As the Motor City, you'd imagine a place like the Automotive Hall of Fame would be somewhere within Detroit's borders, right? Wrong. It's been in New York, Washington, D.C., at a university in Midland, MI, and at its current location in Dearborn, near Ford's headquarters, but at no point in its 75-plus-year history has the Hall of Fame called Detroit home. Until now. HoF President William Chapin made the announcement on Thursday, at the end of this year's induction ceremony.
"We feel there is a need to develop a visitor destination downtown that will tell the global stories of automotive innovators and their innovations over the past 90 plus years with a spotlight on Detroit's automotive heritage," Chapin told guests, The Detroit Free Press reports. "We also want to talk about the rebirth of the industry...and the creation of a hub for autonomous vehicles and new age manufacturing."
While the decision rests in part on Detroit's resurgence, it's also because of changing conditions in Dearborn. Ford is planning a major overhaul of its campus, including a complete rethink of its research and development facilities.
"We are right in the dead center of that," Chapin said of the new project. "And, we have always had a bit of a marketing problem because many people think we are associated with Ford."
According to the Freep, the board of directors is still figuring out whether it needs more or less than the 25,000 square feet. That means we shouldn't expect a move for a little while. The Automotive Hall of Fame's 2016 inductees included safety advocate Ralph Nader, former Ford boss Alan Mulally, Carl Benz's wife and business partner, Bertha, and Roy Lunn, the godfather of the Le Mans-winning Ford GT40.
"We feel there is a need to develop a visitor destination downtown that will tell the global stories of automotive innovators and their innovations over the past 90 plus years with a spotlight on Detroit's automotive heritage," Chapin told guests, The Detroit Free Press reports. "We also want to talk about the rebirth of the industry...and the creation of a hub for autonomous vehicles and new age manufacturing."
While the decision rests in part on Detroit's resurgence, it's also because of changing conditions in Dearborn. Ford is planning a major overhaul of its campus, including a complete rethink of its research and development facilities.
"We are right in the dead center of that," Chapin said of the new project. "And, we have always had a bit of a marketing problem because many people think we are associated with Ford."
According to the Freep, the board of directors is still figuring out whether it needs more or less than the 25,000 square feet. That means we shouldn't expect a move for a little while. The Automotive Hall of Fame's 2016 inductees included safety advocate Ralph Nader, former Ford boss Alan Mulally, Carl Benz's wife and business partner, Bertha, and Roy Lunn, the godfather of the Le Mans-winning Ford GT40.
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