Planning a visit to the Henry Ford Museum

[Matt in California]

I have a business trip to Detroit, and I recently discovered that I have a window of opportunity to visit the Henry Ford Museum from noon to 5:00. It wasn't originally part of my itinerary, but I'm thrilled to have the chance to check it off my bucket list. I'm incredibly excited about this unexpected opportunity and want to make the most of my time there. Any tips on maximizing my visit would be greatly appreciated!

I have a couple of questions:
1. Any suggestions for travel from the airport?
2. What should I see in the 5 hours I have? Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation? Greenfield Village? Ford Rouge Factory Tour? (Obviously my interest is skewed toward Model T Fords.

Any other advice or suggestions?

Thanks!
Matt

[James Yuill]

How about a trip to the birthplace of the Model
T...Piquette Avenue Plant
. Open Wednesday thru Sunday 10 am to 4 pm. Great museum with the letter cars on display..the secret room rebuilt where the brainstorming for the Model T took place..vintage dealer show room on display. ..Henry's office..The Rouge tour is always impressive.tickets required. Best to call and order in advance. Board bus at the Henry Ford museum and takes you to factory. Allow some time considering your time frame might be tight.

[James Yuill]

Greenfield village next to museum..ride in a Model T...the village is a wonderful experience

[BobD]

One could spend an entire day in the Henry Ford museum from opening to closing and not see everything. Your short visit will whet your appetite to return and spend a couple of days at the museum and Greenfield Village.

[Matt in California]

Thanks for the responses! I didn't think about the Ford Piquette Plant. So much to do, so little time!

It looks like I can take Bus Line 261 from the airport to the Museum/Greenfield village.

After watching this video, I am excited to see Greenfield village, but still open to suggestions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0tGa1Ubpxo

Do I need to book tickets ahead of time?

Thanks!
Matt

[CraneJon]

I have been visiting the Detroit sites since moving to Michigan in 1967. Still have not seen it all. A few hours would be best spent at either the Village or Museum. You could easily spend a week seeing the sites and enjoying the car stuff. With a few hours and tight schedule, I suggest hoping a cab from the airport to the museum. Short run and faster than waiting for and depending upon a bus.
Jon

[zdillinger]

My family has a membership to the Henry Ford/Greenfield Village. It is worth whatever hassle you have to go through to get there. You could easily spend a whole day in the Village and a second whole day in the Museum but if you walk quickly and don't look at every single thing/building, you could do both in a day if necessary. As for tickets, the times we went before we were members, you could just buy the day of as long as there wasn't a special event going on. Now that we're members, though, we pretty much just walk in whenever.

The Piquette Plant is a must-see as well.

Safe travels!

[Oldav8tor]

What day do you plan to visit? I agree with others that you could easily spend the day and more in either the village or museum. Piquette is also great with it's focus on the Model T and the other early Ford cars. Perhaps someone from that area will have some time to help you out.

My advice - whet your appetite on this visit and return on the weekend of Sept 9 & 10 and see the Old Car festival. It's an old car guy's nirvanna.

[ForestAcres]

If you think there is any chance you might be able to visit again within 12 months, buying a membership is a much better value they paying the separate one day admission charge for Greenfield Village and a second one day charge for the Henry Ford Museum. Definitely look carefully at the different options when at their ticket counter.

You'll probably find the "exploding" Model T near the front of the Ford Museum and on the other side from the Presidential Cars very interesting. It shows a complete Model T touring car suspended from the ceiling with all the different parts hanging from cables to show how the car was assembled.

2023 Greenfield Village.jpeg (48.1 KiB) Viewed 6587 times

[Ed Fuller]

I may upset some people with my response. Sorry.

I say skip the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village and just head straight to the Piquette Ave Plant. Especially if you want to mainly see Model T history and your time is limited.

While the other two places are nice, in my opinion, they are more of an overall historical museum.

