Heritage Motor Museum to build £4m historic car centre

A new £4m building to house more than 200 historic British cars is to be built at the Heritage Motor Centre in Warwickshire.



Work will begin this spring on the new Museum Collection Centre at the site in Gaydon.

Many of the cars would be put on public display for the first time, the motor centre said.

A new vehicle restoration and conservation workshop will also be created in the complex.

The cars are part of collections held by the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust and the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust.

Tim Bryan, the centre's head of collections, said: "It will allow us to make our collections far more accessible and will enable people to learn more about the motor industry, which has played such an important role in the West Midlands."

Both the Heritage Lottery Fund and Jaguar Land Rover have contributed money towards the new building.

Shame it's so far out of the way. The collection is brilliant. I've seen much of it that's stored away in barns, which of course is no long-term solution for things that rust!

I wonder if they'll build this one the 'right way' round? The old one was built facing the 'wrong way' for a reason, but Rover ran out of money on the project before it could be finished as intended.

The museum really is worth a visit.

A car museum has reopened following a £5m revamp, making it among the "best in the world".



The former Heritage Motor Centre has been renamed the British Motor Museum and is "more interactive", a spokeswoman said.

It features a new car centre, life-sized match box cars and Land Rovers raised on plinths.

Its Collections Centre, featuring 250 cars, opened in Gaydon, Warwickshire, after Heritage Lottery Fund support.

A total of £4m was spent on the Collections Centre, along with £1.1m from the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust to transform the museum, which includes new zones such as royal cars, motorsport and vehicles from film and television.



The centre's cars are from the reserve collections of the Trust and Jaguar Heritage Trust.

Gavin Williamson, Conservative MP for South Staffordshire, said as a classic car enthusiast, he was "delighted" to be among 400 of the finest of them.

"The British Motor Museum is instrumental in enabling visitors to learn more about the past, present and future of the British motor industry, its technology and its people," he said.

"With the exciting improvements and enhancements now made, the museum can now be counted as being amongst the best motor museums in the world".

The museum, which closed for the revamp at the end of November, is holding a Build a British Car Week during next week's half-term, where children can attend workshops.