Written by Barbara Toombs

The Audrain Automotive Museum in Newport, Rhode Island.

Nearly three years ago, in a historically important building on renowned Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, the Audrain Automobile Museum opened its doors. More of an art museum than a car museum, it celebrates the “Machine Age,” when art and automobiles came together – and is particularly dedicated to preserving the motoring history of Newport and southern New England.

Nick Schorsch with his Porsche 991 GT3 Andial Cup race car.

“Newport is rich in architectural and social history from the Gilded Age, so a museum dedicated to the history and design of automobiles really complements the tourist experience,” said David de Muzio, who serves as executive director of the museum.

The museum was the idea of Nicholas Schorsch, an investor and philanthropist who lives in Newport – and who, with the support of his business partners, all avid car enthusiasts, has built an encyclopedic collection from early steam to modern supercars. When Schorsch and his partners originally purchased the Audrain Building, they intended to convert the upper floor into their offices and to use the downstairs as high-end retail. It occurred to Schorsch, however, that it may be the perfect way to share the growing car collection with the public.

“Many great non-profits museums start with the passion of a small group of collectors who really love the idea of sharing a collection with the public,” comments de Muzio, who worked for 25 years at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in the art conservation department. De Muzio, also a car enthusiast, is also curator of the Audrain Automobile Museum collection.

Exhibit of Brass Era and prewar classics at the museum.

A familiar face at Barrett-Jackson auctions, Schorsch feels that classic car collecting is driven by nostalgia, and that collector cars serve as a connection to family and the art form of the automobile. “I was born in 1961 and fell in love with cars even though I was too young to drive them,” he once said. Schorsch was hands-on early in his life because his father and brothers were into cars. “Automobiles like the 1899 Crouch Steam Runabout and the 1948 Tucker offer insight into the story of America; focusing on cars that changed the world and its automotive landscape gives this generation a chance to appreciate what came before and how far we’ve come,” says Schorsch.

The museum’s new acquisitions endowment enabled the purchase of a vehicle with significant Newport history: a 1941 Series 67 Cadillac limousine that belonged to the Vanderbilt family, whose ties to the town date back to the late 1800s. The Duke family, whose fortune came from the tobacco and transport industries, is also represented at the museum, through a 1949 Cadillac that belonged to Doris Duke, a famous Newport resident, and a 1930 Duesenberg Town Car once owned by Doris’ mother, Nanaline.

The Audrain’s collection includes Countess Gladys Vanderbilt-Széchenyi’s 1941 Cadillac Fleetwood Series 67 Limousine.

Other cars in the museum with Newport ties include a 1911 Fiat once owned by William Wallace Jr., who was very involved in the early Vanderbilt Cup racing scene with his great friend, William K. Vanderbilt Jr. (The famous Vanderbilt Cup race actually started in Newport before it was moved to Long Island in 1904.)

The latest acquisition was a 1925 Model T touring car that lived its entire life in Rhode Island. The museum’s team is continually researching and seeking out other cars with great Newport histories that they would like to acquire or borrow for exhibition.

Visitors to the museum rarely see the same thing twice, as exhibitions rotate several times a year, each with a theme. The latest is called “Drop Dead Drop Tops,” which tells the history of convertibles from 1930 to the modern day. “When you’re putting together an exhibition, it’s all about telling a story,” says de Muzio. “We can choose from over 200 cars in the collection (those belonging to the museum and its founders), but sometimes there is a vehicle missing from the storyline, so we often borrow from other museums, collectors or enthusiasts.”

The Audrain Automotive Museum will hold its annual fundraising gala at the spectacular Ochre Court in Newport on September 1, 2017.

In August 2016, the Audrain Automobile Museum, a 501(c)(3), held its first successful fundraiser to support both its operating expenses and its mission: to acquire and preserve classic cars with Newport history. The event was held at the grand Rosecliff Mansion in Newport, with over 50 collector cars displayed on the expansive lawn.

On September 1 this year, the annual Audrain gala, “Happy Days Are Here Again, Celebrating the End of Prohibition,” will be held at Ochre Court, one of Newport’s great 19th-century houses on the ocean, which serves as the administration building for Salve Regina University. According to de Muzio, it should be quite a spectacle, with 50 or 60 cars from the collection out on the lawn, dinner and dancing, and – to complement the end of Prohibition theme – some casino-type “gambling.” A friend of the museum and noted car collector himself, Jay Leno, will be the keynote speaker at the event.

The Audrain Automotive Museum is approximately a one-hour drive from Mohegan Sun. For more information on the museum and tickets to the Audrain Gala, visit AudrainAutoMuseum.org.

To view the docket of collector cars headed to Barrett-Jackson’s 2nd Annual Northeast Auction, click HERE.