Pictured above for the Northeast Classic Car Museum Grand Re-opening are members of The Higley Foundation, The Frederick B. and Ramona E. Mirabito Foundation, The RC Smith Foundation, The Roger W. Follett Foundation, The Greater Norwich Foundation and Northeast Classic Car Museum Board of Trustees. (Submitted Photo)

NORWICH – The Northeast Classic Car Museum held a Grand Reopening and 25th Anniversary Celebration, by invitation, recently on Friday evening, September 16, 2022. The NECCM was celebrating the successful completion of two (2) major capital projects, as well as when it first opened its doors twenty-five (25) years ago, in May 1997.

Robert M. Jeffrey, Executive Director of the Northeast Classic Car Museum, stated “For the past 25 years the Northeast Classic Car Museum has expanded its physical footprint, quadrupled the number of vehicles on display, significantly increased the numbers of visitors to the museum and advanced its reputation as a world class museum.

The museum would never have made it to our 25th Anniversary year if it was not for our Donors, Exhibitors, Supporters, Volunteers, Staff and dedicated members of the Northeast Classic Car Museum Board of Trustees.”

Jeffrey added “I would like to recognize and thank the late George Staley who made our museum possible and his sons, Jim Staley and Claude Staley, who continue the Staley family support of our wonderful museum.”

Jeffrey provided an update on the museum over the past two years. Pre-Pandemic, the museum set a record for number of visitors, events and tour groups. In 2019, the NECCM finished with over 18,600 visitors and 137 tours/events.

In 2022 the NECCM continues to see an increase number of visitors from outside of Chenango County and the United States. Approximately 97% of the museum’s visitors are from outside of Chenango County.

The Northeast Classic Car Museum has been busy continually investing in major capital projects over the past two years such as in the development of a first rate multi-functional parking lot and façade project.

Jeffrey, during his speech, recognized and thanked the generous financial support received from The Higley Foundation and The Frederick B. and Ramona E. Mirabito Foundation for their financial support for the acquisition of the property located at 23 – 25 Rexford Street, as well as the development of the new multi-purpose parking lot located at 23 – 25 Rexford Street.

The museum recognized Michael Flanagan from LaBella Associates for the design and oversight of the development of the parking lot project as well as Burrell Excavating from Norwich, NY for constructing the multi-functional parking lot and Bagnall Electric from Sherburne, NY for the installation of the LED lighting.

The façade improvement project was a significantly larger project with the intention to be transformative and to help promote the museum’s image to visitors as a world class museum to reflect the automobile display that exists inside the museum.

The project involved removing the old warehouse façade appearance of the museum that faces Rexford Street and construct a new museum façade that would be attractive with the appearance of a vintage dealership design. The ultimate goal of this project was to generate increased visitor traffic to the museum as well as start in motion an investment into the Museum District.

During the speech by Jeffrey, he recognized and thanked the generous financial support from The Higley Foundation, The Frederick B. and Ramona E. Mirabito Foundation, The RC Smith Foundation, Roger W. Follett Foundation, and The Greater Norwich Foundation for their generous support of the façade project.

The museum recognized Michael O’Reilly and Daniel O’Reilly from Principle Design Engineering PLLC of Norwich, NY, as the project architect and Clerk of the Works for the design and oversight of the façade project.

Jeffrey stated “There have been countless number of museum visitors taking pictures of the museum from across the street and when they enter the museum, commenting how beautiful the museum now looks.”

Jim Wakeman from Richard W. Wakeman Construction in Sidney, NY was the General Contractor and Blanding Electric from Vestal, NY did the electrical work on the project. Jeffrey said, “We are very fortunate to have local people and companies that you can work with to successfully complete transformative projects of this size.”

Jeffrey also thanked all the museum volunteers. “In 2021 there were over 40 volunteers who generously donated over 8,400 hours of their time and energy to make the Northeast Classic Car Museum a great place to visit.” Jeffrey continued “Without the volunteers, the Northeast Classic Car Museum would not succeed.”

The museum is open daily from 9 AM - 5 PM, 7 days per week. The museum is on one level, wheelchair accessible and scooters are available. The museum is closed three days per year on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas and Easter Sunday. Admission is $12 for adults, $5 for children ages 6-18 years old, children under 6 years old are free.

For more information please visit our website at www.classiccarmuseum.org or call the Northeast Classic Car Museum at 607-334-2886.

– Information from the Classic Car Museum