This Blog will be about the Midwest Dream Car Collection (MDCC) located in Manhattan, Kansas. We are undertaking a digital transformation and this blog will track our progress and keep our followers up to date with our progress. Below is a part of the first Blog which describes our mission and will set the tone of future blogs.
Driving Changes: How the Midwest Dream Car Collection is Gearing Up for a Digital Renaissance
Welcome to Driving Changes, a blog that’s all about sharing the raw, unfiltered journey of the Midwest Dream Car Collection (MDCC) as we go from being a local hidden gem to globally recognized. I’m Clay, Secretary/Treasurer on the Operating Board, and I’ll be your guide through this transformation. Spoiler alert: this blog will keep it real—transparent, messy, and packed with the highs and lows of growing a nonprofit in the digital age.
The First Five Years: Good Cars, Good Times, but We Want More
Let’s take a quick lap around the last five years. The MDCC opened to the public in 2019, and we’ve done well. We’ve built up a world-class collection of cars (currently valued at around $15 million) that people love; from a 1948 Tucker, Mercedes Gullwing coupe to Sonny & Cher’s customized Mustangs. We’ve attracted visitors, sure, but here’s the thing—good isn’t Good Enough anymore. Despite having a great collection, our membership growth has been slower than we’d like. We need to appeal to a larger audience, bring in more visitors, and ultimately, grow our impact.
It’s a unique position to be in because we have financial stability, but we also have a responsibility to be more than just a local car museum. So now, it’s time to think Bigger, get Scrappy and Become “World Class.”
So, What’s Next?
Here’s the honest truth: we’ve got a big mountain to climb. This digital renaissance isn’t gonna happen overnight, but we’re rolling up our sleeves and getting to work. Right now, we’re cranking up the volume on ways to get more people into MDCC and diving headfirst into interactive content—think virtual tours, repair videos, and a full-blown immersive digital ecosystem around these cars.
The big takeaway? Change is tough, and leading a transformation like this takes guts. But if you want to grow, you’ve gotta take risks. You’ve gotta push past the status quo, and that’s exactly what we’re doing at the MDCC.