by Bob Sadler, MotorCities Director of Communications
Photos by Bob Sadler, the Robert Tate Collection and the Automotive Hall of Fame
Published 10.4.2023
Guests at last week's opening of the Robert Tate exhibit at the Auto Hall of Fame.
Last Friday, the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn opened the Robert Tate exhibit to the public for the first time with a reception and conversation with Tate moderated by MotorCities Deputy Director Brian Yopp.
Anyone who visits this space every Wednesday knows Robert Tate. He’s the primary author of these Story of the Week features, which are by far the most popular content on our MotorCities website.
MotorCities Deputy Director Brian Yopp (left) with Robert Tate in the AHF auditorium discussing his life in the industry.
Tate contributes this content to MotorCities on a weekly basis wearing his “historian’ and “researcher” hats, but this exhibit rounds out Tate’s story by featuring still another hat – that of “collector.” You may noted in last week’s story, when we presented an encore presentation of his February 2023 interview with Yopp, that Tate’s collections of automotive publications, models and other memorabilia rivals (and maybe even surpasses!) some museums.
Car models from the Tate Collection on display in the exhibit
A small portion of that collection is shared with the public as part of the new exhibit, but it also provides a retrospective on Tate’s life, inspirations and career in the automotive industry. Tate is one of the few African American automotive historians, researchers and collectors, and his perspective brings a respect to others who blazed similar trails in the industry.
Tate at age 12
The exhibit tells the story of Tate’s life, starting with his earliest encounters and inspirations involving automobiles, his interest in automotive art, and a junior high school teacher who motivated him to follow his passions. It was during his childhood that Tate also started collecting automotive models and toys.
Tate graduated from Detroit’s Henry Ford High School and enrolled at the Center (now College) for Creative Studies, where he continued to pursue automotive design.
More vehicle models from the Tate Collection on display
Over his career, Tate became a historian and archivist with a stop at Daimler Chrysler, where he also ran the Museum Store at the Walter P. Chrysler Museum. Later, he joined General Motors and worked with key executives like Bob Lutz and design chief Ed Welburn.
More recently, he became involved in the National Automotive History Collection at the Detroit Public Library, first as their first African American board member and then as a consultant and historian. That relationship led Tate to MotorCities, and he started working as a weekly contributor to the popular Story of the Week in the 2010s.
Tate pictured with NASCAR "King" Richard Petty at the Walter P. Chrysler Museum
Over the years, Tate has also published his own magazine called Miniature Car Quarterly for the international audience of collectors, attended hundreds of shows, and displayed parts of his collection at the Daimler Chrysler headquarters in Auburn Hills and the main branch of the Detroit Public Library.
Tate recognition at the 2016 MotorCities Awards of Excellence
The exhibit at the Auto Hall of Fame provides quite a tribute to Tate and his life in the industry. While sharing the stories of people who have blazed a trail in the Motor City and beyond, he has proven to be a trailblazer in his own right.
Robert Tate (seated) pictured with his family members at the opening event