Great British Car Journey is a Go!

It has been, let’s not beat around the bush, an unpleasant year. The restrictions in place have meant we have all had to hunker down and stay in. Large scale events have been cancelled, and the hospitality industry pretty much came to a complete halt. But we’ve done it, we’ve got through it, and now, finally, we’re allowed to play outside again. Restrictions are lifting and normality seems to be just around the corner. For those of us who are passionate about classics, that means we can get out there in our cars and have fun, and it means we can also start planning days out to the many motoring attractions out there. 

Now that you have opened your diary, may we make a suggestion? You see, while the pandemic was taking its toll, it wasn’t going to stop things from happening behind closed doors. One such thing being the Great British Car Journey. A brand-new attraction that now, finally, is open to us. Exciting stuff! 

The Great British Car Journey, which now takes residence in an ex-wire factory on the banks of the River Derwent in Ambergate, Derbyshire, is not your typical car museum. Instead, it’s an interesting, exciting, somewhat emotional journey through time. The path through the collection unfolds in chronological order. Starting with the humble Austin 7 – the car that not only mobilised a nation, but that also standardised the pedal arrangement we know today – it unfolds through the decades. The collection celebrates the British love affair with the motor car, and rather than focusing on unobtainable exotica seen on the lawns of concours events, it instead sings the praises of the cars we brought en masse. Vehicles that were once ubiquitous, but are now rarer than anything to roll out of Modena. Of the 130 cars on display, a humble Vauxhall Chevette was the hardest to source. They simply don’t exist any more! 

Richard Usher, CEO of Great British Car Journey explained: “Four years ago when I owned and managed Blyton Circuit, a gentleman approached me asking if I’d like to buy his 1989 Austin Maestro in mint condition with just 10,000 miles on the clock. My first thought was ‘no’, but it then got me thinking about when I last saw an Austin Allegro, Metro, original Mini, or even a Ford Cortina on the road. These were cars that were once on virtually every street in Britain and sold in their millions.”

Explaining his vision in more detail, Mr Usher said: “I really wanted the cars to tell a story, so the journey charts the growth of car ownership from Austin’s Seven to the present day. It has a motor show feel with cars grouped in the decades – or chapters – in which they were produced, with period adverts and graphics, prominently displayed.

The vehicles are easily accessible. We want people to smell the old car smell, marvel at the interiors and jog memories of trips in the family car, their first car or back seat fights with their siblings when they were growing up.

Everyone who has been on the journey, whether a car nut like myself or not, doesn’t fail to have a smile on their face remembering days gone by. Great British Car Journey is the ultimate trip down Memory Lane.”

It’s an exciting, new way to display the cars we once loved. From the Maestro (the car that lit the fires of this idea, funnily enough) through to a McLaren 650S that’s on loan from the British company, this collection stands as a concrete reminder of just how important cars are and were for Britain both in terms of us as drivers, and as an industry. 

Mike Flewitt, CEO of McLaren Automotive said: “Richard and the team have done an amazing job bringing Great British Car Journey to life. I am delighted that McLaren is able to support the exhibition which celebrates Britain’s motoring history from Bruce McLaren’s Austin Seven, where our brand story began, through to modern-day supercars such as our 650S.”

And that’s not all. Of the collection, thirty-two are available to drive on a custom private road, including the Maestro that started it all, are available to drive on a private road as part of the Drive Dad’s Car experience.

All the vehicles in both the exhibition and Drive Dad’s Car experience are in working order and fully maintained by Great British Car Journey’s own time-served technician and apprentice. Visitors are welcome to watch them at work in the onsite workshop within the exhibition hall. 

“Great British car journey is very much a working attraction. We have a large collection of well-thumbed Haynes manuals which are regularly consulted when we need to locate a bonnet catch or various engine parts to ensure the maintenance of the collection,” added Mr Usher.

Entry to Great British Car Journey is £15 per adult. For more information and to book, be sure to visit www.greatbritishcarjourney.com and at www.drivedadscar.com.