Anyone visited the Barber museum in Birmingham?

fishin1789

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May 28, 2015
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Thinking about taking a couple days and riding SGS the 6-1/2 hours down to visit the Barber Motorsports Museum in Birmingham, Alabama. Anybody been there? Is it worth the trip? How long to see it all?
 
Great place to visit expect to spend a couple hours just for the museum, Bass Pro Shop next door too. Wheels Through Time in Maggie Valley is another good one too.
 
Definitely!
It's a BEAUTIFUL museum and awesome race track. I've been several times. They hold vintage bike races there with swap meets and even attended the Honda Grand Prix with F1 type cars back in May.

Here's a Kawasaki 1600 V8. Yep, two 750 engines merged on one crankshaft. Very cool.
Kawasaki V8 left side.jpg

Bikes (and cars) are pristine and beautiful. Awesome building and quirky landscaping/art (ok, weird).
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I second the Maggie Valley detour at the Wheels Through Time museum. http://www.wheelsthroughtime.com/
Dale's bikes are mostly unrestored old survivors THAT RUN!!! YES, RUN. He has about 300 bikes on the floor and an additional couple hundred stored that he swaps out occasionally. Most all are in running condition. Each week/month, he takes about 4 or 5 bikes and primes them and lubes them and actually fires them up and gives patrons rides. He even does burn outs with some of the racers. Yes, I have video of a 100 year old Harley racer smoking the back tire down the museum floor (lots of black marks in there). One of the BEST museums I've ever been to. It LIVES.

Dale is a super-cool dude (as well as his son)..... hopefully, his success on the Velocity Channel show "What's in the Garage" (or something like that) hasn't ruined his down-home, genuine bike guy personality. I can't say enough cool things about them. Really!
They usually walk with you on your tour, providing cool info about particular bikes and the acquiring process (he owns every bike there.... Barber doesn't).
We've even helped him change out the coil pack on one 1911 Indian and actually got it running with him.... as patrons! Here's my buddy Sonny helping load it with fuel before attempting to fire it off.
1911 Indian Sonny Dale Filling with Gas.jpg
I have video of it. 100 year old bikes running! Cool. I'd download them to youtube if I can find them again.
 
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Wheels Through Time
1911 Indian running after Dale toyed with it a little... he let us help!!! Cool.

1920s Harley Hot Rod that Mark (Dale's son) just got running for us to hear.
 
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I've been there, its a short little run from Nashville. Wheels thru Time is much better I think for 2 reasons, They also have a full line of museum automobiles and its a much, much prettier ride!!
 


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