 On weekends, when the weather was good, he would display them on his front lawn behind his stone wall for those traveling from Holden to Princeton along Route 31 to see and admire. To his surprise, people would stop to get a closer look at his pieces of memorabilia. People even, out of curiosity, would ask to see what he had accumulated in his barns and what items he was currently restoring. About this time, a teenage boy from Holden name Ray "Otto" Bassett began to show up every weekend and during the summer, and he became Al's apprentice and eventually chief mechanic and restorer. In 1935, at small two pump gasoline station opened on Worcester Road, on the northwest corner of the junction of Jillian Drive and Worcester Road where the current Deer Run sign is located today. Al opened his “Horseless Carriage Exhibit” there to provide a safe place for people to view his restored items and to provide for the needed additional parking by building a shed-like building. Over a very short period of time, his small museum began growing in popularity, and soon the gas station was expanded to handle his increased display and restoration needs. The building ended up having an overhead garage door in front, and and added ell on the north side, which eventually featured a small restaurant named Monty's and run by Mrs. Montgomery. In 1936, Al realized he needed much more exhibit and restoration space. About this time, the Rutland World War I Prison Camps were being torn down. Al contracted to purchase those used bricks, and he had built a 30' x 200' building, which became known as the Museum of Antique Autos; it officially opened in the Spring of 1938 containing 75 horseless carriages all in running condition. In1940 another building was added to house 25 more cars. Over the next 18 years, Al built 6 additional buildings which increased his display space to 28,000 sq. ft. On the inside, he had 198 antique autos and horseless carriages, numerous player-pianos, old mechanical toys, a mechanical fortune teller who dealt you a card with your fortune if you deposited a coin in the slot, pinball machines, a calliope and a merry-go-round which never ran because the crank would hit the roof which was built too low. On the outside he displayed the following:, a steam tractor, a steam narrow gauge railroad engine, a steel wheeled farm tractor, a high 4 wheeled lumber yard lifter/mover, a World War II Italian Fighter airplane, a small working railroad on which to give rides, as well as snack bar and area for family picnics. Besides displaying restored working antiques, Al and Ray, were adventurers. They would take their cars all over the USA and display as well as race them at regional Fairgrounds. Probably the race that raises the most local interest in the central Massachusetts area was the annual 4th of July antique auto race from the Museum on Worcester Rd. to the top of Mt. Wachusett.  Read "Trip Up Mt. Washington" by George Sampson below. George lived with Al at the Red Fox Farm for 8 years, Al was his great uncle. George would later build a house next to the Red Fox farm and raise a family there. His son, now lives in the same location. After 25 years of operation, in 1963 the museum closed and its contents were eventually sold off during a gala auction in July 1973 with the main attraction being the auctioning off of the original 1934 Deluxe Ford in which Bonnie Parker & Clyde Barrow were captured and killed on May 23, 1934. Al would often take rides around town in his Baker Electric sedan that was similar to the one pictured above. He passed away at the age of 70 after a brief illness at Holden Hospital. |
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Antique Auto Museum |
