Gilmore Car Museum Opens 'Defined by Design: Part 2' Spotlighting GM Motorama and Six Decades of Change

The Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners will open "Defined by Design: Part 2 — Featuring GM Motorama Marvels from the Joe Bortz Collection" to the public on October 10, following a members-only preview the day before. The exhibit is a continuation of a larger project that surveys 120 years of automotive design and American history and places GM Motorama concept cars and other design highlights from the Joe Bortz Collection at its center.

Part 2 focuses on design developments from 1960 through 2014, explicitly addressing the muscle car era, fuel crises, new technologies, changing consumer tastes, shifting cultural values, and an increasingly global auto industry. The framing signals an effort to connect classic concept-car spectacle with the broader forces that reshaped production vehicles and buyer expectations over six decades.

The opening day will include a noon book signing by Patrick Kelley for Imagine Too! Journey into the Future of Automobiles. For Michigan enthusiasts, the exhibit offers a concentrated look at GM concept work and how those ideas intersected with historical trends that affected Detroit and the wider automotive landscape. Further details about the exhibit’s displays and schedule are available from the museum’s announcements.