Largest Grandfather Clock and the World’s Largest Penny. An indoor model train museum featuring eight miles of tracks. The World’s Largest Rocking Chair. A UFO museum. A parade of mallard ducks. A two-story house crammed to the rafters with toy cars. The World’s Largest Miniature Village. We can now add to it a 100,000-square foot warehouse filled with countless pop culture artifacts.
Located in Oaks, a suburb of Philadelphia, the American Treasure Tour Museum is housed in a former B.F. Goodrich tire factory. The museum showcases one anonymous individual’s lifetime collection of stuff. Telephones, cars, neon signs, dolls, masks, motorcycles, an entire department store Christmas village, record players, band organs… the list goes on and on. So large is it, in fact, that a tram ride is needed to view the entire collection. Following close on the heels of our visit to Bill’s Old Bike Barn, we were ready to see another quirky attraction.
So come along, then, as we stop by a place that has to be seen to be believed!
The American Treasure Tour Museum
Our destination: the town of Oaks, Pennsylvania, about 45 minutes northwest of Philadelphia.My wife and I had a mid-morning appointment in nearby King of Prussia. Rather than head home, we made plans to meet up for lunch with some dear relatives afterward. With a little time to kill before lunch, we stopped by The Happy Mixer, a fully gluten-free bakery in nearby Wayne, PA.Every single item for sale is gluten-free. We grabbed a couple of donuts and cookies to sample later (report: they were all excellent).Our lunch meetup spot was Burtons Grill and Bar. Burtons is an East Coast restaurant chain, with locations in ten states. Burtons has a scratch kitchen, meaning everything is made to order. The restaurant also offers a separate, two-page gluten-free menu.I ordered the General Tso Bowl: bronzed chicken, General Tso glaze, charred broccoli, vegetables, and ginger aioli, served over a bed of rice and quinoa. It was tasty and fresh.With a fully gluten-free fryer available, my wife indulged in a veggie burger and french fries. We didn’t talk much during our meal, as my wife just kept muttering, “Yum! Yum! Yum!” Lunch was terrific – tasty food, friendly service, and an awesome time catching up with family.We got back in the car and headed to an industrial park in Oaks, PA.A short, twenty minute ride later, we had arrived at our destination: The American Treasure Tour Museum.The museum is housed in a former B.F. Goodrich factory that opened in 1937. The factory closed in 1986, and its huge space was repurposed as an industrial park… and a quirky museum (via Wikipedia).We arrived in time for the 1:30 pm tour (tours run every hour on the half hour). We purchased our admission tickets from the small gift shop and then queued up beside this life-size jack-in-the-box from Kay-Bee toys, the now defunct toy retailer that operated from 1922 until 2009.After handing over our tickets, we boarded the tram that would take us on a 45-minute tour through the museum.The American Treasure Tour Museum is one anonymous individual’s collection of the stuff that filled our lives throughout the 20th century. Cars, toys, musical instruments, neon signs, dolls, and so much more. So very much more!The place defies description. Let’s see… cars (full-size and toy) – check. Seven Dwarves dolls – check. Store and restaurant signs – check. Electric organs? Check.If you think the coolest part of this photo is the circus wagons, you’d be wrong. It would be the sign for Mike Schmidt’s Philadelphia Hoagies, a now-defunct chain of restaurants founded by Philadelphia Phillies Hall of Fame 3rd baseman Mike Schmidt.Painting of dogs playing poker? Check. Diorama of dogs playing poker? Also check.We were barely ten minutes into our tour and I was already losing track of everything we were seeing! It felt like a time warp back to the 20th century.Does anyone remember the Cheeburger Cheeburger restaurant chain, whose name was taken from a John Belushi skit on Saturday Night Live? Fun fact: although most of the restaurants have closed down, two still exist – one in Florida and one in Virginia (via Wikipedia).The museum has a small but notable collection of motorcycles. One of the highlights was the Rupp Industries Centaur, a three-wheeled motorcycle whose most famous owner was Elvis Presley.What caught my interest the most, however, was the 1916 Custer Chair (center). Propelled by a gasoline engine, the Custer was the world’s first motorized wheelchair (via Disability History Museum).This place is a trip… I mean, where else are you going to find a Texaco gas station sign, a giant high-heeled shoe, and a KFC bucket, all under the same roof?“Sunny days, sweepin’ the clouds away…”There is also a sizable collection of Three Stooges memorabilia. It’s a fitting part of the collection, as Larry Fine (“Larry”) was from Philadelphia.If you grew up in America in the second half of the 20th century, chances are you played with a Slinky! The metal spring toy was invented in Pennsylvania and was first shown to the world in the Gimbel’s department store in Philadelphia (via Wikipedia). The museum has on display the World’s Largest Slinky – it’s 100 feet long when fully extended (via Atlas Obscura).The museum is so crammed with stuff that items even hang from the ceiling… like these circus performers.The museum also has a large collection of still-operable band organs. Called fairground organs in Europe, these automated music boxes can create both the wind and the percussion sections of an orchestra.The Enchanted Colonial Village from Lit Brothers department store in Philadelphia is on display. Once a holiday staple, the village is now a permanent exhibit in the museum.World’s Largest Gumby? Check.Pep Boys, the national automotive retailer and repair shop chain, was founded in Philadelphia over 100 years ago, so it’s appropriate that Manny, Moe, and Jack are on display.My heart warmed at the sight of these pinball machines. I’ve played The Simpsons pinball game (right) numerous times.