[Phoenix88R]

Matt,
A lot of good information and advice above. It really depends on what you want to see. I would add that both The Henry Ford (HF Museum & Greenfield Village) and the Piquette T Museum have great websites. The Piquette site has a virtual tour where you can "walk" through the building. The Henry Ford site is huge and has a lot of info on planning a visit. Tough decision, for pure Model T history you can't beat the Piquette Plant. On the other hand the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village are still largely an enormous collection of things important enough to Henry Ford the man that he brought them together to share with the public (Thomas Edison, Wright Brothers, Ford's Birthplace, 19th and early 20th century machines, Steam engines....).

Send me an email or PM, I'm not that far from Detroit Metro airport. Depending on your schedule and itinerary I might be able to provide additional assistance.

Doug

[Original Smith]

Why not add four more days to your trip? That way you can see it all!

[Steve Jelf]

With your limited time you obviously can't do everything. If you can return in September for the Old Car Festival, skip the village for now in favor of the museum or Piquette. The OCF deserves a full, leisurely day and evening. As for the tough choice between the museum and Piquette, only having five hours leans me toward Piquette, with the larger Henry Ford reserved for another day.

If you can return in September...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnuJlHbK6Zc

[John Codman]

I agree with Bob D. Five hours isn't enough, but that's about all the time I had as well. If I'm ever near Detroit again I will spend a bit more time in both museums.

[Matt in California]

I took up Doug’s generous offer. He picked me up st the airport and we spent the afternoon together! We visited Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum! Lots of fun and lots of great things to see. Many buildings we just had a few minutes to see. I enjoyed everything especially:
The 15M

The 999

The Quadracycle

Ford’s first engine

What a fun spur of the moment excursion. Now I need to go back to work.

Matt

[Art M]

You were busy seeing both. They are equal of interest to me.

[Duey_C]

You saw a good many things on your "flying trip" thru!
That 999 display is really neat! Many years ago, a group of us went thru The Henry Ford. The 999 was down on the floor & roped off then.
I got down on the floor to better see the very roughly forged crankshaft and the rod grease cups.
Close by was Clyde Barrows letter to Mr Ford stating he preferred stealing Fords.
Excellent pics! Doug, you did a very generous thing!

[John Codman]

I understand Ed's comment and it doesn't upset me in the least. I suppose that at this point my comment is moot as far as the original post. If your interest is only in the T, then I would agree with him. In my case I would go to the Ford Museum, then Greenfield, then the Piquette Ave plant. I can see a T anytime that I walk through my garage, I cannot see a huge, articulated Alleghany steam locomotive as easily.

[George House]

I’ve been to all 3 venues - twice. There’s so incredibly much to See ! And you went to Greenfield and THF in one afternoon ? Piquette is only open from 10-4 and the other 2 from 9:30-5. Do people in Michigan like to sleep late ?

[ModelT46]

I first visited the museum in 1955 when it was still called the "Edison Institute." Henry named it after is good friend and buddy. All the cars were lined up and you could examine any of them up close. My friend, Less Henry, who was in charge of the auto collection, gave me a personal tour back stage, I examined the 1928 Mdoel A touring of Tom Edison with chasis number one.The library at that tzime was upstairs and I was allowed to examine on of Henry's yearly note books. This was before they sold the "extras", so the six cylinder model N was there, as well NOS water pump unnumbered engines. The museum is still a great place to view. I have been back four times. I spent, with my wife, a day at the Benson Library and was there alone several times. My wife examined personal information on Clara and also guest books for Fairlane. Included was Thomas Edison's signature as well as Edsell's and his wife.. I copied the build and shippimg sheets for my May, 1910 touring. Buy a membership {I did one time) and spend three or four days at the museum, the Benson and Greenfield.
Bring a good camera make make a video to share.

[tdump]

Noon to 5? That will be enough time to get you in the door! I had 2 days to cover the museum and the village and had to pass by alot of stuff to see what really interested me the most. I fully intend to go back and when I do I will spend at least 2 days Just in the museum it's self. So much to see. and not all car related.