Community Corner
Fate of Former Long Island Auto Museum? [Empty in Southampton]
The Long Island Automotive Museum has been closed for more than three decades — how can new life be given to the abandoned building?
The site of the former Long Island Automotive Museum on Sebonac Road in Tuckahoe has become overgrown and rundown since closing in 1980, but the massive garage that housed early motor vehicles still stands in 2012.
Vanderbiltcupraces.com writes in a 2008 blog post that the museum was founded by automobile collector Henry Austin Clark Jr. in 1948. The blog continues:
The museum featured many unique cars including the Thomas Flyer car that won the 1908 Paris-New York Race. In the 1950s, the museum employed Joe Tracy, who participated in the 1904-1906 Vanderbilt Cup Races. Sadly, the museum closed its doors in 1980 and the collection was sold off.
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Now, "no trespassing" signs are posted all over the main garage, and accessory buildings are covered in graffiti.
What would you like to see happen with the former Long Island Automotive Museum? Should it be revived? Should the building be repurposed? Should the garage be knocked down so a developer can start from scratch? Other ideas? Share you thoughts in a comment below.
