{"id":26887,"date":"2024-07-28T00:01:01","date_gmt":"2024-07-28T07:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=26887"},"modified":"2024-07-27T16:30:04","modified_gmt":"2024-07-27T23:30:04","slug":"the-yanke-motor-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2024\/07\/28\/the-yanke-motor-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"The Yanke Motor Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Joe Berk<\/h6>\n

Talk about a hidden gem and a great destination:\u00a0 The Yanke Motor Museum in Boise, Idaho is about as good as it gets.\u00a0 There’s precious little information on the Internet about it, but trust me, it’s worth seeing. It’s not widely publicized and you can’t just roll up and visit its treasures; admission is by appointment only.\u00a0 My advice is to make the run to Boise and make the effort to get an appointment.\u00a0 The Yanke Motor Museum contains a world class automobile, motorcycle, tractor, and musical instrument collection.<\/p>\n

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A 1924 Packard convertible is one of the first vintage cars you encounter upon entering the Yanke Motor Museum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As you know from reading this blog, I’m a big fan of car and motorcycle museums, and I never heard of the Yanke Motor Museum.\u00a0 It’s the only automotive museum in Idaho, and it never appeared on my radar before.\u00a0 I only came across it because I Googled “motorcycle museums in Boise.”\u00a0 Some of the Internet services won’t tell you that it’s by appointment only, but that’s the deal.\u00a0 Further complicating things, some of the GPS programs get the directions wrong.\u00a0 We used Waze to find the address and it worked.<\/p>\n

There is a lot to see at the Yanke Motor Museum.\u00a0 We were lucky: Sue and I had the place to ourselves.\u00a0 We made an appointment and new good buddy Tyler (one of the curators) pulled up just as we entered the parking lot.\u00a0 Tyler was in a silver Subaru WRX, so I liked him right away.\u00a0 He opened the place just for us, and then he had to walk around turning all the lights on (and he flipped a lot of switches to do that).\u00a0 The place is huge.<\/p>\n

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A 1957 Cadillac. This is a beautiful car. I was 6 years old when it rolled off the assembly line.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I didn’t quite know what to expect because when we entered the main display area (after walking through a collection of musical instruments), I at first saw mostly automobiles.\u00a0 They were impressive and they were plentiful (see the Packard and drop-dead-gorgeous pink Cadillac above), with the odd motorcycle parked here and there.\u00a0 There was a Ural and a couple of Harley dressers, so I asked Tyler if there were more motorcycles.\u00a0 He smiled and pointed me toward another hall.\u00a0 Wow, were there ever!\u00a0 In fact, my back started bothering me lugging my boat-anchor Nikon D810 and 24-120 lens around to get the photos you see here, but it was worth it.<\/p>\n

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A Ural with a sidecar. Good buddy Dan owns one of these.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before we got to the main motorcycle hall, we saw several more interesting motorcycles and the odd trike or two.\u00a0 There was a ’37 SS Jag replicar.\u00a0 It was flanked by a stunning cherry red Harley Servi-Car and a custom flathead Ford trike with Offenhauser heads.<\/p>\n

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Sweet!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A fire engine red Harley Servi-Car.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A flathead Ford trike. Check out the front brake.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A custom in every sense of the word. The workmanship is stunning.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Offenhauser heads. Offy also made complete 4-cylinder engines.\u00a0 Think decades of Indy 500 dominance.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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One last view of the flattie trike. Even the tires are beautiful.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Susie and I were blown away by the classic cars and the multiple motorcycles we encountered at the Yanke Motor Museum, and we hadn’t even made it to the motorcycle room yet.\u00a0 In the main hall, classic motocross and other bikes were scattered among the cars and other vehicles.<\/p>\n

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I once had a friend who thought a Bultaco was a Mexican food item. No kidding.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There was a flatbed truck with a Harley XLCR Cafe Racer, a vintage Indian Chief, and a vintage Harley.<\/p>\n

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I could have bought a new ’77 XLCR just like this one for $3,000, but I couldn’t justify spending $3,000 for a motorcycle back then. I don’t know who I thought I had to justify it to.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A 1941 Indian Chief. Those fenders!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When we entered the motorcycle room, it was like being a kid in a candy shop.\u00a0 No, wait, I take that back.\u00a0 I used to be a kid in a candy shop six or seven decades ago.\u00a0 This was better.\u00a0\u00a0Just about everything imaginable was there if you are looking for cool motorcycles.\u00a0 Desert racers, WW II military Harley 45s, modern bikes, custom bikes, vintage Harleys, vintage Indians, scooters, Whizzers, vintage flat track and flathead Harley race bikes, and more.\u00a0 The Nikon was giving me fits weighing heavily on my lower back, and leaning over to get macro engine shots was getting downright painful, but I didn’t care.\u00a0 Susie had an Advil, I swallowed it, and the photo safari continued.\u00a0 I was on a mission.\u00a0 Anything and everything for our ExNotes readers…that’s our mantra.<\/p>\n

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In the motorcycle room…check out the Army 45s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A 1934 74-cubic-inch Harley VLD flathead, another stunning motorcycle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A Lambretta!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Whizzers! Carlos, take note!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Harley-Davidson flathead flat track racing motorcycles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Ah, the patina! Check out the steel shoe!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Flathead porn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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An Army 45 in decidedly non-Army colors.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Yanke Motor Museum also contained some cool military stuff, including Jeeps and a few cannons.\u00a0 Cannons!<\/p>\n

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A 1948 US Army Jeep.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A 25mm Hotchkiss cannon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The same action as a Ruger No. 1. A classic falling block concept.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Another falling block artillery action.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A custom scope mount for direct fire. This thing must be a hoot to shoot. Folks at the Museum reload for it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I thought it couldn’t possibly get any better, but when I peeked into an adjoining room I spotted several 37mm and 25mm projectiles in various stages of the reloading process.\u00a0 Imagine that:\u00a0 Reloading for your own cannons! There’s no doubt about it:\u00a0 The folks who own and run the Yanke Motor Museum are our kind people.<\/p>\n

Ron and Linda Yanke started the Museum.\u00a0 An extremely successful entrepreneur, Ron is unfortunately no longer with us.\u00a0 The Yanke family started the business empire with a machine shop.\u00a0 Ron Yanke expanded the business holdings to sawmills, an air charter service, a firefighting equipment manufacturer, extensive timberland holdings, several real estate companies, a mechanical contracting firm, a manufactured housing company, and a couple of banks.\u00a0 He was one of three original investors in Micron Technology, the world’s second-largest memory chip manufacturer.<\/p>\n

The Yanke Motor Museum is located at 1090 Boeing Street in Boise, Idaho.\u00a0 If you want to get in, here’s the web address that will get you started<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Never miss an ExNotes blog:<\/p>\n

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