After two full days of touring we pulled the throttle back a bit today. We started today at the Ace Sign Company Museum. This company's history and legacy spans over 80 years and six generations. It was founded in 1940 by a husband and wife with a small store front, focusing on hand-lettered glass doors, vehicles and oil-cloth signs. Sign making was in the family's history back to the 1860's though. As this industry evolved, so did Ace Signs. From hand lettering to neon to LED and digital, they have grown into a leader in the visual communications industry operating our of a 60,000 square foot facility and over 80 employees.
To preserve the heritage and history of the trade, they formed the Ace Sign Company Museum, also known as the Route 66 Neon Museum. In here there are over 85 historic signs previously displayed along Route 66, many of them muticuously restored.
We were fortunate to have the grandson of the founder give us an abbreviated tour. We had not done our homework and failed to note that the full tours are only offered twice per day, and we arrived between them. They were gracious enough to let us in anyway and it was greatly appreciated.
The tour started with a video about the company's history and then we were escorted into their active production facility. There were many huge automated lettering cutters (assumed) operating unattended.
There were company staff operating computers, doing design work and creating signs. We did not see active neon sign production but we understand they still do it. Overhead old signs are displayed serving as a reminder of how the company and industry has evolved.
Yesterday when we were at the state fairgrounds we did not see a huge display Ace Sign Company created, commemorating the 100th anniversary of Route 66. Given more time I would love to go back out there to see it.
It is obvious how much this company gives back to their community, and how much they value history. They are a sign company. They design, make, sell and install signs. They do not have to run a museum, which does not charge admission, and operates on donations, but they do. And they are preserving history. It would have been easy to pitch the old signs, but they didn't. Instead they restored and displayed them for others to enjoy.
If you have the opportunity to stop by the Ace Sign Company and take part in one of their two daily tours, it will be worth your time. https://www.facebook.com/AceSignCo
Tomorrow is our travel day when we head south to Scott Air Force Base. After Ace Signs we stopped by Walmart to replenish provisions and then stopped to refuel the big ol' brown truck.
Lastly, we stopped at the National Corvair Museum which is just south of our campground. They were closed and so we were unable to have a look inside. The sign on the door identified just a handful of dates this year that they will be open, so sorry about our luck. The museum is run by volunteers so they run a limited schedule. I was never a huge fan of the rear engine Chevy product that was just produced from 1960 to 1969 which surprised me. I would have never guessed it was produced for that many years.
Like anything else, the Corvairs have a following. The National Corvair Museum is an enterprise of the Corvair Preservation Foundation. The mission of the Corvair Preservation Foundation is to preserve the history and significance of the Chevrolet Corvair for enthusiasts; and educate anyone interested in understanding the unique design and cultural impact of this automobile.
The Corvair was produced to compete with the foreign imports, being lower, longer and wider than it's V8 counterparts. It was the only mass-produced American passenger car to feature a rear-mounted, air-cooled engine. It utilized an aluminum, horizontally opposed ("flat") six-cylinder engine. This design eliminated the need for a radiator, water pump, and coolant, much like the Porsche 911s and VW Beetles of the same period.
Photo credit: https://dyler.com/
The Corvair is perhaps most famous for being the primary target of Ralph Nader’s 1965 book, Unsafe at Any Speed. Despite its ten-year run, the Corvair was eventually eclipsed by the more conventional Chevy II (Nova) and the massive success of the Ford Mustang, which moved the market toward front-engine "pony cars. We are sorry the museum was not open while we were here. Maybe next time.
That's a wrap here in Springfield IL. Tomorrow we motor on down the general route of Route 66 to Scott Air Force Base neat Belleville and O'Fallon IL, We will be there for three nights. Depending on how tomorrow goes, we might stop at Litchfield IL and the Route 66 Museum there enroute.
Thanks for following along and have a great weekend!
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