Meet Sean Mathis | Founder of Miles Through Time Automotive Museum

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sean Mathis and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sean, we’d love to hear more about your end-goal, professionally.
I do many things, but from a professional standpoint, the most significant thing I’ve created has been Miles Through Time Automotive Museum. The museum is a 501c3 nonprofit I started in 2017 with only one car I inherited, a 1959 Cadillac Coupe De Ville that was originally my grandpa’s (Pop).

Miles Through Time was created because I felt so privileged to own my Pop’s car, I wanted to share it as much as possible. I intended to be able to store the car in a place where I could allow people to see it when I wasn’t driving it and allow others to do the same.

I only had the one car I inherited and no money to create a real museum, but I had the opportunity to put my vision to the test when a building became available to me without any rent. The very first car I got to go on display belonged to the guy who installed the internet, it was a 1927 Model T Roadster.

For three years, I worked on trying to figure out how to build a museum. Eventually, it became evident that the building was too small, the location wasn’t good enough, and the owner of the building and I kept getting further apart in our visions.

In the winter of 2019 and spring of 2020, I had an opportunity to move the museum to a larger location inside a portion of a flea market. This move required me to start over completely, but in the new location, the museum could remain open all year long without me having to be at the museum. The owner of the flea market took a portion of the museum’s admission in exchange for his staff selling tickets and taking up his floor space.

After about 15 months of this new arrangement, the owner of the flea market decided not to renew his lease in the building, so I acquired the lease. The museum did not generate enough revenue to pay for the lease, so I created Vintage Garage Antiques to specifically act as a giant gift shop for the museum and pay for the lease and utilities. The creation of the antique store also enabled me to expand the museum.

In May of 2023, I acquired additional space to expand Vintage Garage Antiques so I could add a 4th gallery to the museum. The 4th gallery alone of Miles Through Time is double the size of the first location. Today, the museum averages over 120 full-size vehicles on display. More vehicles have been donated to the museum than what was on display in the original location. There are also over 5,000 model cars and numerous other artifacts on display. Vintage Garage Antiques also has over 100 different booths to explore, full of treasures museum visitors can take home.

I’ve managed to grow Miles Through Time Automotive Museum to a pretty substantial museum in a relatively short amount of time. I’ve learned an incredible amount of knowledge, and I’ve discovered a winning formula. To get to the next level, Miles Through Time Automotive Museum is going to have to own the building it calls home for the longevity of the museum.

The museum and the antique store combined take up over 47,000 square feet, and there is no unused space. To ensure the financial success of the museum, we are going to have to move into a building that is at least 100,000 square feet. Vintage Garage Antiques will have to take up at least 20,000 square feet to cover the cost of the building.

I had no idea how to get the museum to where it is now, but with more and more people getting involved, I’ve managed to grow Miles Through Time from one car to over 120. To get to the next level, it will require more help. We will need to raise a lot of funds to purchase land and build a new building to set the museum up to be able to last for many future generations.

Miles Through Time Automotive Museum is just a baby in the world of business, and I intend to do everything I can to ensure the museum is able to sustain itself well after I am gone. Miles Through Time preserves and shares automotive history with people from all over the world. I need to ensure it can continue to do so forever. There is no wealthy benefactor behind the museum, I assure you, it is not me. I inherited I rely heavily on others to acquire artifacts to share in the museum.

I will need to be able to bring on more paid staff beyond just the volunteers we currently have so that together, they can run the museum’s daily operations and continue to grow and improve the museum. My goal will be to be able to continue to visit the museum and talk with visitors without having to do all the other operations by myself.

I’m only 40 years old, so by the time I make it to the age people would expect someone to be behind the creation of a museum like this, I will have an entire team to ensure the museum is providing the best possible experience for visitors and I can just enjoy talking with visitors until I can no longer travel, which will hopefully be many decades from now.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I joined the Air National Guard at 17 and became a crew chief on A10s and eventually C130s. I worked for Pepsi for many years and eventually became a Sheriff’s Deputy. A few years after a deployment to Afghanistan I was medically discharged from the military and injury also ended my law enforcement career.

In 2013, my wife and I decided to move from the west coast to the east coast. I went back to Pepsi in North Carolina, which felt like a step backward for me and was a depressing time in my life. I ended up hurting my back which resulted in. my second back surgery and ended Pepsi career for the second time.

My wife created her own marketing company called Lake Shark Media in 2007. I had always helped her but was never ready to fully commit and lose the insurance and steady stream of income, until my second back surgery. In 2016, I finally stopped trying to find a job and went all-in with our own business.

This decision allowed us to move anywhere we wanted in the country, and at the time, we were just tasting lake life and found a beautiful home on Lake Hartwell in Georgia. My sole commitment to Lake Shark Media didn’t even last 6 months until the opportunity presented itself to create Miles Through Time Automotive Museum.

It was the resources I had because of my with Torie that I was able to at least digitally create a pretty impressive automotive museum from nothing, and it didn’t cost me anything. I continue to work with my wife at Lake Shark Media, which is actually our main source of revenue for our household. Creating a nonprofit museum is not something you do if you’re trying to make a bunch of money. 😉

I’ve learned I don’t need to make a million dollars to live a lifestyle I really enjoy. I’m able to spend a lot of time with my family, and I’ve met a lot of great people who share an automotive passion like me. Miles Through Time Automotive Museum will never make me rich. Vintage Garage Antique’s main purpose is just to support the museum financially, but who knows what the future holds that will only become a reality because of these adventures.

There are a lot of wonderful indirect things that can happen and are a result of something else I’ve done. I’m now a board member of the National Association of Automobile Museums and the World Forum For Motor Museums. I created the automotivemuseumguide.com, which is the most comprehensive directory of automotive museums all over the world, and I’ve gotten to visit a lot of great museums and private collections.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m taking them to Miles Through Time Automotive Museum and Vintage Garage Antiques, of course. The museum and antique store are in Clarkesville, Georgia which is a small town, but a great drive from the Atlanta metro area and there are a lot of great local food options.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
If it wasn’t for my wife, Torie Mathis, it is possible I would have passed on the opportunity to create what would become Miles Through Time Automotive Museum. It is one thing to have an idea; it is an entirely different thing to implement the idea. Not having any idea or way to create the museum definitely made me hesitate, but ultimately, I would have regretted it for the rest of my life if I hadn’t at least tried.

Truitt Phillips has also made a huge impact on my life and the museum. He was just a guy who decided he liked the concept of the museum and jumped all in to help me. In 2020, I made him one of the Executive Directors, and he is the man behind almost all of the construction projects in the museum. Also, Jenny Phillips came on when I created Vintage Garage Antiques to help support the museum. Jenny took the concept of an antique store and built it up to over 100 vendor booths. The museum would not be where it is today without Jenny managing the day-to-day.

At this point, there are too many other people to name individually, but I recognize, that I would not have been able to make Miles Through Time Automotive Museum what it is today without a lot of help.

Website: https://milesthroughtime.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seantmathis/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanmathis/

Twitter: https://x.com/seanmathis

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mathis.sean

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/miles-through-time-automotive-museum-clarkesville?osq=miles+through+time

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@milesthroughtime

Other: https://automotivemuseumguide.com
https://vintagegarageantiques.com

Image Credits
Sean Mathis