Come on in, we are going to show you the neatest Museum in all of the British Isles.
Story and Photos by Jonathan Sharp
It’s funny; I have driven, and flown hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles to visit various car museums, shows and race meetings around the world, and yet I had not visited the National Motor Museum (also known as the Beaulieu) less than two hours west of my home on England South Coast, for nearly 20 years.
The National Motor Museum is located in Beaulieu Hampshire deep in heart of the New Forest. The museum was founded by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu in 1952; I will tell you a little bit more about Lord Montagu in part two. I have dim memories of visiting Beaulieu with my parents during the late 1960s before holidaying on the nearby Isle of Wight. Those memories are rather less about the cars then on display and more of the monorail built around the grounds and the replica veteran London bus that one could take a ride on, both of which are still part of the Museum today.
On a rather grey day just before Christmas I decided that I needed a car fix and having remembered that since the museum had revamped its display of Land Speed Record Cars (more in part 3), the obvious place to go was Beaulieu. I was kind of expecting to be the only person visiting the museum on what was a late December Thursday prior to the start of school holiday, so I was rather surprised to find on arrival plenty of cars in the visitors car park, but not enough to spoil my visit.
It is interesting to compare Beaulieu with the French National Museum in Mulhouse (Schlumpf). The content of Mulhouse is no doubt stupendous but the cars displayed are dusty and the placards by each car contain very little info and many spelling mistakes. The cars in the main Beaulieu building are all beautifully clean and kept that way by an army of volunteers, cloths in hand, touring the exhibits and removing every speck of dust that dare to land on a fender. The placards are informative, and should you wish to know more about the item on display you can always ask a member of the staff or the volunteer team, all of which are very knowledgeable and enthusiastic If they do not know the answer then they will direct you to the National Motor Museum Trust who are the custodians of the collection who probably will know the answer.
The museum is more than just a collection of cars. It also tells the story of motoring over the ages with various hands on exhibits and a fantastic display of automobilia in various glass display cases located throughout the building. The cars in the main are all gems, no matter whether they are a V16 BRM or a VW Beetle. Many of them are demonstrated at various events throughout the season, Goodwood and the London to Brighton Veteran car run being particularly popular. I had expected my visit to only take up a few hours but I arrived mid-morning and I was one of the last to leave at closing time and even then I had not fully seen ever thing on display.
Having sent my thoughts to the Editor, he then asked me to compare Beaulieu with the the Museo Nationale dell’Automobile in Turin and the two Ferrari museums. It’s difficult; the two Ferrari Museums have a much more limited scope, as their job is mainly to tell the Ferrari story, so it is not really fair to compare them. As to the Museo Nationale dell’Automobile? I think both the Turin and Beaulieu museum both tell the history of the motor car exceedingly well. Both do so from the view point of their respective nations. So to sum it up, you need to visit both, in fact you need to visit all four!
Upon entry to the main museum building, this is the first gallery you see, with an interesting cross section of early bicycles and cars including a single cylinder De Dion powered 1898 Ariel Tricycle, The Columbia Electric, a 1912 Hispano Suiza Alfonso XII and a 1914 Ford Model T Van.
Upon his return from a trip to the USA, Sidney Allard built Britain’s first Dragster. A 480 bhp 5.8 liter 354 cubic inch Chrysler V8 propelled the car to speeds in excess of 170 mph and stunned the UK Motoring press when shown first demonstrated on the Silverstone Club straight. The demonstration run marked the start of British Drag racing. To help with the spread of Drag racing in Britain Sidney Allard went on to produce the Allard Dragon. Designed to aid in the spread of Drag Racing in Britain the Dragon was offered as a kit and built to be powered by various 4 cylinder engines including a screaming supercharged 1.5 liter Ford Anglia engine.
Dating from around 1971 the GNO DEMIST panel, developed for NASA and fitted to airliners of BEA, BOAC and Aer Lingus. Must have been good then!
ATCO Trainer
ATCO (Charles H Pugh Ltd of Birmingham) are best known for manufacturing lawn mowers but in 1939 with ever increasing road casualties decided to launch a training vehicle designed to introduce children, some as young as seven, to the skills required for driving a motor vehicle. Costing £35 but available to schools and local authorities for a special discounted price, power is provided by a 98cc single cylinder engine giving the trainer a top speed of 10 mph. Due to the outbreak of WW2 only 200 or so were built.
This is tubby, A one-owner 1966 Austin A40 Farina with 83000 miles on the clock has been a resident of the museum since 2001. Introduced in 1958 the A40 Farina was the first British Motor Corporation (BMC) car to be styled by Pinin Farina. Production ran until 1967 with over 300,000 examples constructed.
