Old dealership signs, rare hood ornaments and concept car renderings are just a few of the more than 1,000 items customers can see at the Jerry Seiner GM Guy Memorabilia Center.

The 7,000-square-foot center, located at 1530 S. 500 West, is part of Seiner's auto dealership, which opened in 2002 just prior to the Olympics and sells Chevrolet, Cadillac and Hummer automobiles.

"People just enjoy seeing a lot of the history," Seiner said. "They can spend a half-hour looking and reading little things that identify the individual pieces. It's a fun thing to do and maybe a more pleasant way to spend time at a car dealership."

The focal point of the center is a 2002 Corvette Z06 that followed the 2002 Olympic torch across the United States.

The vehicle was autographed by more than 500 Olympic athletes, including figure skater Michelle Kwan and USA hockey player Cammi Granato. Movie and television celebrities also signed the automobile, which was listed for auction on eBay.

Seiner ended up winning the vehicle with his high bid.

While he won't reveal the exact price he paid for the vehicle, Seiner did say that on the last day of the auction bids were approaching $80,000.

"If you were to go buy that car, retail new, without anything on it, back then it was probably (valued) at $40,000," Seiner said. "Its value today in one sense is priceless. It's only one of a kind. We don't even touch it or move it."

The proceeds of the auction went to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Other items at the memorabilia center include six giant murals that were donated by GM to Seiner.

"GM said rather than store them someplace no one will ever see them, we'll store them with you," Seiner said. "I've agreed to never sell or do anything with those murals."

Some of the most interesting pieces on display, Seiner said, are radiator caps, dating back to the 1910s and 1920s.

"We have those from the '20s, '30s and '40s as cars transitioned from radiator caps, where the radiator was in front, to hood ornaments, where the radiator was inside the car."

Seiner said the museum's items are valued in the low six-figures.

Seiner's wife, Shari, who helped catalog and organize items for center, said most of the pieces on display were donated.

"There's a man that helped us who used to work for General Motors," Shari Seiner said. "He sort of scoured the country on the East and found collectors. We got some really good stuff from the GM design center, which has now been virtually closed down to people."

Her favorite collection is a series of pictures taken of the Brickyard 400 race.

The dealership also houses an Iceberg restaurant, what Jerry Seiner calls another "memorabilia center of Salt Lake City," where people can buy a shake and a hamburger.

Jerry Seiner came to Utah in 1980, after purchasing the Duaine Brown Chevrolet dealership. Today he owns 14 Utah automobile franchises. Prior to his dealership days, Seiner was an ad manager in Detroit for The Wall Street Journal.

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E-mail: danderton@desnews.com