COVENTRY Transport Museum celebrated a £9.5million redevelopment with a spectacular re-launch.
The Millennium Place venue’s full re-opening after a 15-month redevelopment was marked by a stunt show from multiple world record holder and supercar stuntman Terry Grant.
It was followed with a unique parade of ‘Trailblazing Cars of the World’, curated by Harry Metcalfe (of Evo magazine, and YouTube hit Harry’s Garage fame), and hosted by television presenter and racing driver, Amanda Stretton.
The Trailblazing Cars of the World included models from all over the globe, representing a collection that changed the automotive landscape forever.
Mr Metcalfe said: “I was asked to get involved with the re-launch of the museum following a visit I made here a few weeks ago. I was very impressed, and delighted to get involved.
“The idea of the Trailblazing Cars collection is that they, in my opinion, are all examples that changed the car world forever.
“Many of the cars I have brought along today have definitely achieved that, and many of these were designed, engineered and built right here in Coventry and the Midlands.”
His Trailblazing Cars of the World incuded:
Lamborghini Miura (widely recognized as the world’s first supercar)
Mini (Pioneered front wheel drive packaging and compact economy car design for towns and cities)
Jaguar C-type (Pioneer of disc-brakes, developed initially for racing at Le Mans, but ultimately adopted in production cars all over the world)
Land Rover Series I (one of the world’s first commercially available 4x4s)
Porsche 911 Turbo (the world’s first commercially successful Turbo offering)
Range Rover (Introduced in 1970, it established a whole new sector of all-terrain vehicle for Europe, and remains in production today as the pinnacle of luxury SUVs the world over)
Ferrari F40 (the first road-legal production car to break the 200mph barrier and the fastest and most expensive Ferrari of its time)
Amanda Stretton said: “I’m told that more car manufacturers have come out of Coventry than Detroit.
“This really is our very own Motown, and that’s what Coventry Transport Museum celebrates so brilliantly.
Coventry Transport Museum has newly presented exhibitions.
Visitors are taken on a journey through Coventry’s vast transport history; from being a bicycle capital of the world in the 19th century to producing vehicles for the war efforts, to contributing to the UK’s car-making and exporting success, and everything in-between.
Culture Coventry chief executive Gary Hall says: “Re-launching the museum is the culmination of seven years of hard work by the team.”
He thanked the European Regional Development Fund, the Heritage Lottery Fund and other organisations who supported the project.
