Take a free trip down memory lane
PHOTO PROVIDED BY DINA MODESTO
The parking lot of Muscle Car City fills with vintage autos and their admirers during the museums third-Saturday monthly car shows.
SUN PHOTO BY GORDON BOWER
John Camarlo and wife Phyllis enjoy taking their 1958 Corvette convertible to the Muscle Car City monthly car shows.
By GORDON BOWER
Sun Correspondent
Rick Treworgy’s Muscle Car City Car Museum, located in the old Walmart building at Monaco Drive and U.S. 41 on the south end of Punta Gorda, draws visitors from all over the globe, and there’s a good reason why. It’s likely the biggest collection of muscle cars in the world; around 200 cars are on display, mostly GM muscle cars, including every Corvette from 1954 to 1975 and additional Vettes from 1975 to 2006.
Treworgy grew up loving automobiles during the muscle car era, and the passion stayed with him. When he grew up, he bought, restored and sold vintage autos until his collection, stashed in warehouses around the city, became so large he decided to make them available to the public. He could have put a museum anywhere, but he elected to stay in the hometown he loves.