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Saturday will be the last day Pittsburg area residents, or anyone, for that matter, to visit a local and popular landmark.
After 11 successful years, Scotty’s Classic Car Museum in Arma is closing its doors for good, said Phyllis Bitner, who owns the museum with her husband, Scotty.
“We just reached that point, because of health issues, that we decided it’s time to close down,” Bitner said. “We didn’t anticipate it. We thought we’d be here forever, but things happen.”
Craig Hull, director of the Crawford County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the loss will be painful.
“The closing of Scotty’s ... is a loss that will be felt by the travel and tourism industry not only in Crawford County, but all of Southeast Kansas,” Hull said.
The Bitner’s decided to open the museum after Scotty retired from selling cars — they owned Bitner Motors on Broadway — more than a decade ago. With a garage full of auto memorabilia that had accumulated over a 40-year period, Phyllis said it seemed like the natural thing to do.
“When we retired from the car lot wanted to do something fun with all the stuff,” she said.
Averaging more than 2,000 visitors each year, tourists have journeyed from far and wide to catch a glimpse at a bygone era.
“We’ve had people from all over the world,” Phyllis said. “There have been bus tours, car clubs, people from Australia, Europe, Canada.”
The story is the same for the cars in the museum. Some of the Scotty restored himself. Others have been bought and sold. Ideally, Phyllis said, someone will buy all of the cars as a collection.
“But we might sell them separately,” she said.
The memorabilia has been sold to the Central Texas Museum of Automotive History in San Marcos, Texas.
“And the guy’s from Webb City,” Phyllis laughed. “Who would have thought?”
On Saturday the museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. On display will be 10 antique and classic automobiles, 40 neon signs, dozens of bicycles, 16 pedal cars, seven gas pumps, two classic Coke machines, 14 mannequins and various other memorabilia.
Phyllis said there will be punch.
“We’re sad to leave. It’s been really enjoyable for us,” Phyllis said. “Everybody had a connection to something in there. They’d say ‘gee, my dad had one of those when I was a kid.”
Saturday will be the last day Pittsburg area residents, or anyone, for that matter, to visit a local and popular landmark.
After 11 successful years, Scotty’s Classic Car Museum in Arma is closing its doors for good, said Phyllis Bitner, who owns the museum with her husband, Scotty.
“We just reached that point, because of health issues, that we decided it’s time to close down,” Bitner said. “We didn’t anticipate it. We thought we’d be here forever, but things happen.”
Craig Hull, director of the Crawford County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the loss will be painful.
“The closing of Scotty’s ... is a loss that will be felt by the travel and tourism industry not only in Crawford County, but all of Southeast Kansas,” Hull said.
The Bitner’s decided to open the museum after Scotty retired from selling cars — they owned Bitner Motors on Broadway — more than a decade ago. With a garage full of auto memorabilia that had accumulated over a 40-year period, Phyllis said it seemed like the natural thing to do.
“When we retired from the car lot wanted to do something fun with all the stuff,” she said.
Averaging more than 2,000 visitors each year, tourists have journeyed from far and wide to catch a glimpse at a bygone era.
“We’ve had people from all over the world,” Phyllis said. “There have been bus tours, car clubs, people from Australia, Europe, Canada.”
The story is the same for the cars in the museum. Some of the Scotty restored himself. Others have been bought and sold. Ideally, Phyllis said, someone will buy all of the cars as a collection.
“But we might sell them separately,” she said.
The memorabilia has been sold to the Central Texas Museum of Automotive History in San Marcos, Texas.
“And the guy’s from Webb City,” Phyllis laughed. “Who would have thought?”
On Saturday the museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. On display will be 10 antique and classic automobiles, 40 neon signs, dozens of bicycles, 16 pedal cars, seven gas pumps, two classic Coke machines, 14 mannequins and various other memorabilia.
Phyllis said there will be punch.
“We’re sad to leave. It’s been really enjoyable for us,” Phyllis said. “Everybody had a connection to something in there. They’d say ‘gee, my dad had one of those when I was a kid.”
