The Southward Car Museum is an automobile museum and event centre in

Otaihanga Otaihanga is on the Kapiti Coast of New Zealand's North Island. It is just north of Paraparaumu on the south bank of the Waikanae River and is roughly 55 km north of New Zealand's capital city, Wellington. Its name is Māori for "the plac ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. It was established by Len Southward in the 1970s to house his collection of over 450 vehicles and several aircraft, and is now run by a charitable trust. The museum is just north of

Paraparaumu Paraparaumu () is a town in the south-western North Island of New Zealand. It lies on the Kapiti Coast, north of the nation's capital city, Wellington. Like other towns in the area, it has a partner settlement at the coast called Paraparaumu Bea ...

on the

Kapiti Coast The Kapiti Coast District is a local government district of the Wellington Region in the lower North Island of New Zealand, 50 km north of Wellington City. The district is named after Kapiti Island, a prominent island offshore. The pop ...

, about an hour's drive from

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and situated just west of the

North Island Main Trunk The North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) is the main railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, connecting the capital city Wellington with the country's largest city, Auckland. The line is long, built to the New Zealand rail gauge of and ser ...

railway and

State Highway 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbere ...

, on Otaihanga Road. The purpose-built building includes a 6000 square metre exhibition hall, engineering workshop, gift shop and small cafe, all set in park-like grounds. The building also incorporates the 474-seat Southward Theatre, which features the 1929

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

Unit Orchestra

theatre organ A theatre organ (also known as a theater organ, or, especially in the United Kingdom, a cinema organ) is a type of pipe organ developed to accompany silent films, from the 1900s to the 1920s. Theatre organs have horseshoe-shaped arrangements o ...

that was originally installed in the Civic Theatre in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

History

The core-car collection was the personal work of Sir Len Southward and his wife Vera. The couple began collecting cars in 1956 with a

Ford Model T The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relati ...

. Having established the largest private car collection in Australasia, in 1976 Len purchased a site on which to establish a museum open to the public. Ground was broken on the museum site in 1971, but construction wasn't given council consent until 1977. The museum officially opened on 22 December 1979. Len Southward lecagy exhibit motorcycle

In 2020 a new exhibit in the museum was opened, detailing Len and Vera's lives and achievements, including new digital and material installations.

Collection

The museum has about 450 vehicles, which include: * 1895

Benz Velo The Benz Velo was one of the first cars, introduced by Carl Benz in 1894 as the followup to the Patent Motorwagen. 67 Benz Velos were built in 1894 and 134 in 1895. The early Velo had a 1L engine, and later a engine. giving a top speed of . ...

, imported to New Zealand in 1900. * 1915

Stutz The Stutz Motor Car Company, was an American producer of high-end sports and luxury cars based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Production began in 1911 and ended in 1935. Stutz was known as a producer of fast cars including America's first spo ...

Indianapolis race car * Gull-winged

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

* 1934

Cadillac V-16 The Cadillac V-16 (also known as the Cadillac Sixteen) was Cadillac's top-of-the-line model from its January 1930 launch until 1940. The V16 powered car was a first in the United States, both extremely expensive and exclusive, with every chassis ...

Town Cabriolet - once owned by American actress

Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...

* 1939

Mercedes-Benz 770 The Mercedes-Benz 770, also known as the ''Großer Mercedes'' (German for "Big Mercedes"), was a large luxury car built by Mercedes-Benz from 1930 until 1944. It is probably best known from its use by high-ranking Nazi German politicians and other ...

- believed to have been intended as a gift for

Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 19 ...

after the planned

German invasion of Britain Operation Sea Lion, also written as Operation Sealion (german: Unternehmen Seelöwe), was Nazi Germany's code name for the plan for an invasion of the United Kingdom during the Battle of Britain in the Second World War. Following the Battle o ...

* 1950

Cadillac Sixty Special The Cadillac Sixty Special is a name used by Cadillac to denote a special model since the 1938 Harley Earl– Bill Mitchell–designed extended wheelbase derivative of the Series 60, often referred to as the Fleetwood Sixty Special. The Sixty Sp ...

"gangster special" - belonged to American gangster

Mickey Cohen Meyer Harris "Mickey" Cohen (September 4, 1913 – July 29, 1976) was an American gangster, boxer and entrepreneur based in Los Angeles during the mid-20th century. Early life Mickey Cohen was born on September 4, 1913, in New York City to Je ...

, fitted with armoured body panels and bulletproof plate glass 1½ inches (40 mm) thick. * DeLorean - best known from the ''

Back to the Future ''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis, and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985, ...

'' film series, the only DeLorean on public display in New Zealand. * 2007

Subaru Impreza WRX STI The is a compact car that has been manufactured by the Japanese automaker Subaru since 1992. It was introduced as a replacement for the Leone, with the predecessor's EA series engines replaced by the new EJ series. It is now in its sixth gene ...

Rally Car- Driven by

Ken Block Kenneth Paul Block (November 21, 1967 – January 2, 2023) was an American professional rally driver with the Hoonigan Racing Division, formerly known as the Monster World Rally Team. Block was also one of the co-founders of DC Shoes. He also ...

for the 2007 NZRC Season and

Rally New Zealand The Rally New Zealand is an annual rally race in New Zealand. It was first included as a round of the World Rally Championship in 1977. The race is famous for its fast flowing gravel roads which carry the competitors through forests and alongside ...

References

External links

Southward Car Museum

WellingtonNZ Tourism
{{authority control Museums in the Wellington Region Automobile museums in New Zealand Kapiti Coast District Buildings and structures in the Kapiti Coast District