Don Aronow Museum
12-21-2018, 03:19 PM
#11
Registered
There is a great deal of interest by the BIG museums to be associated with the history of offshore racing.
I have had several conversations and sit down meetings with both MIT and Mystic SEAPORT and the problem that I had was....... the fact that they seemed to want to "Have" the material, but could give me no assurance of how often they would be "Shown" or "Displayed".
HORBA has a tremendous amount of material from over 100,000 photos, to trophies, to actual line drawings of the early designs. I also had permission to speak on behalf of the Don Aronow Collection, to see what kind of opportunity there might be. Not much difference.
BUT..... OF COURSE,....If one wished to "Donate" a new building, then so many days of displays could be assured to the donor.
It is a tough road, but a worthy one to keep knocking on doors, until we find the welcome mat for offshore powerboat racing finally.
I have had several conversations and sit down meetings with both MIT and Mystic SEAPORT and the problem that I had was....... the fact that they seemed to want to "Have" the material, but could give me no assurance of how often they would be "Shown" or "Displayed".
HORBA has a tremendous amount of material from over 100,000 photos, to trophies, to actual line drawings of the early designs. I also had permission to speak on behalf of the Don Aronow Collection, to see what kind of opportunity there might be. Not much difference.
BUT..... OF COURSE,....If one wished to "Donate" a new building, then so many days of displays could be assured to the donor.
It is a tough road, but a worthy one to keep knocking on doors, until we find the welcome mat for offshore powerboat racing finally.
Getting "material" was never an issue for us when trying to get the museum set up. I had private collection, manufacturer and even full boats willing to be lent for display. That was the easy part.
Like I stated, we had large ambitions when we started out, we had property, building plans, 501C3 designation submitted, and all the legal infrastructure in place. What we didn't have is a bottomless pit of money, all of it was mine when we started. Which $75K later barely made a dent in getting things off the ground. I was never able to get people to open up their checkbooks and invest in the history of our sport. And quite honestly, that is what it takes to open a museum. A single person or small group cannot make it you need a group effort in wanting to see a project succeed.
The second year, we proposed building a Semi/Trailer display which could go to all large events to promote the museum idea and also show our vision. This went over like a lead balloon. there was NO interest from any of the promoters of the events for even offering no cost display area, nor were sponsors at that time interested in any financial help. Everyone sure wanted us to pay for our idea though...I will concede, they were ALL willing to give advertising for their business for us to hand out. This was right after Bob's accident so people were also worried about liability issues of even being associated as a promoter or sponsor.
If you want to pursue a museum, First start raising/have $$$$$$ before you do anything else. That is what will be required to make it move forward. The rest is easy.....
12-21-2018, 08:54 PM
#12
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On a much smaller scale with less complexities considering the museum startup takes lots of $$$$, last year I attempted to get a street renamed for Don Aronow in front of his childhood home in SheepsHead Bay, Brooklyn.
I filed once and was denied by the Brooklyn Kings County Chamber of Commerce but not discouraged I'm in the process of re-filing again. their reason, (and not the same for Vince Lombardi who by the way has
a corner square dedicated to him in SHB).....is "he (after becoming rich & famous) didn't give back to the community monetarily" ...........Vince Lombardi (as far as I know) never monetarily give back and yet was granted with a center square....problem is when you come up against a group of people so political and self serving to each other you realize how futile it is........Michael Aronow wasn't surprised saying: "I dealt with them before as a lawyer and knew that they would deny the request"............anyway, I filed again and will be getting signatures this time to bolster the request.
I filed once and was denied by the Brooklyn Kings County Chamber of Commerce but not discouraged I'm in the process of re-filing again. their reason, (and not the same for Vince Lombardi who by the way has
a corner square dedicated to him in SHB).....is "he (after becoming rich & famous) didn't give back to the community monetarily" ...........Vince Lombardi (as far as I know) never monetarily give back and yet was granted with a center square....problem is when you come up against a group of people so political and self serving to each other you realize how futile it is........Michael Aronow wasn't surprised saying: "I dealt with them before as a lawyer and knew that they would deny the request"............anyway, I filed again and will be getting signatures this time to bolster the request.
Last edited by scippy; 12-22-2018 at 12:50 AM.
01-01-2019, 11:41 AM
#15
Registered
Museum boat/car
Talking about Museums..... I was just visiting the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing in Ocala, Fl. Garlits lives at the property, and built buildings for his museum.
( " If you build it, they will come" )...... Most exhibits are donated ( except for his own cars).....
But what I found interesting was this land speed Chevy Camaro, and who owned it. I thought I would share.
Bill Wishnick's Camaro