Of course, photos alone do not do this museum justice. I thought this short video, compiled from footage that my wife and I filmed, would whet your appetite to visit:
After the tram ride finished, we were able to walk through a collection of antique and classic automobiles. This 1909 Touring Car was from ABC Motor Vehicle Manufacturing Company, one of the seemingly countless car manufacturers in business in the early 20th century. I found a vintage ad online for this car – the ad extolled its rapid 30 mile per hour maximum speed. Marilyn Monroe seems impressed.One of my favorite antique cars is the Oldsmobile Curved Dash (1901). This car was the first mass-produced car in the United States. Its assembly lines would later be the inspiration for the mass-production factories of Ford.The museum just keeps going! The walking tour features exhibits focused on musical instruments, collectibles, and 20th century technology. We came across a lineup of player pianos from the early 1900s.The Link Piano and Organ Company was famous for its pipe organs. The technology behind them would be utilized during World War II for a job with lifesaving implications.One of the problems in early aviation was teaching pilots how to fly in zero-visibility conditions, relying solely on their instruments. Enter the Link Trainer. Developed by Ed Link Jr., son of the Link Piano founders, this device allowed pilots to be trained in instruments-only flying from the safety of ground-level. Ed used spare parts from the piano factory to develop his critical tool. Over 10,000 of these trainers were built during World War II.Random assortment of Raggedy Ann dolls? Check.The museum also has a collection of shelf after shelf of old telephones. Do you see any that were in your house growing up?Or did you ever own one of these?“This is the operator. Number please?” This old switchboard made me think of my grandmother and my wife’s grandma, who both were lifelong employees of Bell Telephone.Our last stop was to explore a collection of disc music boxes, the ancestor of the record player. The American Treasure Tour Museum was a terrific way to spend an afternoon, and was well-worth the admission.A little under an hour-and-a-half later, we were back home. My Acura TLX continues to perform well. Onward!
Garage Updates
Before closing, I wanted to offer a few updates from our garage, as well as a friend’s latest milestone.
I recently took my Acura TLX to the dealer for a recall. The repair involved removing the front passenger seat to change a sensor. When I got home I noticed that the technician may have had a bit of a “whoopsie” moment. I called the dealer and they told me to bring it back to them.After only about an hour of work, they had everything looking ship-shape once again. I was thrilled with how the Acura dealer handled with the issue – and helped to keep me as a loyal customer!I am often asked how I keep my cars clean. The answer is my collection of car care products. On a recent day that offered a rare break in the summer heat, I spent a few hours in the garage organizing my car care shelves.And then I put my newly-organized cleaning supplies to good use, spending the better part of an afternoon removing all the dirt, mud, and bug guts from my car after our recent summer road trip to Minnesota.A little bit of elbow grease and a good collection of cleaning supplies is all that is needed!Finally, my friend Justin, whose 2003 Honda Accord V6 coupepassed a million miles in March 2023, continues its inexorable march to the two million mile mark. It is currently at 1,084,164 miles. Onward, sir!
Wrapping Up
If you are passing through the King of Prussia section Pennsylvania, the American Treasure Tour Museum is an absolutely fantastic way to pass an afternoon. The museum is open Monday from 10:00 am – 5:00 pm, Friday and Saturday from 10:00 am – 8:00 pm, and Sunday from 10:00 am – 5:00 pm. Tickets are $18 for an adult, $15 for seniors and military-affiliated visitors, and $12 for children ages 3 – 15 (children 2 and younger can enter for free).
Thanks for coming along on yet another adventure down the open road ahead.
The Open Road Ahead 
What a crazy collection of stuff. I can see where that would give you sensory overload.
Congrats on 60k on your car!
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It really needs to be seen to be believed. Thanks for reading!
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