Mount Dora Museum of Speed closed after years of showcasing classic cars, providing nostalgia

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

The Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Items for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Items for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Antique Texaco gasoline pump for sale at the closed Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

1952 Cadillac S&S Hess & Eisenhardt Flower Car and other items for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Neon signs for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Signs for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Items for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Items for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Pub signs for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Drive-in movie speakers for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

1948 Floys 'Trevis-Kraft' Full Midget Race Car in the lobby of the Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Old TV sets for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

1952 'Sky Fighter' amusement ride rocket for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Cabinet photo for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Pedal cars and other Items for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

1950 Motorola 7VT1 portable Black & White TV for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Antique gas pump outside the Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Model airplanes and other items for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

1952 Cadillac S&S Hess & Eisenhardt Flower Car and other items for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

1952 Cadillac S&S Hess & Eisenhardt Flower Car and other items for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Civil war doctor's medical field box from 1862 at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Pedal car and other items for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Sign outside the Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Jukebox for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Pedal cars for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Items for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

1944 Art Deco Taylor Tot baby stroller for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Antique Texaco gasoline pump for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

1952 Cadillac S&S Hess & Eisenhardt Flower Car and other items for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

RCA Victor sign for sale at the closed Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Steeplechase Park card at the Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Kerry Bogard at his Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Yellow Cab items for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Items for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

1962 Gebr Jhle Bruchsal Bumper car from "Kiddieland" near Chicago, Illinois — for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Items for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

1952 Cadillac S&S Hess & Eisenhardt Flower Car and other items for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Items for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Photo of Bettie Page on a 'Sky Fighter' amusement ride rocket for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

1929 Steelcraft Chrysler pedal car with a photo of the original owner (when he was 2-years-old) for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

'Funeral No Parking' sign for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

1952 Cadillac S&S Hess & Eisenhardt Flower Car and other items for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

Illuminated clock for sale at the closing Mt. Dora Museum of Speed, on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Mount Dora — Biplane models no longer hang from the ceiling of the Mount Dora Museum of Speed and a black 1963 Corvette Stingray Sport Coupe is covered by a tarp as owner Kerry Bogard works to pack up memorabilia he's collected over 40 years.

Bogard, 75, opened the 7,000 square-foot museum in 2001 to offer visitors a "trip through the past … when times were kinder" by showcasing up to 30 classic cars and floor to ceiling displays that included original neon signs, mannequins dressed in period clothing from the 1930s through 1960s and a vintage 1940s Texaco gas station he constructed as a replica to the former site in Mount Dora.

But retirement beckoned, he said, so he closed the museum in May and sold the building, which is set to become a bicycle shop.

"The whole idea was a déja vu trip," Bogard said of opening the museum at 206 N. Highland St.

His "true love of cars" began as a child when his parents gave him model cars to build while he recovered from rheumatic fever, a disease that can affect the heart, joints, brain and skin.

A former radio broadcast executive, Bogard said he realized there was a market for collecting and selling classic cars. He sold the majority of his inventory over the years to out-of-state buyers with prices ranging from $25,000 to 6-figures, he said.

"It's not just about making money, it's about pleasing people, and that's what I did here," Bogard said of the museum.

The Mount Dora museum started as the "ultimate man cave" but eventually added displays that had wider appeal such as five decades worth of "crazy shoes," a collection of the "10 most outrageous children's toys that were recalled" and an "I love Lucy" tribute.

But the cars are what kept Tennessee resident Robert Followell coming back about 20 times during vacation stays at his Leesburg home.

The 74-year-old retiree walked into the museum several years ago while his wife was shopping in the popular downtown district and was instantly captivated by the collection of classic American muscle cars and foreign cars like a Porsche and the occasional Ferrari.

"I went in one time and thought ‘this is perfect,’ you get real close to the cars," Followell said. "Of course, I’ve got enough respect that I don't touch them."

To mitigate the potential for accidental destruction of the rare vintage items in the museum, only patrons ages 14 and up were allowed inside.

Followell said he kept his eye on a 1935 DeSoto Airflow — an "absolute beauty" — and was tempted multiple times to buy it.

"I looked at it every time I would go there, and it was just a piece of rolling art, as are many of the vehicles in the museum," Followell said.

As news of the closure spread online, some people have expressed "heartbreak" over the missed opportunity to travel back in time, assuming it would always be around.

"It was someplace I always wanted to visit and I have no excuse for not doing so," a Florida woman wrote on the museum's TripAdvisor page. "It was on that ‘someday’ list. I obviously waited too long."

Bogard has been working for weeks to pack up decades worth of nostalgic treasures, using a hydraulic lift to painstakingly remove delicate items from the ceiling and walls such the biplane models, Quarter Midget race cars and porcelain signs.

A large collection of antiques is up for sale in bulk and car enthusiasts can buy from the remaining inventory that includes a Rat Rod, Porsche 930 Turbo and classic hearses at market value.

"There was a lot of love, definitely a passion with this place," Bogard said. "I’m really going to miss it."

Have a news tip? Contact: [email protected]; 407-420-5354; @LMariaGarza.

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