National museum at Birdwood in South Australia presents the social history around the effect of motoring
A 1928 Chevrolet AB standard sedan, made at Holden's Woodville plant for General Motors in 1928, displayed at the National Motor Museum, Birdwood.
The National Motor Museum – Australia’s largest – celebrated its 50th year in Birdwood (formerly Blumberg), in the Adelaide Hills, in 2015.
The museum displays 300 vehicles (a third of them on loan from private collectors and groups) and documents the social history of Australian road transport with brochures and maps, tin signs, petrol bowsers, toys and models and images.
The museum has become an international centre for collecting, research, preserving, educating about and displaying Australian road transport history,
Started by Jack Kaines and Len Vigar in 1964, the museum was bought by the South Australian Government three years later and became part of the South Australian History Trust.
Its large and historically important collection of cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles includes the hand-built 1899 Shearer Steam Carriage, the 1908 Talbot and Tom Kruse's 1936 Leyland Badger truck. It has special displays of star attractions, ranging from rare veteran and vintage cars to modern ground-breaking concept vehicles.
The museum is housed in a climate-controlled modern complex next to its original home: the “Old Mill” in Shannon Street, Birdwood.
It is the endpoint of the annual Bay to Birdwood run when vintage motor vehicles are driven by their owners from Glenelg, past the city and through the hills to finish at the museum for a festival.
