The Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles, 50 miles northwest of Philadelphia, is not, strictly speaking, a car museum.
It’s a transportation museum with emphasis on Pennsylvania-sourced and assembled cars and trucks, including a fascinating collection of electric vehicles, covering the last century and a quarter.
“From Boyertown trucks and Fleetwood bodies, from Reading Standard motorcycles to the creation of the Jeep, Pennsylvania has a long automotive history that tends to surprise even the biggest car fanatic and intrigue anyone interested in how the United States developed,” says Sam Fiorani, board member for the non-profit museum since 2020.
Fiorani also hosts the museum’s YouTube show “Up on Blocks” and is vice president of global vehicle forecasting for AutoForecast Solutions.
Located in the former Boyertown Auto Body Works factory, which built specialty carriage bodies, then delivery truck bodies from 1872 to 1990, the museum features a working blacksmith shop, a Sun Oil Company gas station (now Sunoco, which has deep roots in Pennsylvania), and a working diner.
Take a digital stroll through the museum.
Blacksmith Shop
The restored 1872 Jeremiah Sweinhart Carriage Factory features a working blacksmith forge and belt-driven machine shop.
Blacksmith Shop
The restored 1872 Jeremiah Sweinhart Carriage Factory features a working blacksmith forge and belt-driven machine shop.
Blacksmith Shop
The restored 1872 Jeremiah Sweinhart Carriage Factory features a working blacksmith forge and belt-driven machine shop.
Blacksmith Shop
The restored 1872 Jeremiah Sweinhart Carriage Factory features a working blacksmith forge and belt-driven machine shop.
Blacksmith Shop
The restored 1872 Jeremiah Sweinhart Carriage Factory features a working blacksmith forge and belt-driven machine shop.
Blacksmith Shop
The restored 1872 Jeremiah Sweinhart Carriage Factory features a working blacksmith forge and belt-driven machine shop.
1912 Commercial Truck Company Model A 10 Standard
Curtis Publishing Co. used 20 of these electric trucks, powered by four 85-volt, 100-amp GE electric motors, one at each wheel with a total of 64 hp, to haul rolls of paper from the Philadelphia railway station to the printing plant, from 1912 to 1964. The trucks then hauled 10 tons of The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies’ Home Journal, Holiday, Jack & Jill and The American Home magazines to the post office and to newsstands across Philadelphia. Batteries were said to be good for 22 hours when the trucks were new. American Bantam (1935-56), based in Butler, Pennsylvania, built the blue car next to the electric truck and is credited with designing the original US Army Jeep ultimately built by Jeep and Ford during World War II.
Bicycles, Motorcycles
Boyertown also features a variety of bicycles and motorcycles produced in Pennsylvania.
Bicycles, Motorcycles
Boyertown also features a variety of bicycles and motorcycles produced in Pennsylvania.
1904 (left) and 1900 Duryea Phaeton
Springfield, Massachusetts, is considered the birthplace of the American automobile, because Charles and Frank Duryea founded their eponymous car company there in 1895. By the end of the century the Duryeas were arguing over financing that would require a move to Detroit.
Charles instead picked up and moved to Reading, Pennsylvania, where he founded the Duryea Power Company. Charles Duryea said his three-cylinder Phaeton was “meant to become what Ford’s Model T became”—inexpensive and easy to drive, according to the Boyertown Museum.
Photo behind the Duryeas is of the Pagoda at Mount Penn, built in 1908. It became a centerpiece for Duryea’s marketing and testing of “The Scientific Auto,” a steep, winding road used for testing the cars before delivery to showrooms.
1907 Dragon Touring Car
The Dragon Automobile Company managed to build cars first in Detroit then in Philadelphia from 1906 to 1908. Priced in the $2,000 range, the Touring Car had a 24-26 hp four and three-speed sliding gear transmission plus reverse.
1908 Pullman Model H Touring
Attempting to evoke the elegant comfort of a Pullman rail car, the Pullman Motor Car Company of York, Pennsylvania, had nothing to do with trains. Its large, four-cylinder touring cars competed with Cadillacs and Buicks of the era.
1917 Duryea Gem
This motorcycle/car hybrid was designed to be a simple, economical car with a reported 65 mpg fuel mileage. Priced competitively against the Ford Model T and Chevrolet Series 490, at just $425, the Gem flopped—early proof that Americans would rather drive a big car than a small one.
1919 Detroit Electric Model 71 Brougham
One test overseen by the Anderson Electric Car Company, which changed its name to the Detroit Electric Car Company in 1919, claimed one of these covered 211 miles on a single charge. More typical range was 80 miles, however.
1920 Packard
Independent custom body constructor Fleetwood Metal Body Works was based in Fleetwood, Berks County, Pennsylvania. This Packard’s all-aluminum dual-cowl with a wide-body overhang and 136-inch wheelbase, was constructed after its customer worked with Fleetwood on all the details.
1921 Sun Oil Company Gas Station
Forerunner of Sunoco, Sun Oil has deep roots in Pennsylvania.
