Reports from a Route 66 researcher and an official from the city of Miami, Oklahoma, indicate the Vintage Iron Motorcycle Museum Miami has closed in recent months after almost 13 years in downtown Miami.
According to a post Tuesday evening on the EZ66 Guide to Route 66 on Facebook:
The Vintage iron Motorcycle Museum appears to be defunct. I looked in the dusty windows last Sunday and there was no merchandise on the gift shop shelves, and the rest looked empty, with just a few bikes visible in a back room.
I tried to call the number on their website, which still indicates it is OPEN (as do other websites), but no luck.
Looking at recent reviews, I found many from disappointed would be visitors reporting that it had liquidated and closed this year.
Steve Gilbert, president and CEO of the Miami Regional Chamber of Commerce, wrote in an email Thursday:
The owner of the museum is Tony Holden. I called Tony to inquire as to the status, but his number has changed. When we drive by, there is inventory in the shop, but the inventory and motorcycles appear to have been dwindling for a couple of months now. I am not aware of the plans, but we did hear it was closing.
No one replied to a phone call and text to the museum last week. As the EZ 66 Guide indicated, its website indicates Vintage Iron still is open despite reports to the contrary.
The Vintage Iron Motorcycle Museum opened in 2006 and went through two expansions in subsequent years. According to early reports, the museum contained 25 old motorcycles, including several ridden by actor Steve McQueen, memorabilia from daredevil Evel Knievel and an ultrarare 1919 Australian GCS model. The gift shop also sold Route 66 souvenirs.
For those who missed it, here’s a video of someone touring the museum:
For those wanting a look a vintage motorcycles, there’s the well-regarded Seaba Station Motorcycle Museum, also along Route 66, in Warwick, Oklahoma, in a gas station built in 1924. It sits about 160 miles west of Miami.
(Image of the Vintage Iron Motorcycle Museum in Miami, Oklahoma, via Facebook)