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Gems from the National Historic Vehicle Register, including the Bueller Ferrari, will be on display at the museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

Dedicated to the history of the automobile and American manufacturing, the renowned Henry Ford Museum sits in Dearborn, Michigan, around 300 miles from Chicago. Technically, the 1986 classic Ferris Bueller's Day Off is set in the North Shore suburbs of the Windy City, but the scene that every car enthusiast remembers features a sunny Lake Shore Drive Chicago day with the sounds of a fiberglass replica Ferrari 250GT California and a Ford V8 bellowing in. The film nails the classic Ferrari owner tropes—freshly waxed Rosso Red paint on a car that is never driven by an uptight owner—but it also cemented the car as an icon beyond the ranks of enthusiasts and into the world of pop culture. Whether childhood bedroom poster dreams or an affinity for Alan Ruck connects you to the legendary Ferrari 250GT replica, it's now available for viewing as a piece of history at the Henry Ford Museum, just a few hundred miles from its big screen debut. For the next six months, museum visitors can see the Bueller car among other gems from the National Historic Vehicle Register. Cars in this special exhibit at The Henry Ford Museum include an original production DeLorean from Back to the Future, Chrysler's Turbine car, WWII-era Ford pilot program Jeeps, and a woodgrain Plymouth Voyager. Here are some of our favorites from this running exhibit, dedicated to vehicles that have been significant not only to American pop culture but to national history.

Built by Mark Goyette and Neil Glassmoyer, the original replica 250GT California model was intended for a customer and could not be used in the movie. Luckily, Paramount Pictures had enough money to lease a completed replica and buy a rolling shell as well as a partially complete replica for Goyette and Glassmoyer to finish for the movie. These three models became what was used in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, with this model being damaged and repaired during filming before being sold to private owners.

The powerplant of this faux Ferrari is actually American-made. A liquid-cooled, 4.9-liter OHV Ford V-8 with a 4-barrel carburetor from a Ford Torino makes up the 135-hp rating, though the press material says this car likely made a bit over 135 hp. Ford's C4 automatic transmission feeds the power to the rear wheels.

The builders tried to get the interior right, considering it would become a centerpiece of the movie. Rich, tan leather adorns the cabin with a wooden three-spoke steering wheel complementing the age-old designs. The shifter was a custom piece that joined the C4 auto-box and was made to look like the correct 4-speed manual transmission. Though the car has been restored at various points in its life, it has also amassed 47,716 miles. Not bad for a kit car.

As time goes on, the DeLorean has topically waned and then re-gained respect as a defining vehicle of the 20th century. Sure, the company imploded upon itself and the car was never really that good to drive. But as a piece of design history and pop culture lore, the DeLorean is more than relevant. Though it would be a stretch to say modern car design is taking cues directly from the likes of DeLorean, the future of EVs is certain to produce low and sleek designs that focus on energy consumption and perhaps borrowing DeLorean design cues.

Beyond design, the legacy of the DeLorean lives on for non-enthusiasts in the realm of film. Back to the Future, the 1985 hit film and its 88-mph time warp made the already futuristic DeLorean that much more groundbreaking. It also popularized the term flux capacitor, for better or worse. Seen here is the interior of a Universal Studios-owned DeLorean that was restored in 2012 by Back to the Future writer Bob Gale.

Thanks to meticulous maintenance, this specific example lives in the Petersen Museum—time travel modifications included. The original 2.85-liter V6 continues to run the DeLorean down the road at modest speeds while rowing through all five gears of its manual transmission.

Believe it or not, Ford was actually the first company to use the Jeep moniker. Intended for running across battlefields on the Eastern front and in the Pacific, Ford cranked out two of these prototypes for the US Army to test. Known as the Pygmy, these two models were tested thoroughly before being returned to Ford, though the designs found in the Pilot models were later used in the Willys MB. This specific model (VIN GP-NO. 1) was designed with the help of the Quartermaster Corps of the United States Army.

These vehicles were facilitated through a joining of Ford's agriculture and passenger vehicle teams, with an emphasis on function over form. The original engine is a front-mounted, gasoline-powered, 119.7-cubic-inch flathead, inline four-cylinder engine with Holley carburetors pumping out 30 hp. A three-speed, non-synchronized transmission was used—a transmission notably similar to the Model A.

Both of the Pilot models have been located, though only one is on display at the Henry Ford Museum. The specific example at the museum is the first model produced and is largely unrestored, though the olive green paint has been redone. The driveline is no exception to this, with the original engine and transmission remaining intact.

While the VW Transporter is an idol of past times, this bus is of its own significance thanks to its public service history. Owned by Charleston, South Carolina, residents Esau and Janie B. Jenkins, the couple used this model during the Civil Rights Movement in their voter registration and financial freedom initiatives. Manufactured in 1966, the Jenkins family purchased the used bus in 1967 and ended up driving it nearly 100,000 miles before Esau passed away in 1972.

