Stellantis NV is considering opening the former Dodge Viper factory in Detroit as a place where the public could explore dozens of rare classic cars and concept vehicles.The Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram maker has long stored a number of its most cherished cars at the former Conner Avenue Assembly Plant, which built Viper sports cars until 2017. The building sometimes hosts events including new-vehicle presentations for journalists, though it's not open to the public.But executives including Tim Kuniskis, who heads U.S. brands, and Ralph Gilles, chief design officer, recently teased the the possibility of turning the old factory, which is located north of Coleman A. Young International Airport, into a public-facing museum.AdvertisementAdvertisementMore: Stellantis elevates Leapmotor executive, hires former VW leader in latest shiftStellantis’ Conner Center in Detroit is a former factory that built the Dodge Viper. Stellantis wants to open it up to the public eventually and show off its massive collection of classic cars, cars that have been in movies, and various other concept vehicles it houses there. Photo taken on Thursday, July 23, 2026."We have a pretty cool car collection in Detroit that we've had many debates about," Kuniskis recently told The Detroit News. "Should we be opening that up to the public and things like that? TBD if we're going to do that, but I'm pretty sure people would (come)."He added: "Can you imagine if (Conner Center) was full of all of the stuff that we have? I mean, think of just the Easter Jeep Safari vehicles that we built over the years. God, I don't even know. It's beyond hundreds, and they're all over the place in storage, and I think people would love to see those all in one place at one time."Kuniskis was referring to the handful of concept vehicles that Jeep designers cook up every year for the Easter Jeep Safari gathering in Moab, Utah.AdvertisementAdvertisementGilles was more direct about plans for the Conner Center building during a tour last month of the automaker's North American headquarters in Auburn Hills. He said Conner Center ultimately would be opened up to the public."There's a few details we have to fix with the building for fire code, because it was set up as a plant, not a public space," Gilles told reporters. "So we're doing that this summer, and we're hoping to obviously have select events to start the process of opening it."Gilles promised the current collection parked in rows inside the largest part of the plant would be expanded with additional vehicles, adding he doesn't want it to look like a traditional museum.After Gilles' comments, Stellantis walked back some of the specifics of the plan: "We are actively exploring opportunities to welcome visitors to our Conner Center in the future and hope to share more details as our plan evolves," a statement from spokesperson Dale Jewett said.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe existing collection stored at Conner Center already is wide-ranging, with mint classics such as a 1948 Chrysler Town & Country and 1951 New Yorker, an IndyCar pace car, vehicles that have appeared in action movies such as the Jeep Wrangler from "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," and even the company's late-CEO Sergio Marchionne's personal 840-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Demon. But most of the vehicles rarely see the light of day, outside occasional special events, like a 100th anniversary celebration for Chrysler last year on Belle Isle.lramseth@detroitnews.comThis article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Could old Detroit factory be turned into car museum? Stellantis exploring it