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 History (derived ) is the systematic study and th ...

, located in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the 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 status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed ...

city centre, England. It houses the largest collection of British-made

road transport Road transport or road transportation is a type of transport using roads. Transport on roads can be roughly grouped into the transportation of goods and transportation of people. In many countries licensing requirements and safety regulations ...

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, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...

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, cruisin ...

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 and ThrustSSC, the British jet cars which broke the land speed record 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, an Austin Metro previously owned by Lady Diana Spencer, a

Ford Escort MK2 Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Fo ...

Hillman Imp The Hillman Imp is a small economy car that was made by the Rootes Group and its successor Chrysler Europe from 1963 until 1976. Revealed on 3 May 1963, after much advance publicity, it was the first British mass-produced car with the engine ...

, Triumph Acclaim, Talbot Sunbeam, Talbot Horizon, Peugeot 206 and

Peugeot 405 The Peugeot 405 is a large family car released by the French automaker Peugeot in July 1987, and which continues to be manufactured under licence outside France, having been discontinued in Europe in 1997. It was voted European Car of the Year for ...

. 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 during the Second World War is also on display. The museum displays many Jaguars and other Coventry built cars such as the Triumph,

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 betw ...

and Standard marques, an Alvis 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: Triumph, Francis-Barnett,

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 P ...

and Coventry-Eagle and it is affiliated to the British Motorcycle Charitable Trust.

References

External links

*
Collections Database
{{authority control