  56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 1915 Registered: 12-2005 |
Cars, Trees & Traditions Brings Holiday Style to the Walter P. Chrysler Museum The Walter P. Chrysler Museum, in Auburn Hills, will don its holiday finest for Cars, Trees & Traditions, a special exhibition featuring authentically decorated vintage trees, nostalgic ads, seasonal photos of Detroit over the decades and written narrative highlighting American holiday customs, Nov. 17 – Dec. 30, 2007 The third annual Cars, Trees & Traditions offers a look back at holiday celebrations from the early 1900s through the 1980s. The exhibition features 20 vignettes highlighting evergreen trees accurately decorated in holiday fashion, paired with Chrysler vehicles of the same eras. The graphics and images accompanying each tree, including a variety of holiday-season photos of Detroit from the archives of Wayne State University's Walter P. Reuther Library, illustrate styles, events, automotive developments and products of seasons past. The exhibition also features timelines of beloved toys and popular gifts as well as a collection of original art holiday greeting cards from the Chrysler Historical Archives. Among the holiday vignettes featured throughout the Cars, Trees & Traditions exhibition: • 1924 — Tree of Good Times, lavishly decorated with spun glass and Czech beaded ornaments, foil reflectors, waxed angels and double-sided lithographs. This tree is paired with the Museum’s 1924 Chrysler Six, the company’s first production automobile. • 1943 — World War II Tree, decked with unsilvered, striped Shiny-Bright ornaments, some with cardboard and paper caps, along with paper ornaments and chains, paired with a 1941 Dodge Staff Car and Chrysler Aircraft Engine. • 1953 — Tree of the New Generation, featuring West German ornaments, lights with reflectors and Japanese glass bead garland and paired with the ultra-modern 1953 Chrysler Special concept car. • 1962 --- Aluminum trees! Four stylistically different aluminum trees on rotating bases, lit by rotating color lights • 1986 — Hallmark Tree, featuring ornaments that reflect the trends and crazes of the day, paired with a Chrysler LeBaron convertible Cars, Trees & Traditions is open for self-guided tours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday - Saturday and noon - 6 p.m. Sunday. The Walter P. Chrysler Museum is closed every Monday, and Nov. 21 and 22 and Dec. 25. Admission is $6 for adults and $3 for juniors (6 – 12) and seniors (62 and older). Children 5 years old and younger are free. Admission is $3 per person for groups of 15 or more with advance registration. The Walter P. Chrysler Museum is located at the corner of Featherstone and Squirrel Rds. on the Chrysler headquarters complex in Auburn Hills. From I-75, take exit 78 (Chrysler Dr.) and follow the Museum signs. For more information, visit www.chryslerheritage.com or call 888-456-1924.  |
