For over 35 years, the California Automobile Museum has been educating and entertaining audiences with beautiful and historically significant automobiles. There is much to be proud of and thankful for as we recall the rich history of the organization, from the hu6ble beginnings of a $100 offering to form the fledgling "California Vehicle Foundation" and its quest to open an auto museum in Sacramento all the way to our current status of nearly $1 million in assets, a volunteer corps of several hundred, and visitorship of over 60,000 per year.
A significant milestone in the history of the Museum was the arrival of over 100 Fords from the collection of Edward Towe. Without the collection, the Museum would most certainly not be in the position it is today. Times change, however, and the Museum no longer houses the Towe Collection. We now exhibit a much broader collection of vehicles, telling the history of the automobile from the late 1800s through electric and hydrogen vehicles of the future. As a result, the Board of Directors, in 2009, officially changed the name of the Museum to the California Automobile Museum, reflecting the expanded mission it has grown into over the past 25 years - to preserve, exhibit and teach the story of the automobile and its influence on our lives.