The Franklin Auto Museum

We recently took a trip from our home in Phoenix to Tucson, Arizona to spend couple nights at the Ventana Canyon Inn, to relax and do some shopping and some tourist kinds of things. I've always wanted to tour the Franklin Automobile Museum, but for one reason or another I've missed going.  This year I made the connection. Actually, we made the connection, as my vivacious wife accompanied me, but then of course I had to go shopping with her. It's a marriage thing, you know, and it works. 

The museum is small and relatively unknown, and it's tucked away in--of all places--a residential area. Even some of the neighbors don't know they're neighbors to a museum. The website said they were closed in the summer, but it also noted that one might call "for other arrangements". So using that as my cue I called and left my phone number on the answering machine.  I didn't expect a reply, but early the next day (Saturday) the curator called and said he was going to be on the property, and "Would we like to take a tour?" provided we didn't mind the air conditioning being off in the summer.  And so off we went.

An Early Franklin with a
Renault-Style Hood

Outside of antique and classic car fans, few people are aware there was a car produced called the Franklin.  My earliest encounter with the make was as a kid in the 1950's.  Just north of  our little town in Washington State was a gravel pit, and therein was the bullet-riddled corpse of a Franklin sedan along with its engine. My dad told me that that engine was what made the Franklin unique, because instead of a water-cooled engine, which most manufacturers used, Franklin used a system of forced-air which kept the motor from reaching critical mass. Air-cooling was relatively rare in cars (and still is), but Franklin engineers figured out how to make it work, even with a relatively large engine.

The Franklin was produced in Syracuse, NY between 1902 and 1934.  They were quite technologically advanced, and besides their unique air-cooled engines, they introduced a number of other firsts, including the use of aluminum engine components, aluminum bodies (most builders used steel) and the utilization of fully-elliptical springs for suspension, which gave them a better ride than most cars of the day.  If you're wondering if  Franklins were expensive, you wonder correctly.  A deluxe 1930 Ford cost maybe $500; a big Franklin could run as high as $3500.

Like many upscale cars of the 1920's and early '30's, Franklins relied on outside body manufacturers for many of their vehicles. They had standard designs of course, but many of the bodies were made by custom body builders and were one-offs.  The metal bodies were internally braced with hardwood frames (a common practice in those days), and that accounts for the relatively low number of survivors. The effects of wind, rain, snow, and summer heat as well as normal wear and tear from driving on the rough roads of the '20's and '30's, took their toll on the hardwood. Unless babied, most car bodies got pretty limber after a few years.

There are about thirty cars in the museum, including a smattering of non-Franklin makes. Most of them are restored, but there are a number of  unrestored, running survivors. In fact, almost all of the cars in the museum are operating vehicles. Our guide Sparky was very knowledgeable and even started one of them for us.  I expected it to sound like a jet because of that large cooling blower moving all that air, but I was surprised at how smooth and quiet it was.  Those Franklin boys knew their stuff.

This '32 Open Sedan Was Striking with its Teal Green Fenders and
Second Windscreen at the Rear Seat

My favorite Franklin was a beautifully restored 1932 teal green open car which was a true eye-catcher complete with wire wheels and whitewall tires--and a windshield for the rear passengers.  Next to it was the town car limo in which H.H. Franklin himself was carried.  H.H. must have loved this particular car because it was reportedly modified three times and subsequently had the serial number updated from a 1929 to a '30, and finally a '31 model.  Why?  Who knows...

ThisV-12 Dual-Cowl Touring Sedan is the Only Franklin in the Museum
that Wasn't Manufactured by Franklin

In another room is a pretentious 1932 dual-cowl touring car with Franklin's massive air-cooled V-12 engine, and lots of brightwork.   But this car is especially unique in that it is the only Franklin in the place--that wasn't manufactured by Franklin!   About the time the V-12 was introduced, the depression happened and the company went into receivership.  This one-of-a-kind vehicle was built after the fact as a "what if" car out of Franklin pieces and parts, and then had a handbuilt body applied many years after Franklin dissolved.

The Franklin Museum was instituted by the late Thomas Hubbard, whose foundation perpetuates the Museum.  Mr. Hubbard was from Massachusetts and came west to work for the Magma Copper Company.  After leaving there he restored his first car in the early 1950's and did a number of restorations over the years, including some for the Bill Harrah collection. The Franklin collection continued to grow, and after Mr. Hubbard passed away in 1993, the foundation took over the reins.

The museum collection numbers approximately thirty cars of all body types, from coupes to roadsters to the limo. The museum is well laid out and the cars, though they are somewhat confined by limited space, are well displayed.  Unlike many museums where the cars are cordoned off, you can get up close and really look them over--although it is understandably a "don't touch" proposition. The grounds are also the home of a Franklin research library for restorers.

 Thanks to Sparky who Took Us on a Personal Tour
Through the Museum 

 If you're lucky enough to get in during the summer expect warm to hot buildings. Best time to visit is during the normally open months, mid-October to Memorial Day.The website for the museum is easy:
franklinmuseum.org, and the phone number is (520) 326-8038.  Take a few hours next time you make it to Tucson and get a look at a very nice collection of elegant American Iron.  For $10 a head--or less--you can't go wrong.