Historic cars on display at Illinois auto museum

ROSCOE, Ill. -- If you never have traveled on Elm Street in Dallas, where President Kennedy was assassinated, the next thing to being there may be an off-the-beaten-path auto museum in Roscoe.

There, a 12-by-25-foot panoramic view of Elm Street's grassy knoll transports visitors to Nov. 22, 1963.

A black-and-white photo serves as a backdrop to two cars representing President John F. Kennedy's motorcade on that fateful day. It's part of the Lensing Historic Auto Museum.

The new, climate-controlled 36,000-square-foot building tucked away in an industrial park is a showcase for Rockford resident Wayne Lensing's personal collection of 60 rare cars and trucks. Tourism officials anticipate the museum becoming one of the Rockford area's major tourist draws.

"Every car I've got has got some sort of history behind it," Lensing said. "They're well known or very rare cars."

Lensing, 54, is president and owner of Lefthander Chassis across the street from the museum. The unassuming self-made millionaire is well known on the auto racing circuit for making short-track chassis for professional race car drivers. The company produces 185 to 200 chassis per season.

The museum was five years in the making.

"I'm a baby boomer. When I was young, cars were it," Lensing explained. His obsession for celebrity-owned cars got a boost when he purchased a Howard Hughes-owned 1960 Cadillac limo in the mid-1990s in Reno, Nev.

The museum contains eight auto display rooms: Turn of the Century, Celebrity Cars, World Leader Room, A Day in Dallas, Legends of Racing, World of Speed, Super Hero Room and TV Land.

A Day in Dallas is the centerpiece of Lensing's collection, chronicling Kennedy's assassination.

Some of the oldest vehicles in the collection are a 1906 Orient Buckboard and a 1908 Buick truck.