Land Yachts - Cruising the Interstate Highways

June 4 - September 5, 2022

Today, when auto manufacturers have primarily focused on fuel economy through lightweight materials and more efficient packaging, it’s fascinating to look back when such an engineering and design philosophy was far from their agenda. Bigger was almost always better- but for a very understandable reason. While European manufacturers continued in the 1950s to produce smaller cars, well suited to the dense cities and shorter travel distances covered by their customers, American companies built ever-larger vehicles to cover the vast open spaces and to take full advantage of the smooth roads across the United States. Many of the cars in this exhibition are among the largest of all time and brilliantly communicate the postwar confidence and booming economy of the USA in the 25 years after the end of World War II.

Popularly known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956, the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 renewed interest in establishing an interstate highway system. This transcontinental superhighway network expanded our highways by an additional 41,000 miles from 1957 through 1969, making long-distance automobile travel safer, and more efficient, helping make the American desire to road-trip by car flourish throughout the United States.

Not unlike the large motor yachts that grace historic Newport harbor during the summer season, we invite you to travel back in time to when land yachts ruled the roads!