Museums

A20/35 1st Series Toyota Celica GT

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The Celica has been one of Toyota’s best loved sports inspired cars spanning over 30 years and seven generations. The 1st generation has become a real classic with its Mustang styling cues. The car made its debut at the 1970 Tokyo Motorshow and went on to conquer the word. The GT was the sportiest of the Celica range with body striping, and mean hood vents. The pillar less windows on the coupe gave the car a fresh and timeless style and have become a sought after collectors car in recent years. This lovely yellow example of the GT coupe was photographed on display at the magnificent Toyota Automotive Museum in Nagoya, Japan.

A Concorde up a pole

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Transeum is more than just cars, its all things transport so we thought it was about time we featured a plane, and there is no better than the majestic Concorde. The Concorde was the first and only supersonic passenger jet, although the Russians nearly had one working, we will feature that in a few days time. There were only 16 production Concordes ever produced all being flown by either British Airways or Air France. Today most of the Concordes are on display at museums or airports around the world after their grounding a few years back. F-BVFB the 7th Concorde to be produced made her maiden flight in March 1976 and today stands proudly at the Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum, South West Germany an hour or so’s drive from Stuttgart. The museum is an amazing transport center with all types of cars, boats, military machinery, planes and jets. The two biggest draw cards are the Concorde and the Russian Tupolev TU-144.

Sachsenring P 240 Repräsentant

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This ‘beautiful’ four door open top vehicle is the 1969 Sachsenring P240 Reprasentant it was built by the Sachsenring factory which was also responsible for the Trabant East Germany. The car was not sold to the public it was used primarily for military parades and to cart the Communist leaders around in style. The car was pretty much a normal P-240 which didn’t look half as impressive. It was powered by a Horch 6 cylinder engine which was a pre war design pumping out a throbbing 80 hp from the 2407 cc engine. Other favorites for the Communist leaders included the Czech Tatra, the Russian Zil and Gaz but none were anywhere as striking as this handsome vehicle which was seen at the Trabant museum in Zwickau, Germany.

Macau Grand Prix Museum

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Every November the small peninsular of Macau off the coast of Hong Kong in China comes alive with Grand Prix action, and to celebrate the Grand Prix all year round the island city has a great Grand Prix Museum. Macau has one of the few street racing circuits on the Grand Prix calendar and along with the city’s new casinos is a huge money spinner. The museum remembers some wonderful moments and some amazing drivers. There is a huge display featuring many of the historic racecars which have challenged the Macau circuit. But the museum is more than a museum it is a high tech entertainment center where visitors can ride the latest simulators and try their hand at Grand Prix action. Many of the vehicles and racing motorbikes are displayed in themed panoramas, which give you a sense of what the Macau Grand Prix is like, all beautifully restored the vehicles look like jewelry glistening in the museum’s beautiful halls. The center is usually opened six days a week, closing Tuesday and is best seen as part of the city’s museum pass ticket, which gives you access to many of Macau’s other great sights including the Maritime Museum, Museum of Art and the fantastic Wine Museum which is in the same building.

For more information: http://cn.macautourism.gov.mo/en/

The Gull Wing Mercedes-Benz 300SL

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1955 Mercedes Benz 300 SL coupe with its gull wing doors is probably the most beautiful and most loved of all the cars produced during the 1950’s. Based of a racing version the production version has become one of the most collected and expensive vehicles of all time. The vehicle was powered by a 6 cylinder 183 cubic inch engine delivering 158 kW with a top speed of 155 mp. This photograph was taken at the new Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart Germany where it along with many other iconic Mercedes Benz models are displayed like jewelry. This museum would have to finest and most beautiful automotive museum in the world and houses many of the company’s treasures a must for anyone visiting Germany whether they are a car buff or not.

For more information: http://www.museum-mercedes-benz.com/