Coventry Transport Museum

Coventry Transport Museum sits in the heart of Coventry, once the heart of Britain’s car industry. It holds the largest public collection of British road transport, with over 240 cars and commercial vehicles, 100 motorcycles and 200 bicycles on display. Temporary exhibitions change regularly, showing vehicles from the museum’s own stores and beyond. The museum also runs engineering challenges and scientific experiments for visitors. A sixty-year-old Vintage Sleigh Ride has entertained local families for generations. Among the most famous exhibits are the jet cars Thrust2 and ThrustSSC, which set land-speed records in 1983 and 1997. Royal cars include Queen Mary’s and King George V’s state limousines. The museum’s £8.5 million redevelopment finished in 2015, moving the Thrust cars into a new Land Speed Record Gallery. Mass-produced models on show include an Austin Metro once owned by Lady Diana Spencer and a Humber staff car used by General Montgomery during the Second World War. Visitors find fourteen modernised galleries filled with Coventry-built cars such as Triumphs, Humbers and Standards. There are also Jaguars, Alvis tanks, Massey Ferguson tractors and buses, including the one Coventry City football team used after winning the 1987 FA Cup. Coventry motorcycle marques like Triumph and Rudge-Whitworth are represented alongside buses and commercial vehicles. The museum’s archive department holds historical items and answers public enquiries.