With a successful business and 13 children, the VW Bus format made sense, and the Jenkins family used the van in the name of good, helping establish the Progressive Club organization that went on to create a community center and co-op that focused on child care, food accessibility, education, and voter registration for African-Americans. The family also established the Citizens’ Committee of Charleston County and founded the C.O. Credit Union, which gave African-Americans access to fair financial services. The VW Bus, which was painted with the phrase "Love is Progress, Hate is Expensive," was a fixture in the community and remains in the possession of the Jenkins family today.

The vehicle sustained front-end damage and was left in the family's backyard for years before being partially parted out for museum use in 2014 and eventually excavated by the Historic Vehicle Association in 2019. With the permission of the family, the bus was slightly modified and moved in order to be displayed at museums around the country. BR Howard & Associates treated the historic vehicle with rust stabilizers and existing structure decay has been diminished, but the structure of the van remains unrestored. Today the vehicle is on display at the Henry Ford Museum as a reminder of the Jenkins family's vital Civil Rights Work in the 20th century.

Woodgrain is what's missing from the modern world, though there is no shortage of minivans. At times, minivans have been known as enthusiast dream killers, subjecting a car person to a practical and unengaged driving experience. Though this phenomenon is undoubtedly known to Autoweek readers, it can't be forgotten that minivans have been transformative for families since their inception. Of course, most modern SUVs and crossovers could do the job of this 1984 Plymouth Voyager, but that wasn't the case during the Reagan era.

Then-Chrysler's three-model run of minivans (Plymouth Voyager, Dodge Caravan, and Mini Ram Van) launched in 1983 and became an instant hit. The company was recovering from the tumultuous 1970s, and the minivan launch helped rescue the company. This model remains unrestored and in original condition, including its 96-hp 2.2-liter SOHC four-cylinder with two-barrel Holley carburetor and 14-inch wheels. The odometer reads 12,188 miles.

"I predict the Voyager and Caravan will be to the Eighties what the Mustang was to the Sixties—vehicles that create extraordinary excitement and buyer interest and force other manufacturers to come up with copycat versions," Lee A. Iacocca told the press during the model rollout in 1983. He was right, of course, seeing as the minivan hit its stride and remains in the market, but now overshadowed by SUVs and crossovers.

The millennial and Z generations will remember this car, not from its roadway ubiquity, but rather its pop culture significance as a Black Keys album cover.

Any Shelby Cobra Dayton Coupe is worthy of attention, but this specific model is a shrine to motorsports history. Chassis number CSX2287 had a run of automotive significance from January 1964 to December 1965, according to the National Historic Vehicle Register material. The prototype racing coupe version ran in the FIA International Manufacturers’ GT Championship after being created by a joint effort of designer Peter Brock, racing director Ken Miles, fabricator John Ohlsen, and chief engineer Phil Remington. It was built in Los Angeles on the same platform as the convertible version and with nearly identical specifications too. Seen here with driver Craig Breedlove at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

This particular model raced in eight races over the 1964-1965 FIA calendar and helped Shelby achieve an overall second place in the 1964 FIA International Manufacturers’ GT Championship. It also ran a land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats during this period, though it was sold in 1966 to a private owner. A naturally aspirated Ford 289-cubic-inch V-8 with four Weber 48-mm IDA carburetors drove the model to victory, while its drivetrain consists of a four-speed BorgWarner T10 manual transmission and a Salisbury 4HU differential.

The chassis of the coupe models were assembled in the UK and featured a steel ladder tube type frame as well as four-wheel independent suspension and four-wheel disc brakes. This specific model was repainted to a Ford Guardsman Blue in 1966, though the majority of the car remains original. We would've loved to hear and see it run on the salt flats.

Aviation and automotive manufacturing have always overlapped—perhaps never like they did in the 1963 Chrysler Turbine Car. The company started work in the 1950s on turbine propulsion cars, but it never really took off. That is until the 1960s when Chrysler released 50 hand-built versions of the 130-hp regenerative gas turbine engine cars. It was rumored the engines would run on anything from tequila to kerosene, and it used a three-speed automatic TorqueFlite transmission to deliver power to the rear wheels.

A pilot program explored the efficiency of turbine propulsion, with more than 200 users having a three-month evaluation period with the car. The turbine engine produced a period high of 130 hp and a whopping 425 lb-ft of torque, operating at 18,000-45,000 rpm. Good thing it had hydraulic drum brakes all around to squeeze it to a stop.

Only nine of the original 50 models remain, and the National Historic Vehicle Register claims this is one of the only ones that runs. This example has been kept in excellent condition, and the interior and exterior are unrestored. It currently has 40,694 miles on the clock.