Mormon Meteor III car acquired for display at the new Museum of Utah

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The Museum of Utah has announced the acquisition of largest artifact that will be displayed at the museum when it opens next summer: the Mormon Meteor III land speed racer.

The Mormon Meteor III is a custom-built vehicle that was commissioned in 1937 by Ab Jenkins, who went on to become mayor of Salt Lake City. It will be featured in the Inspiring Utah gallery at the museum once it is open to the public on June 26, 2026. The Museum of Utah will be housed in the Utah State Capitol Complex.

(KTVX//Will Hotzfeld)

The Mormon Meteor III was displayed at the Utah State Capitol from the 1940s to the 1980s, where generations of Utahns saw it and learned about it.

Jenkins and his son Marv commissioned the car in 1937. It was built by auto engineer Augie Duesenberg, and it was specifically engineered to hold a Curtiss Conqueror airplane engine. It was also designed to have good maneuverability for endurance record runs. It made its debut on the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1939.

In the 1990s, Marv Jenkins reclaimed the car and restored it. He then sold it to John Price, the chairman of the Price Museum of Speed, where it has been displayed since. Jim Williams, the curator of the Price Museum, considers it the most important car in Utah history.

Other notable artifacts that will be displayed at the museum include:

• Artifacts including an abacus and a baseball glove from the Topaz Internment Campsite, where Japanese Americans were interned during World War II
• A screen-used cowboy costume worn by Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly in “Back to the Future III,” which was filmed in Utah
• A pennant from one of the 116 Utah Civilian Conservation Corps voluntary work camps from World War II
• A telescope used by surveyor Orson Pratt to guide the vanguard pioneer company of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints into the Salt Lake Valley
• Utah’s first flag
• A pioneer handcart
• One of the first canoes used in commercial river running, owned by Dave Rust

The Museum of Utah is set to be Utah’s first history museum, celebrating the history, culture, and art of Utah. It will open in June 2026 on the Utah State Capitol grounds, housed in the new North Capitol Building. The museum will be run by the Utah Historical Society, and the new building will also have a collections storage facility designed to store and care for history and art collections.

The museum will house four permanent galleries, alongside other temporary exhibits and collections.

The Becoming Utah gallery will focus on Utah’s history of statehood and the factors that brought people to Utah over time. The Inspiring Utah Gallery will focus on the state’s distinct achievements, attractions, and innovations, and it is where the Mormon Meteor III will be displayed. The Connecting Utah gallery will focus on Utah’s sense of community and culture, and finally the Building Utah gallery will honor the work of Utahns, such as agriculture, mining, homemaking, etc.