1928 LaSalle Convertible by Fleetwood
Detroit’s Fisher Body Company purchased Fleetwood Metal Body Works in late 1925. Both were absorbed into General Motors in 1926, the same year GM hired Hollywood-based custom car designer Harley Earl as its first chief designer. Earl described his LaSalle, launched in 1927, not as a price-step down from Cadillac, but as a smaller, more agile accompaniment to the luxury brand.
1928 Ford Model A Roadster
Built in Ford’s Chester, Pennsylvania, assembly plant.
1928 Dodge Brothers Victory Six 5-Passenger Sedan
Built by the Edward G. Budd Manufacturing Company of Philadelphia.
1936 Ford Delivery Wagon
Boyertown Auto Body Works built this “walk-in butcher shop on wheels,” with a glass fronted icebox to cool and display meats the butcher could slice up in your driveway. Eat your heart out, GrubHub.
1936 Ford Delivery Wagon
Boyertown Auto Body Works built this “walk-in butcher shop on wheels,” with a glass fronted icebox to cool and display meats the butcher could slice up in your driveway. Eat your heart out, GrubHub.
1936 Ford Delivery Wagon
Boyertown Auto Body Works built this “walk-in butcher shop on wheels,” with a glass fronted icebox to cool and display meats the butcher could slice up in your driveway. Eat your heart out, GrubHub.
1937 Chrysler Royal Six Town Sedan
The Derham Body Company of Rosemont, Pennsylvania, built custom bodies, including limousines, for luxury brands. This Chrysler limo has a 228-cubic inch inline six and three-speed manual transmission.
1938 Jerry O’Mahony Diner
The Jerry O’Mahony Diner Company built diners in its Elizabeth, New Jersey, factory from 1917 to 1952, and trucked them to locations around the US. Boyertown Museum’s Diner Day serves 25-cent slices of pie and 5-cent cups of coffee (eat your heart out, Starbucks). For 2026, Diner Day is Tuesday, November 11.
1938 Jerry O’Mahony Diner
The Jerry O’Mahony Diner Company built diners in its Elizabeth, New Jersey, factory from 1917 to 1952, and trucked them to locations around the US. Boyertown Museum’s Diner Day serves 25-cent slices of pie and 5-cent cups of coffee (eat your heart out, Starbucks). For 2026, Diner Day is Tuesday, November 11.
1952 Masano
This custom fiberglass body on a 1952 Henry J chassis was commissioned by Reading, Pennsylvania, car dealer Tom Masano.
1953 Packard Patrician Limousine
Assembled in Detroit with coachwork by the Derham Body Company of Rosemont, Pennsylvania, powered by a 180-horsepower, 327 cubic-inch inline eight. Even though Packard’s Ultramatic automatic had become prevalent throughout the lineup by the early ‘50s, this limo has a three-on-the-tree with overdrive. Save the sticks!
1953 Packard Patrician Limousine
Assembled in Detroit with coachwork by the Derham Body Company of Rosemont, Pennsylvania, powered by a 180-horsepower, 327 cubic-inch inline eight. Even though Packard’s Ultramatic automatic had become prevalent throughout the lineup by the early ‘50s, this limo has a three-on-the-tree with overdrive. Save the sticks!
1953 Packard Patrician Limousine
Assembled in Detroit with coachwork by the Derham Body Company of Rosemont, Pennsylvania, powered by a 180-horsepower, 327 cubic-inch inline eight. Even though Packard’s Ultramatic automatic had become prevalent throughout the lineup by the early ‘50s, this limo has a three-on-the-tree with overdrive. Save the sticks!
1979 Battronic Volta
The Boyertown Body Works built electric-powered vans and this pickup truck version starting with the oil crisis of the early ‘70s.
1979 Battronic Volta
The Boyertown Body Works built electric-powered vans and this pickup truck version starting with the oil crisis of the early ‘70s.
EV Collection
Boyertown has a collection of EV-powered cars and trucks, including a Renault Dauphine-based Henney Killowatt and this 1979 Chrysler ETV-1 concept in a parking lot adjacent to the museum, awaiting a second display building the museum expects to open to the public in 2026. Eighteen six-volt Globe-Union batteries power the ETV-1’s front wheels through a 40.9-hp electric motor.
Library and Memorabilia
Boyertown also has an extensive automotive library, tons of memorabilia and what has to be the world’s largest collection of vintage spark plugs.
Library and Memorabilia
Boyertown also has an extensive automotive library, tons of memorabilia and what has to be the world’s largest collection of vintage spark plugs.
Library and Memorabilia
Boyertown also has an extensive automotive library, tons of memorabilia and what has to be the world’s largest collection of vintage spark plugs.
Library and Memorabilia
Boyertown also has an extensive automotive library, tons of memorabilia and what has to be the world’s largest collection of vintage spark plugs.
Library and Memorabilia
Boyertown also has an extensive automotive library, tons of memorabilia and what has to be the world’s largest collection of vintage spark plugs.
Library and Memorabilia
Boyertown also has an extensive automotive library, tons of memorabilia and what has to be the world’s largest collection of vintage spark plugs.
Comments