Emphasis on Volvos

Pre-1996 foreign autos featured at Owls Head Transportation Museum

We road test a 1948 Willys Jeep
Sun, 09/25/2016 - 10:15pm

OWLS HEAD – The Owls Head Transportation Museum was the scene of the museum's Foreign Auto Festival on Sept. 24 and 25. It was the museum's final auto event and aeroplane show of the season. Even though the winds prevented the planes from taking to the air, the grounds were full of pre-1996 autos.

Featured this year were Volvos. All types and sizes of Volvos lined the grounds along with their other foreign cousins from Japan, England, Germany and France.

Traffic was heavy on the grounds as those attending the event were offered free rides in a number of the museum's autos and a host of the exhibitors show pieces

Ethan Yankura, curator and education director at the museum, said it was a fantastic exhibitor turnout for the event.

"I don't think I've seen a turnout like this for this type of show for a lot of years," he said. "Some very high quality stuff, but also some interesting and obscure pieces as well."

"Volvo is the featured car this year," he said. "That's because the Volvo Club is in town this weekend and we sort of built the event around them."

Event wise, the museum takes a break for a couple of months. Their next event will be held in December. Holidays at the Museum is an annual one day event with free admission. It includes a special appearance from Santa Clause and a special holiday concert by the Midcoast Community Band.

What caught my attention was a 1948 Willys Jeep. Though not really a foreign auto, its cousins did serve faithfully in the European Theater during WWII, so that kind of made it legal.

It is owned by a father and son team of Kevin and Ryan Shields who live in Rockport. The jeep was purchased at the recent auto auction held at the museum this past August and the two have worked on it as a father/son project.

Ryan is a volunteer at the museum and a student at Camden Hills Regional High School. He explained it is not a military jeep. It was built after the war and the CJ designation stands for Civilian Jeep. The auto is tricked out like the military version as it is essentially the same jeep.

"I've been volunteering at the museum for about a year now," he said. "I'm at a point where I can work on the cars and test drive them. That's the thing I love about this place. Everything here that you see, it operates."

Ryan wasn't sure if he would be taking his prom date in the jeep.

"My dad and I have had a lot of fun working on this," he said. "It's been a great project. I love working on these cars."