by Though neither of us are particularly “car people”, we decided to pop into the Saratoga Automobile Museum to cool off after we finished our hike in Saratoga Spa State Park.
The museum is housed in a former bottling plant, built in the Georgian Revival style in 1935. Saratoga Geyser Water (prescribed for its alkaline properties and mineral salts), Saratoga Hawthorne Water (a laxative!), and Saratoga Coesa Water (for “certain conditions of the gall-bladder”) were all bottled here, each named after the spring they were sourced from. Production continued until overwhelming financial losses forced its closure in 1971. The building was used for storage and a failed attempt to restart bottling, and was finally converted to the museum space in 2002.
We had great fun in the temporary (through January 2024) exhibit Bond in Motion, which featured a number of James Bond movie vehicles (not only autos) along with corresponding movie clips. Most were pristine, though a couple vehicles were quite beaten up. Some had Bond-style modifications such as weapons, and others were gutted inside.
Overall, they were quite beautiful to look at and we enjoyed watching the corresponding film clips of the crazy ways the vehicles were used and abused by Bond and his enemies.
The permanent exhibit featured a variety of different racing vehicles, including sprint cars, midget cars, F1, and Indy 500 race cars, along with other oddities from the history of automobiles.
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