Royal Oak museum car show back for 12th year

By: Mike Koury | Royal Oak Review | Published July 24, 2023

ROYAL OAK — The Royal Oak Historical Museum will be holding its 12th annual car show at the beginning of August.

The museum’s show, Muscle & More, will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 5, at the museum in Royal Oak, located at 1411 W. Webster Road.

The car show will include dozens of classic vehicles and a chance to win a prize of $100, plus the Woodward Memories historical exhibits inside the museum.

Museum Curator Johanna Schurrer said her favorite part of the event each year is getting to see all the vehicles.

“That is the whole thing as far as I’m concerned,” she said. “I think we’re going to have more this year than we’ve had in the past few years.” Schurrer attributed the decline of participation from the past couple of years to COVID-19.

There also will be a presentation at the event from local car collector Murray Pfaff, who will be talking about his 1959 Imperial Crown. The vehicle originally was a large four-door sedan that Pfaff and his friends converted into a two-seat sports car.

“We cut (the sedan) into 46 pieces completely apart and put it back together,” he said. “So we threw away quite a bit of the car.”

Pfaff calls the vehicle a “speedster.” He spends his time as a customizer coming up with ideas to build something that nobody has ever done before for his clients and other builders.

The Imperial speedster was one of those ideas. He built it with 10 of his friends over a decade ago.

Pfaff will be talking about how he made the vehicle when he brings it to Muscle & More, which will be the first edition of the event that he’s attended since the very first one. He said he’s excited to get to talk about the car, which is something he never gets tired of doing.

“People always seem to appreciate it,” Pfaff said of talking to people about his cars. “And of course, at the end of the day, it makes you feel good.”

For more information on the event and to register a vehicle to participate, which costs $15, visit royaloakhistoricalsociety.com or call (248) 439-1501. There will be late registration for the show as well, starting at 9 a.m. Aug. 5.