I drove outo Maggie Valley North Carolina last week specifically to vist the wheelsthrough time museum. I know its been posted here before (thats how I found out about it. I am so very grateful because I had never heard of it before) but I wanted to give it another shout out.

After being in Maggie Valley for about 6 years they are moving to Arizona in August and is supposedly scaling down to a third of its collection. Normally I can't shut up about stuff but I really am unsure of exactly what to say to accurately describe my experience while at Wheels through time. It was over whelming. Mind boggling. Definitive and impressive. My wife videoed every square inch.

Dale, the ownerand his staff are the sh*t(pleasant,upbeat,people person and very accomadating). I let Dale take my sidecar bike out and he drove it around and around and around in circles with the sidecar up in the air. As well he gave me very helpful advice for the long ride home. There were bikers passing through and staying at the same hotel as we were and never heard of Wheels through time, they were viewing the Biltmore Mansion instead. A missed opportunity. Anyone who loves Harleys,old school motorcycle memorabilia and just really cool eclectic americanna will love WTT.Dale did a 40 foot burn out in the museum on a 1938 something or another....twice! I wish I would have known about this museum sooner and I encourage anybody remotely close to Maggie Valley to get in while the getting is good. I repeat seize the opportunity to go to Wheels through time if it even remotely presents itself. After August it won't be the same:

http://www.wheelsthroughtime.com/

 

The website sure makes it look enticing. What the guy seems to have done brilliantly is not just collect a bunch of stuff and put it on display, but he's created atmosphere and context to help put the bikes in their place in time, and help visitors understand why they are worthy of being in a musuem, what they mean in the broad scheme of it all. That's the mark of a really superb museum.

Wish I lived closer.

 

I've visited there before and it's great.I knew he was moving but didn't know where untill your post,he was rumored to move to Birmingham close to Barbers(another museum that's world class). I hate he's going to Az.By the way the bike he did the burn outs on was a Crocker,one of only 3 Crocker hemi engines that exists,and the only one that's all original and not restored.

 

I think I have posted this on anotherthread about WTT but here goes. Dale (owner) owns all the land the museum is on plus all the land up the side of the mountain behind the place.
It is speculation of some that when Dale moves developers are going to tear the place down and put condo's up the side of the mountain for more snowbird's/bluehair's/halfback's

 

Very interesting, thanks for posting it. Hope it’s is half as good when it gets to AZ.

 

It was probably the Crocker....he did the same thing when I was there in Sept. of last year.....he loves th run the crap out of that bad boy

 

That's why I got out of Maggie a couple of years ago! Take away WTT and there is really NOTHING in Maggie besides motels and souvenier shops. The area I lived in had 55 properties of which 15 were year rounders! As for rallies there, the music has to be turned off at 10 pm to placate the snowbirds. The whole place is about them, that's the reason Dale is leaving. He got no support from the town council at all. Thay ought to change all of those signs that say "Bikers Welcome" to ones that read "Bikers' Money Welcome." Besides, driving around there with all of those white hairs is downright dangerous!

 

Great collection for sure! there is a 48 pan there w/ the original bill of sale, in 1948 a New Pan ran ya a FAT $625, i told him id give him $1000 right now but he wasnt buying it lol

 

pitts2212,

.

Rider, you'll never see nothing like it that I am aware of (of course I am not aware of a lot of things). I see you're from England and it would be an expensive journey but if you like vintage american iron this is as good as it gets in my opinion. I wish I would have known about this place sooner. Like I said even though its relocating it's being cut down to a third of what it is now. Hey? The English pound is double better then the USA dollar....come one down big spender. LOL.

In all seriousness you would love the museum and I am pretty sure there is a HD dealership nearby(ghost town HD?) that you can rent a bike for the day to take in the smokey mountains and other gorgeous surrounding areas.

http://www.ghosttownharley.com/

 

Rbohno,

I think it was your post that turned me on to the WTT....thanks a bunch. Threads have a way of getting buried deep and fast.....I really wanted to put the readers on notice to seize this great opportunity before its gone.

What a shame what a shame. I think it is a great location and a slick turn key setup. Dale and his staff, well I feel like family the way they are so nice. Its a place one could go year after year and see and learn something new each time.