History of Volo Auto Museum Illinois

In 1960 the Grams family purchased this property, which at the time was a 110-year-old, non-operating, dairy farm. The vision was to live in the old farm house and convert the dilapidated barn into a resale shop. It was the teenage sons Greg and Bill who had an interest in cars. With no money, and for a hobby, the brothers would scour the area looking for old cars the local farmers put out to the pasture. In their free-time, after working the family business, the brothers would stay up late wrenching on their latest finds.

Even though their collection was nothing more than a dozen or so unrestored cars, the brothers started attracting attention from people, specifically the attention of their soon to be first customer. Even though none of their cars were for sale, that didn’t stop a man from making an offer on a car he had his eye on, an offer they decided to take. The brothers realized there was money to be made in old cars and it was that event that lead to the brothers starting their business “Volo Auto Museum”.

Over the decades, the museum has evolved from a single pole barn with a gravel floor, no heat or plumbing, to the 35-acre attraction you see today. Because of the Grams family’s passion and hard work, it has become a destination for half a million visitors annually from all corners of the world and the leader in collector car sales.

The Volo Auto Museum is a privately funded, for-profit business; therefore, they do not receive state or federal funding nor are they eligible for any tax relief. The museum’s collections are only able to exist and grow because of the Grams family’s commitment to reinvest any profits back into the museum rather than to be used for personal gain.

The museum currently has 3 generations of Grams family members running and operating the business and they look forward to their future generations continuing with the family tradition.