One of America's Great Car Museums is Just East of Idaho

On the day I walked through the place, there were 168 cars on the floor. In one corner, there was a Camaro that was to be a prize in a fundraiser. A year later the prize was a 1968 Corvette. If you like chrome and metal, then the Montana Automobile museum is a wheeled Valhalla. It’s located in Deer Lodge, the hometown of NBA coaching legend Phil Jackson. His parents were Pentecostals who relocated the family to the community when Phil was a boy. His parents preached and he played ball!

The museum is part of a series of downtown museums, most of which are on the grounds of the old state prison. The former penitentiary can also be used as a motel. If you like creepy experiences, you can sleep overnight in a cell.

The drive from Twin Falls is a little more than five hours on average. It’s not quite a day trip but there is lodging other than the prison (the last time I looked at a hotel rate, it was just under 50 bucks a night).

I’d like to say I saw my dream car on the floor. Truth be told, I saw 168 dream cars. I can see myself driving every vehicle in the place. Of course, if you attempt this without permission, you could well get to sleep nights in the new state prison!

I Could See a Gangster Behind the Wheel

My Family Was a Dodge Family

Like Being in a Scene From American Graffiti

James Dean Approves

Dreams of Every Teenage Boy and Girl

This Screams Muscle

Natural Air Conditioning

This is Called a Roadster

Find the Keys and Hear the Roar

An Old Hollywood Favorite

LOOK: See the iconic cars that debuted the year you were born

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

Gallery Credit: Sophia Crisafulli