An unexpected collection in Rangely, Colorado
share
RANGELY, Colo. — A glossy floor and a giant mirrored wall, experts on 20th century auto manufacturers, and a Belgian sedan popular with royalty. All can be found in a museum in Rangely, Colorado.
Bud Striegel, one of roughly 2,300 residents in Rangely, has lived in the town since 1945, a year before it was officially incorporated. After retiring from the oil and gas construction business, Striegel built the Rangely Automotive Museum as a place to store his car collection — and so the town would have a unique tourist attraction.
“From 1926 to 1934 was a period I thought they had the best looking cars,” said Striegel.
There are 60 cars in the museum, and around 85 total in his collection. He doesn’t have a favorite.
“I like something about every one of them I have in here or I wouldn’t have it,” he said.
The museum is 180 feet long with a tall, warehouse-like ceiling. The walls are covered with reproductions of signs from long-forgotten car manufacturers like Minerva, Kissel, and Packard. A mirrored back wall reflects the classic cars and vintage motorcycles, doubling the size of the room and creating the feeling that the museum is impossible to take it all in at once.
Many of the cars are restored and painted in a shop on the other side of town. Some are reproductions of extremely rare cars built from scratch, based on models. A lot of that restoration work is done by another Rangely local, Kelsey Peters.
“We get people all over the world that come to Rangeley, Colorado, just to see the place that they've heard about by word of mouth. It’s kind of humbling that they want to see something in my town,” said Peters.
She attended the automotive trade school WyoTech to learn to build cars.
“When I was away at college I didn't know Bud had his collection. He was actually building the museum while I was gone. So when I got back, one of his sons referred me to go talk to him and he hired me on the spot, and I worked for him ever since,” said Peters.
Striegel and Peters agree that building and restoring cars is just the same as working on a piece of fine art.
“A lot of patience, a lot of hard work goes into them, a lot of finesse goes into them. All the hard work, and you finally have this masterpiece,” Peters said.
In the early 20th century car companies were spread all over the country. One of them even made electric cars in Denver.
“There were 34 manufacturers just in Colorado, six in Utah, two in Wyoming. Everybody made cars,” said Peters. “I didn't realize how many different manufacturers there were. Then [during] World War II, everybody shut down. Nobody was building cars. Everybody was building Jeeps.”
Rangely is home to what was once called the “most productive oil well of all time.” Production peaked in 1956, but the extractive industry is still an important part of the local economy.
“It was rated number five in the nation for a community college to go to and make a living. Number 23 in the nation for a place to work from home. I'm pretty proud of those facts. Still an oil field town, but we've diversified to some other things,” said Striegel of Colorado Northwestern Community College, known for its dental hygiene and aviation programs.
Striegel says he’s proud of Rangely, and wants it to be successful.
“This town has been good to me [and] my family. I had to have a place from my cars, and I wanted to make something when they walked in, they'd be surprised to see this thing in Rangeley,” he said.
