1936 Cunningham-Ford Town Car on Display
October 08, 2009
IN BRIEF:
Title: 1936 Cunningham-Ford Town Car on Display at Rochester Museum & Science Center
Location: 657 East Avenue, Rochester, NY 14607
Phone: (585) 271-4320
Date: Open to the public beginning Thursday, October 8, 2009
Time: Available during regular museum hours: 9am–5pm Monday through Saturday. 11am–5pm Sunday.
Free with Museum Admission: adults $10, seniors/college students $9, ages 3–18 $8, RMSC members and children under 3 free. [Museum admission with Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition—adults $17, seniors/college students $15, ages 3–18 $14, RMSC members $5.]
Website: www.rmsc.org
Media Contact: Debra Jacobson, Director of Marketing and Community Affairs (585) 697-1944 • debra_jacobson@rmsc.
1936 Cunningham-Ford Town Car on Display at Rochester Museum & Science Center
Rochester, NY — As Rochester celebrates the induction of entrepreneur James Cunningham (1815–1886) into the Rochester Business Hall of Fame this fall, the Rochester Museum & Science Center is bringing one of the most spectacular objects in its collection out for exhibit: the 1936 Cunningham-Ford Town Car, produced by the James Cunningham, Son & Co. Beginning Thursday, October 8, the car will be on public display during regular museum hours near the Rochester Business Hall of Fame exhibit on the third floor.
The RMSC's Cunningham-Ford Town Car (a Cunningham body on a Ford chassis) was custom-made for Rochester socialite Charlotte Whitney Allen in the last year that the Rochester-based Cunningham Company produced automobiles. Internationally known for the craftsmanship and elegance of its products since 1838, Cunningham stopped making cars when the Great Depression destroyed the market for hand-built, custom vehicles.
Charlotte Whitney Allen was famous for her dry martinis and stylish hats, and her town car was the height of fashion, featuring a convertible front seat with a canopy to cover the driver and an enclosed cab in the rear. Made from one of only 37 Ford V-8 chassis brought from Michigan to the Cunningham Company for manufacture between 1932 and 1936, the car may be unique in the world today.
For years Ms. Whitney Allen was chauffeured around Rochester in this vehicle until she finally sold it in 1964. The automobile had several owners before coming back to Rochester in 1984, thanks to the efforts of RMSC Trustee William H. Morris, who was instrumental in locating and obtaining this fabulous piece of Rochester technology for the RMSC. A generous gift from RMSC Trustee and benefactor Eleanor Eisenhart Morris later enabled the RMSC to complete the cleaning and conservation work needed to prepare the Cunningham-Ford for display.
The Cunningham Company's accomplishments over the course of a century of producing carriages, automobiles, and military equipment from the Civil War through two World Wars, are part of Rochester's remarkable record of technological and entrepreneurial creativity. Visitors will discover this and many more stories of local achievement in the Rochester Business Hall of Fame Exhibit, a first step toward the future transformation of the museum's third floor into an exciting, hands-on experience exploring the world of invention and innovation.
The Rochester Business Hall of Fame exhibit is presented by the RMSC in partnership with Junior Achievement of Rochester and Rochester Business Journal. The exhibit is sponsored by Bank of America.
For high-resolution image of the 1936 Cunningham-Ford Town Car, contact Debra Jacobson (585) 697-1944 or debra_jacobson@rmsc.org.
Rochester Museum & Science Center (RMSC) receives major funding from Monroe County. RMSC includes a planetarium, nature center and science/regional history museum. The Rochester Museum & Science Center stimulates broad community interest and understanding of science and technology, and their impact—past, present, future—on our lives. For more information about RMSC, see . ###
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