Lecture Video: Classic Cars: History of the James Melton Museum

If you missed this exciting presentation or if you would like to revisit the lecture, you now can view it on the Weston Historical Society's You Tube Channel.

Watch Classic Cars: History of the James Melton Museum Lecture Here

The Weston Historical Society partnered with the Norwalk Historical Society to co-host this virtual lecture with guest presenter, John J. O'Leary.
Learn about James Melton, ‘America’s Favorite Tenor’ and former Weston, CT resident, who assembled one of the country’s prized collections of antique cars, and in 1948 opened the James Melton Museum of Antique Automobiles just off the Merritt Parkway in Norwalk, CT. Presenter John J. O’Leary shares the history as well as unpublished photos of Melton’s famous museum, highlighting the vast collection of unique automobiles, as well as dive into a family connection O’Leary has to Melton’s former friend and personal car restorer, Gus Reuter. A question and answer session concludes the lecture.

About the presenter: John J. O’Leary IV has a unique connection to the James Melton Museum. His wife’s grandfather (Gus Reuter of Reuter’s Coach Works) restored the cars in Melton’s famous collection. O’Leary has spent the past decade organizing unpublished images of Melton’s cars and other items that Melton gave to Reuter like awards and signed photos. O’Leary’s goal is to visually re-create both the Melton Museum (1948 - 1953) and the James Melton Autorama (1953 - 1961) through old photos and various ephemera from those who visited both locations five decades ago.

As an adjunct faculty member at the University of Hartford and Post University (Conn.), John O’Leary has taught a wide variety of courses in Business, Economics, Strategy and International Business at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has worked on a variety of projects around the globe in cities like Prague, Singapore, Bangkok, and Dubai for companies such as Pratt & Whitney, OTIS elevator and Prague Studios. O’Leary has an active research agenda, exploring topics related to the history of the automobile including famed restorer Gustav Reuter (Reuter’s Coach Works, the Bronx, NY), noted antique car collector James Melton (Melton Museum & James Melton Autorama), as well as the saga of the 1939 Mercedes-Benz 540K ‘Aktion P’ (chassis # 408377) from WWII. As the archivist for Reuter’s Coach Works, O’Leary provides answers to questions for private individuals and has contributed assistance in research to companies for investment-quality automobiles.

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