British Motor Museum - Gaydon

[martybabes]

It's brilliant.  Lots of Oooohs and Aaaahs today.  Well worth the admission price too.  

 

I commend it to the House.

[trigger]

I haven't been since they have reopened it but I'm really wanting to go again so it's good to hear someone say it's worth it.

[Timewaster]

I last went in 2008 I think it was..

 

Was that before or after a refurb? It all looked pretty respectable at the time, although the cafe area upstairs was a bit wishy washy.

 

Even my Mrs, who has zero interest in old cars found some of the social history of the car factories quite interesting.

 

Although she did have a snooze in the cinema watching a Pathe style film about reliability testing ADO16s or something.

[martybabes]

The new Collections Centre next door houses around 250 vehicles, some of which are the prototypes that never made it into production (and you can see why, too).  

 

The café was clean and tidy, tho the sticky buns are not cheap.  The main exhibition hall, circular in shape, was also very clean (so may well have had a refurb) and the cars and other exhibits all presented in small, themed groups.

[Junkman]

Have they not dropped a Rover prototype off a beavertail today for a change?

What rarities with smashed windows have they currently parked in a mud puddle?

[17-Coffees]

I've never been, but will visit when down at Shitefest this year as it's near by and cannot wait to see the wonders, rarity's and winnage it has!

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I haven't been for 10 years or more, but I still remember the overwhelming emotion of meeting old family members that I'd only seen in photographs, yet were instantly familiar .

I'm sounding like a twat, I know, but actually touching and smelling Jet 1 or the Darien Gap Range Rover brought a tear to my eye.

I take Junkers point about the unforgivable neglect of the P8 and others, but considering the various owners and agendas the place has had, I think to have kept such a significant collection together is amazing.

Let's face it, neither BMW or Ford gave a fuck about any heritage apart from what they could mine for promotion of their current cars- HUE 166 and 621 AOK for example.

 

Definitely going to see the refurb.

[dollywobbler]

I've not been since the refurb, though I got a sneaky peek at the collections centre last year. We should probably arrange a Shite visit at some point.

[scruff]

I've been and the refit is GR8. All the old moans about stuff being left out by the bins and rotting has been addressed. The old faves are there but there is plenty of stuff I had never seen before or only in books now on main display. It's quite pricey to get in but your entry ticket then lasts 12 months which is handy if you fancy one of their special events in the summer.

 

Is the new collection centre open upstairs yet? That's where the SHITE GOLD is - it was closed when we went a few weeks back due to concerns about the floor. How BL is that?! Downstairs is very interesting though with all the rare/one off/last of/first of Jags.

 

I'm actually going again next Monday, as our club has arranged a members day.... the museum is open as normal though. Any shiters fancy it? You can have a ride on our steam roller too.

 

[face]

I worked at AML in Gaydon at the back-end of 2014.

 

True story.

[quicksilver]

Oddly enough I was talking about visiting Gaydon yesterday as I haven't been since the refurbishment and settled on going to the vehicle show on May 29. The new Collections Centre looks good and from the photos there's stuff in there I've never seen before.