The new Zippo Visitors Center, Bradford, PA, opened in July near the company's production plant off US Route 219. This 15,000 square foot corporate museum displays items from the history of Zippo's windproof lighters, as well as cutlery and knives from the Case company, which Zippo acquired.

The parking lot contains lighter-shaped street lights. The building also features a giant 40-foot replica of a Zippo lighter, and a 10-foot redbone-handled Gun Boat Knife. Inside, you can watch technicians repair lighters in the Zippo Repair Clinic -- part of the Zippo guarantee of "it works or we fix it free."

The museum promised to include a replica of the Zippo Car, a 1947 Chrysler Saratoga sporting 2 giant Zippo lighters with neon flames. The car disappeared without a trace in the 1960's. The store and museum in the Visitors Center, between Congress and Chestnut Streets, are open daily except for Sunday. [11/02/1997]

February 10, 2012