If ever any proof was needed that the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville is a unique establishment, all doubts were dispelled when the restoration experts built an exact copy of the original 1933 Dymaxion car, possibly the oddest car ever created, then drove it to Amelia Island, Florida, for the recent concours d’elegance.
Founded by Nashville auto enthusiast Jeff Lane, the museum boasts not only the biggest collection of European vehicles in the U.S. among its more than 400 cars, trucks, motorcycles, scooters and bicycles, but possibly the most-unusual collection with some of the strangest contraptions on two, three or four wheels.
Supporters of the Lane museum are invited for yet another unique experience when the sixth annual Rally for The Lane tour takes place on two dates: September 19 and October 3, although the first date has sold out already. What makes this fund-raiser unlike any other is that each participant “buys” a car from the collection to take on one of the day’s drives, which includes lunch at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
“The Rally for The Lane is your chance to experience one of our rare and unique cars in a full day rally where you get to drive the car!” the museum says in the announcement on its web page. “The museum has selected 48 cars from its collection that participants will be able to purchase the right to drive on the rally. Registration will close when approximately 25 have been registered for that day’s rally event.”
There are still a number of cars available for the October 3 tour, which at last look included a 2002 Burton roadster, a 1962 Corvair wagon, a number of Citroens including diminutive 2CVs, a 2001 MGF roadster, a 1991 Nissan Figaro, a 1966 Panhard, a 1986 Renault Alpine Turbo GTA and a 1969 Saab 96.
Cost ranges between $500 and $850 for you and up to three passengers, depending on the car. Last year, the rally raised more than $35,000 to help defray the cost of operating the museum.
For more information about the rally, see Rally for The Lane. But if you want to enter, make it snappy before the cars all sell out.
