Motorcycle Mecca expansion almost complete
The expansion at Motorcycle Mecca in Invercargill is nearly complete and it will have a conference centre, bar and new displays.
Construction is ongoing but projects and properties manager Sue Hill said they hope to be finished before Christmas.
A new Burt Munro-based display would bring a local emphasis, something Hill said had been missing in the collection.
‘‘The collection came from Nelson. It didn’t really have any of the Burt Munro stuff, so we’re excited to display that.’’
HW Richardson visitor experience manager Juliana Baxter said the display would be housed in its own section dedicated to the late Munro.
Throughout the new part of the museum, situated above the Motorcycle Mecca cafe, displays of ‘‘mods and rockers’’ would tie into the theme of the bar, she said.
‘‘Anyone who knows of the mods and the rockers, they used to hang out around cafes and bars on their scooters [mods] and motorcycles [rockers].’’
Mods of the 60s were a subculture originating from Britain, they influenced fashion, music, hairstyles and transport with a boom in scooter use in Britain.
Rockers also known as coffee bar cowboys were from around the same era, the rockers, now popularly known as Greasers, crowded cafe parking lots throughout the 60s.
The motorcycle and racing leathers belonging to Kiwi legend Karel Pavich, who won the 2006 New Zealand 250cc Road-Racing championship, will be a new display.
Rejuvenating the older buildings on the south side of Tay St would create a reflection of the old and new once the northern side of the street was redeveloped by the partnership between HW Richardson and the Invercargill City Council, Hill said.