ROME LIFE | MAY 2022 37
“Honestly, on an annual
basis, we’ll probably have
anywhere from eight to 10
different exhibits come through
the museum,” he said. “That
sets it up to where we can
really showcase a lot of
unique, different themes and
keep it fresh, keep it changing
and keep it evolving, so that
does encourage visitors to
come back. There’s a lot of
benefit to being a member.”
The museum is dedicated to
showing visitors a wide range
of vehicles.
“At Savoy, ultimately, we
want to connect people to
the cultural diversity of the
automobile,” Shinall said.
“We’re not limiting ourselves
to any make, model, era, year,
style of an automobile. We can
literally celebrate everything
encompassing automotive
history and the automotive
industry. We will take a theme,
and we will exclusively curate
an exhibition based around
that theme, and we will take
automobiles on loan.”
And exhibits are just the
beginning, Shinall said.
Keep an eye on the website,
savoymuseum.org, for future
programming including events,
visits from experts, cruise-ins,
car shows, lectures, unveilings
and workshops.
After the salt flats
The first week Courtney Hizer spent
racing his newly built Buick LeSabre
on the shimmering, white span of
Utah’s famous Bonneville Salt Flats,
he roared to his 200-mile-per-hour
goal.
Hizer passed away in 2011 at the
age of 68, but his car will live on as
part of the new Savoy Museum’s
permanent collection in Cartersville.
The car, now white and gold, has
sported several color schemes over
the years, including a black base
shot through with a multicolored
band emblazoned by renowned fine
art painter Roseta Santiago.
The car was on display during the
Savoy’s December 2021 opening
and is currently part of an American
racing exhibition, which will extend
through early summer, according to
Tom Shinall, the museum’s director
of development.
“The great thing is that car will
always be part of our collection,
so it will always be around and
a part of other exhibits and other
opportunities,” he said.
Hizer’s widow, Villa Hizer, gifted the
Buick to the Savoy, and she hopes
visitors will appreciate its narrative.
“It was just sitting and rusting,
which they do after they’ve been on
the salt, and so we got the rust off
of it,” she said. “I knew we weren’t
going to race it anymore. I wanted
a place where people could see it
and where it would be protected and
respected and tell a story.”
The 200-mile-per-hour club
Courtney Hizer’s interest in the 200
mile-per-hour club, as the group
of salt flats drivers who break that
speed is collectively known, began
at the age of 13 when he read about
it in “Hotrod” magazine. He built
his own car, a Mercury convertible
/savoymuseum.org