Gearhead Destinations: Toad Hall Classic Car Collection

If you live in the north east part of the US, and you are an automotive enthusiast, Toad Hall is a destination that you absolutely must check out.  Appropriately named after Toad Hall in the book “The Wind in the Willows“, Toad Hall is a collection of 50+ red sports cars located at the Simmons Homestead Inn in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.  The short story of how this all came together is that a gentleman named Bill Putman started buying red sports cars that he liked, and before long, created an amazing collection. The full story actually involves some racing, some family, and some cats, but I’ll let you check out his website for that.  Luckily for us, he opens his garage doors to dreamers like myself.

When my friends and I visited a couple of years ago on my birthday, it was an absolutely perfect day.  Bill is a class act, and one of the friendliest car enthusiasts that my friends and I have ever met.  He and his feline friends welcomed us as if we were family, and they gave us a tour of all of their beautiful cars.  When I first entered the building, I was a bit overwhelmed because there were so many cars that I needed to check out.  The automotive side of my brain nearly hit the panic button, which could have tossed me into system overload. Close call.  The first car we saw was a newer Lotus Elise, which I went over with a fine tooth comb because I had never been able to inspect one before.  Then he suggested I sit inside it, to which I humbly obliged.  Again, system overload.  I had no idea that I was such a huge fan of these types of cars, but they radiate driving passion, even when standing still.  Typically I am drawn to big American V8’s and little engines overloaded with forced induction.  This collection was well outside of my comfort zone and yet I thoroughly enjoyed every passing second.  From MGA’s, to Datsuns, Jag’s, Lotus’s, and even a Ferrari, it was absolute brilliance at every turn.

We spent a fair amount of time drooling over the bright red machinery, and reluctantly headed out.  Since then, I have thought about it constantly, and wondered why I haven’t been back.  This spring, I will undoubtedly be back there for another dose of Toad Hall.  It gives me inspiration to spin some wrenches and get my own convertible on the road again.  If you are within driving range of Toad Hall, I highly recommend checking it out.

All information about cars, location, etc. can be found on his website listed below.

http://www.toadhallcars.com/

Jeremy Nutt

Hi, I'm Jeremy.

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