Lane Motor Museum

I am a car fan – so I was really excited when I found out about Lane Motor Museum. I can tell you pretty much every make and model I see driving down the road. I watch Formula 1 on Sundays and I attended the US Grand Prix this year in Austin. So, you would expect me to be jumping up and down to go to a car museum (which I was). 🙂

So, one rainy Sunday morning I convinced my family to come with me to explore Lane Motor Museum. I don’t think they expected to be there for long. But, two and a half hours later we had to drag the kids out!

Here is a great intro to what you might see:

Tamzin (2) was not really interested in the cars. There are no barriers around the vehicles so you can get a better look, but we were told not to touch. So, any browsing we did with her was while she was in the stroller. There is one car on the floor the kids can get in and take pictures.

Nashville Fun For Families - Lane Motor Museum car you can touch

These are not your typical cars. We saw cars with propellers and cars with skis.

There is a large collection of 3 wheeled cars that my British husband remembers seeing growing up in the UK. Princess Anne was famous for driving around in a Reliant Robin. If you watch Top Gear, you will recognize it – they are not able to keep it upright!

Lane Motor Museum is also home to the collection owned by Nissan America. We saw an exhibit of Z cars – models for racing and their street legal counterpart parked side by side.

The collection is arranged by country so that you can compare the similarities and differences of the different types of cars. Each has a placard with the history of the vehicle and what it was used for. Be sure to speak to the museum staff that are on the floor. They have fascinating stories – you will see – the staff is there because they love cars.

In the center of the museum there is a fantastic children’s area. There are coloring sheets and puzzles for artistic kids. There are ride on cars with wooden gas pumps for small kids. There is a HUGE play rug with tracks for trains and cars to play with. And for the bigger kids, there is Gran Turismo 4 game set up with a real driving seat, steering wheel and pedals. The play area has one entrance and exit so it is easy to corral little ones. My husband and I took turns touring the cars and watching the kids. I got to really look and read the signs (a rare thing when I go to places with my kids) while both Declan and Tamzin had a wonderful time.

If you get hungry there is a small room for snacks. There are a few vending machines, but you are welcome to bring things from home as long as they are all consumed in the snack room.

Nashville Fun For Families - Lane Motor Museum Snack area

Make sure you visit the parking garage. There are more vehicles there to see. A great display of military jeeps and cars, some great older RVs and some custom cars as well. There is also a nice gift shop to shop for the car enthusiasts in your life.

There are more than 400 vehicles in the collection and they are rotated though the year. There are also special basement tours though out the year that allows you to see the cars in storage. It would take several visits to see everything – it is a place definitely worth coming back to on a rainy day or otherwise.

Family Fun Facts:

Lane Motor Museum (Map)

Hours: Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday & Monday   10 AM to 5 PM    –  Closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays

Cost: Adults – $15, Seniors (age 65 and up ) –  $10, Kids (age 6-17 ) – $3, Kids under 5 –  FREE, Members – FREE

Lauren headshot

Lauren is a transplant from Texas and has become a local tourist exploring the area with her two children. She loves to discover new places in Nashville to share with others.

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