New venue to visit in Amarillo

[RICH MUISE]

I'd been hearing for over a year about a local collector's rapidly growing collection and his new shops/buildings housing everything. No one was quite sure if it was going to be open to the public. A few days ago I was getting my daily driver's annual inspection, and saw a flyer for it..."Bill's Backyard Classics"...The next day I drove over to check it out and was immensly pleasantly surprised.
THE MUSEUM: I got about an hour's tour from the owner's son and before leaving the owner came in I got to meet him also. This place is just in the beginning stages and is already fantastic. The first new building houses the offices, a small showroom with maybe a dozen cars, and a large shop where they do all their in-house building/restoration/modifications. The second new building houses a fantastic collection of an estimated 60-80 cars (I didn't count). They are in process of building a third larger building. The owner's son told me they were expecting another 35-40 cars in the next 6 months!
THE CARS: The vast majority are 50's and 60's. The owners are obviously really big on GM products, but this is one time I didn't mind at all. Most of the cars were the other-than-chevy variety...olds, pontiac, and Caddilac. Oddly enough, I don't remember seeing, or didn't notice, any Buicks. They did have a few tri-five chevy's, but not the overwelming quantities you would expect to see from a GM collector. Their were a few '56 Crown vics, and a few late 40's Mercuries.
Many of the cars are unrestored, pristine cars bought from the first or second owner. They will not buy a car with rust or anything with Bondo. Even the cars that go thru restoration are pristine examples to begin with. These guys are hot rodders and custom car people. The vast majority of the cars are very stock looking on the outside with huge horsepower updated drivetrains. All the cars are driven on the road at least once a month, except for one 56 Caddy 99 point show winner, which is only driven in the parking lot.
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[RICH MUISE]

MORE ON THE MUSEUM: One thing that hit me when I first walked in...no ropped off cars. Although they ask not to touch the cars, you can walk around each and every one of them. I only hope they can continue to do this, I honestly think they are overly optimistic that everyone will respect the vehicles. They have already had an incident where someone slashed a convertible roof with a knife.
They are really wanting to get the younger generation interested in our hobby. The modest 2.00 entry fee is waved for kids under 18! Even the entry fee is by way of a donation box that has a sign saying all donations are forwarded to local children's charity organizations. Later this summer they are adding an outside playground with slides, ect. They really want this to be a low cost family oriented destination. Kuddos to them for doing it in this manner.
I forgot my camera home, so no pics to post. I did ask if cameras were allowed, and he responded "definetly.... we want to share this as much as posible." (I was in a new museum in Nacoma, tx. last year and was asked not to take pictures!!) I am planning on returning before long to get some pics to post.
Can you tell I'm a little excited about this?? particularly being here in Amarillo. This really is being done the right way, imho, and should be a huge draw for the I40 and old 66 travelers.
The owner's name is Bill and Linda Pratt, and the museum is Bill's Backyard Classics. I asked, they are not related to Ron Pratt from Phoenix. (lol...although they obviously have similar bank accounts)