The Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum is an automotive museum located at 6825 Norwitch Drive in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. The museum's collection consists of approximately 75 racing sports cars and has been assembled over more than 50 years by Frederick A. Simeone, a retired neurosurgeon and native of Philadelphia. Frederick Simeone has been ranked the #1 car collector by the Classic Car Trust Registry.

History

Frederick Simeone's father was a general practitioner who ran his medical practice out of a

rowhouse In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...

in the

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

section of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. When his father died in 1972, Simeone was left with $8,000 and 4 cars which were stored in a garage on Clearfield Street. He grew this collection over the next four decades, and in 2008 he donated the entire collection of cars to the museum's foundation, which now owns the titles to the cars. From 1982 until the Museum's opening in June 2008, the cars were stored in a garage near 8th and Lombard Streets in Philadelphia. Dr. Simeone passed away at the age of 86 on June 11, 2022.

Criteria for inclusion

The museum has several criteria for inclusion into the collection: # The car must be a sports car with headlights and fenders. # The car must have a history of road racing (not solely racing on a track). # The car must be considered significant, or "winners" associated with superior racing performance. # Important components, such as the chassis, engine, and body, must be original to the car.

Demonstration Days program

The museum conducts a Demonstration Days program twice per month, where several cars are moved to the 3-acre parking lot behind the museum. The program consists of a themed educational presentation followed by a driving demonstration where the cars are operated by the museum curator. Upon conclusion of the Demonstration Days program, museum guests are permitted to inspect and photograph the cars.

Library

The museum has a library containing a collection of automotive literature, documents and sales brochures dating back to 1892. The collection was formerly held in boxes in a building in Center City Philadelphia, and was moved into the museum's newly constructed library in 2013. Due to the fragility of the materials, the library and collection are not open to the public.

Exhibits and collection

The Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum consists of 21 exhibits and 70 cars in the permanent collection. The cars are arranged chronologically and in diorama vignettes. Several motor racing venues are represented as exhibits, including Le Mans,

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...

, Sebring, Bonneville, Watkins Glen,

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

Mille Miglia The Mille Miglia (, ''Thousand Miles'') was an open-road, motorsport endurance race established in 1927 by the young Counts Francesco Mazzotti and Aymo Maggi, which took place in Italy twenty-four times from 1927 to 1957 (thirteen before World ...

and

Targa Florio The Targa Florio was a public road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 ...

. The museum's collection has been called "one of the finest collections of rare and important racing sports cars in the world". Nearly every car in the collection has its original body. Most of the cars are currently in drivable condition. The museum uses aviation gasoline in the car since it is more stable than regularly available gasoline, and it still contains some lead. Lead is essential as an anti-knock compound in order to operate these older engines. List of exhibits and cars:

Publications

*The Spirit of Competition - Coachbuilt Press, 2009 *The Stewardship of Historically Important Automobiles - Coachbuilt Press, 2012

Awards won

* 2019 #1 Ranking of the Top 100 Classic Car Collectors * 2017 International Historic Motoring Awards "Museum or Collection of the Year" * 2014 International Historic Motoring Awards "Car of the Year" - 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe * 2014 Historic Vehicle Association: 1st automobile added to National Historic Vehicle Register - 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe * 2012 International Historic Motoring Awards "Publication of the Year" - The Stewardship of Historically Important Automobiles * 2011 International Historic Motoring Awards "Museum of the Year"

Spirit of Competition Award

The "Spirit of Competition" is the theme of the museum and the title of an annual award given a person from the world of motorsports. Past recipients of the award include: *2008

Mario Andretti Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is an Italian-born American former racing driver. One of the most successful drivers in the history of motorsports, Andretti is one of only two drivers to have won races in Formula One, IndyCar, t ...

*2009

Janet Guthrie Janet Guthrie (born March 7, 1938) is a retired professional race car driver and the first woman to qualify and compete in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500, both in 1977. She had first attempted to enter the Indianapolis 500 in 197 ...

*2010 John Fitch *2011

Craig Breedlove Craig Breedlove (born March 23, 1937) is an American professional race car driver and a five-time world land speed record holder. He was the first person in history to reach , and , using several turbojet-powered vehicles, all named '' Spirit o ...

*2012

Sam Posey Sam Posey (born May 26, 1944)) is an American former racing driver and sports broadcast journalist. Early life and driving career Posey's father was killed in the Battle of Okinawa. Posey grew up on his grandfather's Connecticut estate near Lime ...

*2013

Hurley Haywood Hurley Haywood (born May 4, 1948) is a retired American race car driver. Haywood has won multiple events, including five overall victories at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, three at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and two at the 12 Hours of Sebring. He is cre ...

*2014

Bobby Rahal Robert Woodward Rahal (born January 10, 1953) is an American former auto racing driver and team owner. As a driver he won three championships and 24 races in the CART open-wheel series, including the 1986 Indianapolis 500. He also won the 2004 ...

*2015 David Hobbs *2016

Peter Brock Peter Geoffrey Brock (26 February 1945 – 8 September 2006), known as "Peter Perfect", "The King of the Mountain", or simply "Brocky", was an Australian motor racing driver. Brock was most often associated with Holden for almost 40 years, al ...

*2017 Derek Bell *2018

Roger Penske Roger Searle Penske (born February 20, 1937) is an American businessman and entrepreneur involved in professional auto racing and a retired professional auto racing driver. He is most famous for his ownership of Team Penske, DJR Team Penske, t ...

References

External links

The Collection , Simeone Foundation Automotive MuseumDemo Days , Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum
{{authority control Museums in Philadelphia Automobile museums in Pennsylvania Museums established in 2008 Southwest Philadelphia 2008 establishments in Pennsylvania