Henry Austin Clark, Jr. opened the Long Island Automotive Museum in 1948 to store his burgeoning collection of antique cars. It was located on about 8 acres along County Road 39 in Southampton. Early on, Clark tended to focus on thoroughbreds and other significant American cars of the early 20th Century. Later, he amassed a collection of fire trucks and hosted brass-era flea markets at the museum among other auto-centric events.
Henry Austin “Austie” Clark Jr. was a Harvard freshman when he acquired his first early auto, a Ford Model T made in 1915, two years before he was born. After leaving the Navy, where he served as a radar technician in World War II, he began collecting vintage vehicles in earnest. Clark owned some 250 autos and countless other motorized devices (a gas-powered pogo stick). What separated him from other collectors was his role as a one-stop shop. His museum hosted “The Iron Range,” a sporadic flea market of rare parts, many made of brass from the 1890s to World War I. Clark filtered his encyclopedic knowledge into The Standard Catalog of American Cars: 1802-1945, a bible for collectors and historians. He was the chief researcher for writer Beverly Rae Kimes.
The museum closed in 1980 due to declining revenues. Clark auctioned many of the vehicles when he closed the museum. In 2017, Skip Norsic bought the property to use as storage for his company.
Sources:
“Remembering Henry Austin Clark Jr. and the Long Island Automotive Museum.” Hemmings.Com, www.hemmings.com/stories/2014/08/19/remembering-henry-austin-clark-jr-and-the-long-island-automotive-museum. Accessed 11 Apr. 2024
Strohl, Daniel. “Site of Former Long Island Automotive Museum Sells Decades after It Closed.” Hemmings.Com, www.hemmings.com/stories/2017/08/31/site-of-former-long-island-automotive-museum-sells-decades-after-it-closed. Accessed 11 Apr. 2024
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