The Roush Museum

There aren't too many car museums here in Michigan. There's the Henry Ford and the Gilmore, but after that there's not too much more. Ford doesn't have their own museum for cars, GM has one, but it's private, and the Chrysler museum just went private after being open to the public for a while.

Well lucky for us, there's still some little museums hidden around. One being the Roush Museum in Livonia, MI. Roush is obviously a well respected name in the aftermarket Ford scene and the racing scene, so it makes sense to have a little museum.

To make it even better, it's all free! Everything from Trans Am, NASCAR, Sports Car, and road cars are on display throughout the museum.

The Trans Am cars are the first thing that greets you as you walk in. Mostly dominated by Mustangs, but this Cougar caught my eye. Usually Cougars never get my attention, but when in race trim, they look real good. This one is the winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona running in the GTO Class.



Robby Gordon, Calvin Fish, and Lyn St. James brought the car home in 5th overall in the 1990 Daytona 24 Hour.

Scott Pruett's XR4Ti won the 1987 Trans Am championship, and took a few wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona in the GTO class.

The XR4Ti's aren't exactly the best looking cars out there, but like the Cougar, it's amazing what a car in race trim can do.

Behind the Trans Am cars, there's the two Prototype cars from Sports Car racing.

This Mustang GTP had some interesting rear aerodynamics. Although the rear of the car had nothing on the design of the rest of the car.

The long nose leads into a pretty small cockpit area that is located at almost the rear of the car. And why such a long nose you ask? Maybe a big engine? V10? V12?

Nope. A 1.7 liter 4 cylinder tubo engine sits in the front of this beast. Made in 1983 as a part of the newly formed SVO program, or Special Vehicle Operations, it was made to run with the top sports cars of the day. Taking a debut win in '83, gave a promising future for the Mustang GTP. But no much else materialized out of the SVO and Mustang GTP project.

Although it can look good in certain angles.

The Mustang Probe was also an IMSA GTP runner also made with Zakspeed. I'm not too sure about anymore history on this one, but it looks a little better that the Mustang next to it.

And know onto what Roush is most known for in the racing world, NASCAR. Jamie McMurray's winning car from the Pepsi 400 has been untouched since it rolled off the winner circle.

Some of the confetti still blows in the wind when there's a little gust over the car. It's pretty cool seeing the how dirty the cars actually get during a 400 mile race.

Next to it was Matt Kenseth's 2009 Daytona 500 winning car. After the win, the cars are placed in the Daytona museum for the year, then are replaced by the next years winning car. 

Matt started in 39th place, and managed to climb up to the lead and hold onto it for the win. But, that's the good thing about Daytona, you never know where you'll finish.

The golden days of NASCAR are the '80s and '90s. Not only because of the drivers and the almost ruthless aggression of the drivers, but also because of the cars. Not to say the cars now are boring, but the old Thunderbirds, Luminas, and Grand Prixs just looked so good.

And NASCAR had a little fun too. In '96 and '97 NASCAR had exhibition races at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan. Then in '98 they ran at the Motegi Circuit. Mark Martin's Thunderbird here was on pole for the '97 race at Suzuka.

I've been to this museum a few times, and just now noticed that this car was the Suzuka car. It wasn't until we noticed the taillight, that we noticed the Japanese sponsors and the gas intake in the other side of the car.

But what really gave it away was the Japanese and America flags on the B-Pillar. I think it's about time for NASCAR to bring some more exhibition races out.

Greg Biffle's Taurus has no big story, but it's yet another car now in the NASCAR history and evolution of the car.

On the other side of racing, there's the pace cars. There were a few PPG pace cars in the collection. From the Indy Car series, these odd looking cars definitely made the front of the field look a little more exciting. The '80s were quite the time for motor-sports.

Cunningham is well known name during the early sports car history, but nowadays it's all but faded. This Cunningham C7 was debuted in Detroit in 2001, but nothing past this concept was ever made. If it were made, it would of been the most expensive performance car made in America at the time.

But, the most expensive sports car here was the Ford GT. In the museum there are three versions of the GT. Two pre production models and one post production. This Gulf liveried one has always been my favorite. It definitely think Ford should of kept the aluminum front lip.

Still dirty and covered in tape from various camo jobs, it's pretty much exactly the way it was when it was done with its testing.

The wheels and headlights are separate this from a road going, production version of the GT. Although it looks almost identical to the production GT, aside from what I listed, I'd still take this over the normal GT.

And to finish off, the merchandise. Along with some body panels, there's tires for sale too. Each one came off a winning car, and are only $20! Although they don't serve much purpose other than show, how can you not want a real NASCAR tire? 

So even though Michigan doesn't have too many all car museums, this Roush museum is a must if you're in the area. A good mix of race and street, it's pretty awesome. Oh yea, it's free too!

Delaney