Jeep To Get Its Own Museum In Toledo
Toledo, Ohio, has been the production centre for Jeep since the 4×4’s inception during wartime in the early 1940s. Now the city – not to mention the brand’s legions of devoted followers – will have a museum dedicated to the venerable off-roader.
A non-profit group is behind the move, with help from health-care giant ProMedica, and announced this week it is planning a 56,000-square-foot facility somewhere in metropolitan Toledo that will also include interactive exhibits and an outdoor off-road track, though the exact location won’t be announced until spring next year.
According to ProMedica president and CEO Randy Oostra, the ‘Jeep Experience’ will be modeled after the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee and the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky; both cities house production plants for those respective vehicles. The project is expected to cost $40 million and attract 250,000 visitors annually.
Oostra says fundraising has already begun and that the museum should be completed by 2022. “You can expect that the design and the exterior look will be striking,” he told the Toledo Blade, “and representative of the best brand in the world.”
FCA, which owns the Jeep brand, is apparently involved in the project, though little has been revealed as to what extent.
*Images courtesy of FCA
