The Historical Society of Martin County welcomes Jim Ferrare as its new car curator of the Elliott Museum, one of two museums that the nonprofit organization oversees.

Ferrare’s responsibilities include managing the Elliott’s antique car collection of some 100 cars dating back to the early 1900s and utilizing the museum’s car assets to involve the community by participating in car shows and other car-related activities.

“This will allow us to bring membership and donors into the museum forefront, and to let the community know we have an excellent car collection and other activities so we can grow the museum and participate in community activities,” said Ferrare.

Ferrare has had a lifelong interest in cars and motorcycles and has volunteered as a docent at the Elliott Museum for over five years.

His interest in high performance cars has included driving them on the track, which evolved into a teaching job and teaching high performance driving at different race tracks and teaching at professional driving schools qualified by Motorsports Safety Foundation, level 1.

“I’ve always had an interest in cars … actually raced motorcycles when I was younger, but I moved away from that and started doing the tracks with cars, which is significantly safer,” said Ferrare.

His personal car collection features a 1966 Corvette Coupe, a 2018 McLaren, a 2020 McLaren 600 LT Spyder, and a 2017 Audi R8.

Ferrare’s career spans 35 years working for FPL at its Turkey Point Nuclear station where he served as an engineering supervisor for 25 years and a maintenance department head for five years. He also spent 10 years in the United States Navy on a nuclear submarine.

Thanks to Jay O’Brien of CBS 12 for shining the light on the Elliott Museum and the challenges we continue to face due to the pandemic. If you missed the story, you can see it here.

Please share it with everyone you know as it may inspire them to support us, either by visiting the museum, making a donation, or becoming a sponsor.

Rob Steele and Debbie Banta also were interviewed live via Zoom on WPBF News on November 19 regarding the new exhibits, including MakerSpace 3D.