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Pontiac enthusiast and author, Tim Dye, is taking his fascination up another notch. When some decide to do that, they set up a new website or build another race car. For this Indian lover, it means uprooting his life and moving it to a town on Route 66 in Illinois. You may not find it coincidental that the town is called Pontiac.
[2]An extensive collection of Pontiac memorabilia will join vehicles at the proposed museum.
Dye runs a web site where an extensive collection of Pontiac memorabilia is available for sale. Since Dye wrote a book on the topic, you can expect a comprehensive approach to the subject. He also keep three garages, near Tulsa, OK, filled with his three decade-long collection of all things Pontiac.
The closing of the Pontiac Division by General Motors, saddened the collector and led him to consider setting up a museum but local businesses were unable to help, he told the Tulsa World in November of last year. Subsequent discussions with the city of Pontiac, Illinois, proved more fruitful. That city has been open to providing space and hiring Dye as the museum curator. “I’m reluctant to move it from here, but I have to do what’s best for the collection,” he told the Tulsa publication. “It shouldn’t be locked away.”
Not all Pontiacs on display need to be rare or historically significant. One of the cars in his personal collection is a gold 1964 Pontiac Safari station wagon. His oldest Pontiac, however, may well be. It is a 1890 Pontiac horse-drawn buggy. All told, Dye’s collection amounts to twenty Pontiac vehicles.
Dye is well known within the grassroots enthusiast community and area Pontiac car clubs. A number of them have offered assistance in getting the museum up and running, loaning their own vehicles and soliciting support from other sources.
A location in downtown Pontiac has been identified, in the town square on North Mill Street. According to reports, it is expected to open to the public by July 21 this year.