Winter Park/Orlando, Florida, March 22, 2018
Majors Motors, MLounge, and MBar. It can get confusing. A car collector purchased a building in a commercial/retail area between Winter Park and Orlando. He opened a roof-top bar, called the MLounge. On the first floor of the building, he housed his car collection of over 60 cars. The collection is known as Majors Motors. MLounge proved popular. However, the patrons would peer in the windows on the first floor and see all the cars, asking how they could get inside to see them up close.
With the demand to see the cars getting always higher, he decided to make his private collection public. When the first floor was a private museum, the cars were spaced throughout the area for perfect viewing. Turning it into a public space, now called the MBar, required the cars to be moved close together next to walls - not nearly as good for viewing, but more people get to view . . . including the participants at the Gathering of the Faithful who rallied in their MGs to a private showing of the collection.
Above is an MG bar, constructed from a late MG Midget, located just outside the entrance door to the MBar. Always good to tie MGs into a post on the blog. It is sad, in a way, that the passenger door has been removed and the floor cut out so the server can stand near the middle of the car to interact with customers. A sheet of Lexan has been attached to the car to provide a smooth, level surface to function as a bar. It is positive that the bar will allow people to interact with an MG who would otherwise not do so, even if it is in a way far from its intended purpose.
Entering the MBar one is met by a collection of microcars. There are thousands of possible categories of cars that could be collected. One that this collector chose is the microcar, tiny cars designed to transport people economically, both in gas mileage and use of materials. First in the display are a Morgan 3 wheeler and a Fiat Multipla, possibly the first minivan, or maybe a mini-minivan.
Then, the Messerschmitt KR 200 was opposite. So, a British, Italian, and German microcars right off the bat. The Messerschmitt demonstrates why these cars were known as "Bubble Cars" in their heyday of the late 1950s. It was the dislike of the bubble car style that motivated Alec Issigonis to design the more traditional appearing Mini, which became a hit and was produced through the 2000 model year.
From the small (appropriately) foyer containing the microcar display, one enters a large room ringed with cars shoulder to shoulder. The cars have been moved to the sides to provide room for events in the MBar. The day the GOF visited, the staff were setting up for a private event, a fundraiser they were hosting that evening.
Many cars from many manufacturers are part of this collector's interest. Here a red Ferrari sits next to an Austin Healy 3000 and a Nash Healey. Yes, the same Donald Healey was the major force behind both of the Healeys, very different cars.
A couple Allards, another British car, are in the collection. The Allard was another British chassis/body powered by an American power plant. (And, most think that marrying a light-weight British car with a powerful American engine was an original idea of Carrol Shelby with the 1960s Cobra.) Shipping engines to England was problematic, so in the early 50's Allard shipped cars to the U.S. without engines, installing Cadillac, Chrysler, Buick, or Oldsmobile V-8 engines when they arrived in the states. Carrol Shelby raced Allards and Zora Duntov (designer of the Chevy Corvette) worked for Allard from 1950 to 1952 and raced for Allard at the 1952 and 1953 24 hours of LeMans.
The passion of this collector may be Kaiser Darrins. The industrialist Henry J. Kaiser began building cars after WWII. In 1951 they introduced a car considered advanced in design, the Henry J. A designer working for Kaiser, Howard "Dutch" Darrin secretly designed and built a fiberglass body to fit the Henry J. chassis. When shown to Mr. Kaiser, he railed that they were not in the business of building sports cars, but his wife said as soon as others see this car they will be.
The Kaiser Darrin is the first fiberglass sports car, being introduced to the public in 1952, two months before the Corvette. Chevrolet and Ford (Thunderbird) also thought a two-seat sports car was a good idea. Many problems plagued Kaiser Motors, including 50 of the Kaiser Darrins being destroyed in a storm, resulting in Kaiser Motors merging with Willis (Jeep) and the Kaiser cars being discontinued. Only 435 Kaiser Darrins were produced, all as 1954 models. Nine Darrins are displayed in this collection.
One innovative design feature Dutch Darrin built into his car was doors that slid into the front fenders rather than hinging outward.
Well, if you are going to turn a car museum into a bar, how do you construct the bar? Out of a car, of course. A Cadillac in this case.
And, you need shelves behind the bar, so why not make use of a British Singer arranged vertically?
The car theme carries on throughout the MBar, The pool table is built on a shortened 1965 Mustang.
Part of collecting rare and antique cars is the joy of sharing them with others. This collector has been able to share by expanding his business model.
If you find yourself in the Orlando area, consider working a visit to the MBar into your schedule. The MBar has limited hours, different from the roof-top MLounge, and is often used for private events, so check before planning a visit. For more details and to find hours, check their websites - Link to MLounge Link to MBar Link to Majors Motors