A general view with from right to left, a black (of course) 1914 Model T Ford, A 1915 60 hp 4 Liter Vauxhall Prince Henry C Type, often described as the world’s first sports car. This example was rescued from a hedge. A 1914 Sunbeam 16/20 was one of Louise Coatalen’s earliest designs, and a slightly earlier 1914 Prince Henry Vauxhall which has only covered 15000 miles having been laid up in 1923.
A very stylish motoring themed bag.
A selection of Junior Car Club, Brooklands and BARC badges.
Motoring for the masses, and probably the two most iconic European cars of the 1950s and 60s. The Mini, an icon of the swinging 60s, was designed by Alex Issigonis following a commission by BMC in 1957. This example dates from 1959 when the cars were badged as Austin Mini Sevens. The VW Beetle needs no introduction. This example, an export Type 1 dates from 1953 and was presented to Edward 3rd Baron Montague to mark the sale of 100,000 Beetles in the United Kingdom.
Underneath the Orange skin is a 1972 Automatic Mini, one of six promotional vehicles built between 1972 and 1974 to promote the Outspan brand of oranges. They were constructed by Brian Waite Enterprises in East Sussex. They had a top speed of only 30 mph because any faster and they tended to fall over. I do recall a TV advert which featured the car, the catch phrase being if it got caught in traffic it would not be in a jam but would be in a marmalade. The beer bottle car next to the Orange is one of five bought by Bass Brewery of Burton on Trent in the early 1920s. Constructed on a 30 hp Daimler car chassis. The original 4962cc Knight Sleeve valve engine was replaced by a smaller Bedford motor shortly after the end of World War Two and the car remained in service for Bass right up until 1958.
In Ian Fleming’s novels Casino Royale, Live and Let Die and Moonraker, James Bond drove a battleship gray 4.5 liter Blower Bentley, not an Aston Martin. The supercharger fitted to the Blower Bentley was designed by the engineer Amherst Villiers who just happened to be a friend of Ian Fleming. WO Bentley disapproved of the fitting of a supercharger to a Bentley and the Blower Bentley was mainly developed by Bentley Boy Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin. This example dates from 1930.
This working replica of the first Benz Motorcar of 1889 was built by John Bentley of Batley England in 1989.
Twin Jap Motor Cycle engines (later four!), ash frame, chain drive, 110 bhp and only 7 cwt; no wonder she had a top speed of 125 mph. Motor racing has always been expensive so during the inter- war years many amateur racers chose to build their own hybrid specials. John and Bill Bolster’s “Bloody Mary” was a well known and successful Hill Climb and Sprint car during the 1930s. John Bolster quit racing following a bad crash during the 1949 British Grand Prix at Silverstone and later became the technical editor of the Autocar magazine
Built in 1907 originally as a seven seater touring car this Gobron Brillie was later converted into an estate fire engine using a Merryweather steam fire pump from an old horse drawn fire engine.
The Gobron engine and boiler are both in working order and are regularly demonstrated at rallies and events. The power unit is a 7600cc opposed piston engine, 4 cylinders and 8 pistons!
From the days when the prices did not used to change every time you visited the garage.
An early driving license from 1918.
Ferrari F1 replica.
Oh how very 1970s: What I assume is a Team Tyrrell cigarette holder dispenser?
Graham Hill’s race helmet as worn by him in his 1962 championship winning season. This trophy was presented to Graham by the Guild of Motoring writers in celebration of his nomination as the 1962 Driver of the Year.
Displayed in the Guild of Motoring writers display, this is a piston from the Mike Hawthorn/Ivor Bueb 1955 Le Mans winning Jaguar D Type, as presented to the Guild by Sir William Lyons.
Originally presented to Mike Hawthorn by Enzo Ferrrai in recognition of his achievements for the Scuderia, Mike then presented the trophy to the Guild of Motoring writers in 1958 following his election as their Driver of the Year.
Offering zero protection but very stylish, Whitney Straight’s race helmet.
Looking more like a pudding basin than a crash helmet, Mike Hailwood’s MV Augusta logo’d race helmet.
Offering much more protection than Mike Hailwood’s pudding basin helmet these full face helmets were used by Rolf Stommelen and Jody Scheckter during the 1970s.
Race suits: Contrast Kenneth McAlpine’s logo free race suit with that of Graham Hill and the new guys.
Jack Tucker’s garage displays a typical 1930s country garage. The vehicle displayed is a one owner from new 1938 Series 11 Morris 8 saloon presented to show war time black out requirements including headlight dimmers and white painted wings and running board edges. The large notice by the rear wheel is a ministry of war transportation information poster informing the public to immobilize their vehicle by removing the distributor cap and leads, drain the fuel tank or remove the carburetor.
Inside Jack Tucker’s garage.