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About the Heritage Motor Museum
The Heritage Motor Museum can be found in a truly remarkable building near Gaydon, Warwickshire, with convenient access via the M40 motorway. It is home to the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust, an organisation responsible for maintaining the world’s largest collection of British cars. There is a superb collection of over 250 British vehicles spanning the classic, vintage and veteran eras, and the museum is dedicated to telling the story of the British motor industry from the early days of the 20 th Century to the present day.
The splendid collection of British vehicles ranges from one of the oldest cars in the world, a Wolseley dating from 1896, all the way through to the very latest from Aston Martin, who have their factory based just minutes from Gaydon. In between are offerings from most of the classic British marques; some such as Austin, Morris, Rover and Aston Martin are household names, but the display is just as much about the smaller and more obscure manufacturers such as Jowett and Thornycroft. The vehicles range from grand tourers, racing cars and the most exotic sports cars through to familiar every day cars and family favourites. There are landmark vehicles such as the very first and the very last of the line, oddities, special editions and vehicles made famous by their owners, such as Harold Wilson’s Rover P5B. In addition there are design icons such as Sir Clive Sinclair’s famed Sinclair C5, a wonderful collection of bicycles, tricycles and pedal cars, and a special display of environmentally friendly vehicles – Green by Design.
Visitors to The Heritage Motor Museum can take a sentimental journey down the Time Road display and see how cars and roads have evolved since the beginning of the 20 th Century. The fascinating displays depict the story of the automobile, set in the context of historical events over the past 100 years. A variety of the vehicles in the collection are available to hire for films, events and launches.
Not only does The Heritage Motor Museum, Gaydon display a superb array of intriguing cars and other vehicles, but it also houses a collection of other items pertaining to the nation's motoring heritage. There is a fantastic and period-perfect 1930s garage showing just what a local garage from the golden era of motoring would have looked like. Lord Nuffield's Office is a beautiful recreation of one the most influential men in the British motor industry’s place of work place. William Morris of Morris and MG motors fame worked in a modest office in the factory at Cowley, Oxford and it has been carefully recreated with original artefacts and superb attention to detail to give a real feeling of how this great man oversaw the operation of a motoring giant. Visitors to the Heritage Motoring Museum can also experience the sights and sounds from motoring history in the wonderful art deco Motoring Cinema, where films from the British Motoring Industry Heritage Trust's Archive are shown throughout the day.The Archive also contains one of Europe’s most extensive collections of workshop manuals, handbooks, sales brochures, engineering drawings and blueprints, motoring magazines, ledgers, minute books and financial records from the constituent companies of the Leyland Group, and a superb collection of photographic images that provide such a vivid representation of the fall and rise of a nation’s industrial and social fortunes. The British Motoring Industry Heritage Trust Archive is a unique record of this country’s industrial heritage, and is available for public viewing by prior arrangement.
Open:
The Heritage Motor Museum at Gaydon is open every day: 10.00am - 5.00pm, with the exception of 24 th, 25 th and 26th December.
Adults - £8
Concessions - £7
Children (5 -16 years) - £6
Under 5 years - FREE
Family Ticket (2 adults + 3 children) - £25 |
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