National Automobile Museum
1 Museum Dr
Reno, NV
One of the great automobile collections in the world, from brass-era classics to one-of-a-kind curiosities, on the bank of the Truckee River.
The National Automobile Museum in Reno holds one of the finest collections of historic cars anywhere, more than a hundred vehicles spanning the entire arc of the automobile, from fragile brass-era horseless carriages through the golden age of the great classics to modern experimental one-offs. It grew from the private passion of a Nevada gaming pioneer, and it remains a temple for anyone who loves machines and the history they carry.
Rather than lining the cars up in rows, the museum stages many of them in atmospheric period street scenes, complete with storefronts and sound, so you move through the decades as you walk. The result is part car collection, part social history, a vivid tour of how the automobile reshaped American life.
What Guests Love
- The sheer breadth of the collection, from earliest horseless carriages to modern one-offs
- Period street scenes that place the cars in their eras
- Famous and celebrity-owned cars scattered through the galleries
- How walkable it is from downtown Reno and the riverwalk
Worth Knowing
- Plan a couple of hours; the collection is large and easy to underestimate
- It is indoors and comfortable year-round, a good choice on a hot or snowy day
- The displays rotate, so repeat visits turn up different cars
- Downtown parking is easy here, unlike at the nearby casinos
Details
Reno, NV
Learn about National Automobile Museum
The Harrah Collection
The heart of the museum is the Harrah Collection, assembled by William Harrah, the Nevada casino magnate whose obsession with automobiles grew into one of the largest private car collections in the world, at one point numbering in the thousands. Harrah restored his cars to exacting standards and displayed them near Reno for decades.
After Harrah's death, the collection was largely dispersed, but a core group of significant vehicles was preserved and became the foundation of the National Automobile Museum, which opened in downtown Reno in the late 1980s. That legacy is why a museum in Nevada holds cars of such national importance.
What is on display
The collection ranges across the whole history of the automobile. Early galleries hold the tiller-steered horseless carriages and brass-lamped machines of the 1890s and 1900s, followed by the elegant classics of the 1920s and 1930s, streamlined marvels, muscle cars, and experimental and celebrity vehicles.
Among the highlights are cars once owned by famous figures and a number of rare and unique machines, some the only survivors of their kind. The period street scenes, with their storefronts and ambient sound, let you imagine each car in motion in its own time, and the exhibits rotate often enough that no two visits are quite the same.
Reno around the museum
The museum sits on the Truckee River in downtown Reno, the self-styled Biggest Little City in the World, a compact old gambling town now reinventing itself with a lively riverwalk, arts district, and food scene. The river runs right through the center, with a whitewater park and walking paths.
Reno makes a natural base for exploring western Nevada, with Lake Tahoe's clear water just up in the Sierra, historic Carson City and Virginia City nearby, and the high desert stretching east. The museum is a perfect stop when weather sends travelers indoors, whether from summer heat or Sierra snow.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Reno
Truckee Riverwalk
Adjacent
A walkable stretch of downtown Reno along the river, with a whitewater park, restaurants, galleries, and shaded paths.
Virginia City
About 25 miles southeast
A remarkably preserved Comstock silver-boom town with wooden boardwalks, historic saloons, and a steam railroad.
Lake Tahoe
About 35 miles southwest
The famously clear alpine lake, with Sand Harbor's granite coves on the Nevada side and skiing in the surrounding mountains.