Coventry Transport Museum (formerly known as the Museum of British Road Transport) is a transport

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

, located in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

city centre, England. It houses the largest collection of British-made road transport held in public ownership. It is located in Coventry because the city was previously the centre of the British car industry. There are more than 240

cars A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, people in ...

and commercial vehicles, 100

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

s, 200 bicycles. The ever-changing temporary exhibitions feature motor cars, commercial vehicles, cycles and motorcycles from the museums own collection and beyond. The museum offers activities ranging from engineering challenges to scientific experiments. The museum is also home to a 60 year old Vintage Sleigh Ride, that has been popular in the city for generations of local residents. It has a full-time archive department, which deals with an array of historical items, and offers a public enquiry service answering questions and finding items and information. Visitors need to contact the museum prior to visiting should they wish to access the archives, or speak to a curator.

Exhibits

Notable exhibits in the museum are

Thrust2 Thrust2 is a British designed and built jet propelled car, which held the world land speed record from 4 October 1983 to 25 September 1997. The Thrust2 is powered by a single Rolls-Royce Avon jet engine sourced from an English Electric Light ...

and

ThrustSSC ThrustSSC, Thrust SSC or Thrust SuperSonic Car is a British jet car developed by Richard Noble, Glynne Bowsher, Ron Ayers, and Jeremy Bliss. Thrust SSC holds the world land speed record, set on 15 October 1997, and driven by Andy Green, ...

, the British jet cars which broke the

land speed record The land speed record (or absolute land speed record) is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. There is no single body for validation and regulation; in practice the Category C ("Special Vehicles") flying start regula ...

in 1983 and 1997, respectively, and some of the Royal cars - Queen Mary's and King George V's State limousines. Coventry Transport Museum's £8.5 million redevelopment project in which 12 of the Museum's 14 galleries were completely transformed was completed in 2015, the project was funded by the Heritage Lottery Foundation, European Development Fund, Biffa Award and Garfield Weston. As part of the Museum's redevelopment project, both Thrust SSC and Thrust 2 cars were relocated by specialist haulier from their position in the Museum's Spirit of Speed Gallery to the new Biffa Award Land Speed Record Gallery which opened in 2015. Many mass-produced cars are in the collection, including an

Austin Allegro The Austin Allegro is a small family car that was manufactured by the Austin-Morris division of British Leyland from 1973 until 1982. The same vehicle was built in Italy by Innocenti between 1974 and 1975 and sold as the Innocenti Regent. The Al ...

, an

Austin Metro The Metro is a supermini car, later a city car that was produced by British Leyland (BL) and, later, the Rover Group from 1980 to 1998. It was launched in 1980 as the Austin mini Metro. It was intended to complement and eventually replace the ...

previously owned by Lady Diana Spencer, a Ford Escort MK2, Hillman Imp,

Triumph Acclaim The Triumph Acclaim is a front-wheel drive compact family saloon/sedan manufactured by British Leyland (BL) from 1981 to 1984. It is based on the Honda Ballade. It used a Honda-designed engine, was manufactured under licence from Honda, and ...

Talbot Sunbeam Talbot was an automobile marque introduced in 1902 by English-French company Clément-Talbot. The founders, Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury and Adolphe Clément-Bayard, reduced their financial interests in their Clément-Talb ...

Talbot Horizon The horizon is the apparent line that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This line divides all viewing directions based on whether i ...

Peugeot 206 The Peugeot 206 is a supermini car (B-segment) designed and produced by the French car manufacturer Peugeot since May 1998 as a replacement to the Peugeot 205. Developed under the codename ''T1'', it was released in September 1998 in hatchback fo ...

and Peugeot 405. Many of the vehicles on display were either produced in Coventry or produced by companies which had a presence in Coventry at some stage. A Humber staff car used by

General Montgomery Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and ...

during the Second World War is also on display. The museum displays many

Jaguars The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the thi ...

and other Coventry built cars such as the

Triumph The Roman triumph (Latin triumphus) was a celebration for a victorious military commander in ancient Rome. For later imitations, in life or in art, see Trionfo. Numerous later uses of the term, up to the present, are derived directly or indirectl ...

Humber The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between t ...

and

Standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

marques, an

Alvis Alvis may refer to: *Alvis Car and Engineering Company, British luxury car and military vehicle manufacturer which later became Alvis plc * Alvis plc (formerly United Scientific Holdings plc), a defence contractor which acquired Alvis Cars and bec ...

tank,

Massey Ferguson Massey Ferguson Limited is an American agricultural machinery manufacturer. The company was established in 1953 through the merger of farm equipment makers Massey-Harris of Canada and the Ferguson Company of the United Kingdom. It was based in ...

tractors, and Coventry built buses, including the bus that the Coventry City football team paraded in after their victory in the 1987 FA Cup Final. Coventry motorcycle marques are also represented in the museum's collection including:

Francis-Barnett Francis & Barnett Limited was an English motorcycle manufacturer founded in 1919 by Gordon Inglesby Francis and Arthur Barnett and based in Lower Ford Street, Coventry, England. Early motor cycles were affectionately known as ' Franny B'. Motorcy ...

Rudge-Whitworth Rudge Whitworth Cycles was a British bicycle, bicycle saddle, motorcycle and sports car wheel manufacturer that resulted from the merger of two bicycle manufacturers in 1894, Whitworth Cycle Co. of Birmingham, founded by Charles Henry Pug ...

and

Coventry-Eagle Coventry-Eagle was a British bicycle and motorcycle manufacturer. Established as a Victorian bicycle maker, the company began under the name of Hotchkiss, Mayo & Meek. The company name was changed to Coventry Eagle in 1897 when John Meek left ...

and it is affiliated to the

British Motorcycle Charitable Trust The British Motorcycle Charitable Trust (BMCT) is a charitable incorporated organisation dedicated to promoting and supporting the preservation and restoration of British motorcycle engineering heritage. Established as a Registered Charity in 19 ...

References

External links

*
Collections Database
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