The National Historic Vehicle Register's (NHVR) display in Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation will feature a new vehicle starting this month as part of The Henry Ford's partnership with the Hagerty Drivers Foundation. The 1911 Marmon Wasp is on display in the NHVR exhibition space now through November.
The Wasp, winner of the inaugural Indianapolis 500-mile race in 1911 is one of America's most significant race cars. Ray Harroun, an engineer, airplane pilot and race car driver custom-built and drove the single-seat Marmon to victory. It is believed to be among the first cars to utilize a rearview mirror which allowed Harroun a slight advantage in that he did not have a passenger "riding mechanic" watching traffic behind him. In the 100-plus years of racing at the Indianapolis track, the annual Memorial Day competition has become one of the most important races in the world drawing some of the largest single-day spectator counts for a sporting event.
The NHVR rotating exhibit is part of a partnership between The Henry Ford and the Hagerty Drivers Foundation to display cars from the National Historic Vehicle Register that tell the story of the automobile in American history. The yellow #32 1911 Marmon Wasp, owned by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, was added to the National Historic Vehicle Register in 2016.
The NHVR display is included with admission to Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation. For more information and updates on hours and tickets, visit thf.org or follow The Henry Ford on social media @thehenryford.
About The Hagerty Drivers Foundation's National Historic Vehicle:
The National Historic Vehicle Register records the important history of America's significant automobiles, preserving their information for future generations in perpetuity at the Library of Congress. Following the model of preservation work and legislation that has existed at the federal level for significant buildings, bridges, and airplanes, but never cars, the Historic Vehicle Association (now the Hagerty Drivers Foundation) initiated a collaboration with the U.S. Department of the Interior in 2013 to include automobiles in the Historic American Engineering Record through a National Historic Vehicle Register program. Following criteria set forth by the Heritage Documentation Programs and the Secretary of the Interiors Standards, many more vehicles will be added in the future.
For more information, please visit https://driversfoundation.org/.
