The summer crowds

New motors and exhibits hope for popular museum

TRANSPORT museum staff are in top gear for a new e x h i bit ion a f te r col lect i ng a series of glamorous cars.

And vice chairman Peter Webber paid tribute to the army of volunteers who he insists are the driving force behind Dundee Museum of Transport as they rev up for the summer.

The Market Street venue recently re-opened to the public following a winter shutdown to transfer an Aberdeen tram to Grampian Transport Museum and update the exhibition.

Peter, 64, said the space previously occupied by the tram has now allowed the museum to include a host of new cars including hot hatches from the 1980s.

He said: “There are quite a few new items for people to see and we are very lucky with local people’s support.

“Many people have donated exhibits while others have given us items on long term loans.

“While we have some displays that don’t change particularly often, we always want to bring in something new so that people will come back and visit.

“And we also like to have items which are related to Dundee and its transport heritage.

“So we try to change things two or three times a year and rotate a few items because why would people come back and visit the same things again?

“We rely on a lot of local support and our volunteers without whom we just could not operate.”

The museum members have taken delivery of a Golf GTi, a Ford Sierra Cosworth, a Bradford van plus a revamped 1971 Triumph Stag.

More vehicles are expected to arrive over the weekend and early next week.

Peter added many classic car owners were reluctant to drive their vehicles to Dundee during the recent bad weather with the salt and grit on the roads.

He said: “It is understandable when you have a classic car that you want to protect it.

“People have been so generous and now we are looking to have everything in place for when we open six days a week from Easter.

“At the moment we are open only on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10.30am to 3.30pm.

“We also hope to sit on the back of the V&A interest which has proved really popular with a huge surge of visitors.

“A lot of people visiting Dundee will predominantly be interested in visiting the V&A, but hopefully they will look us up afterwards and pay a visit.”

Peter has been involved in the transport museum for four years.

It first opened its doors in 2014.

He said: “We have one parttime person, Sam Walker, who is our manager and she is absolutely brilliant.

“She is a museum professional and keeps us right with everything from health and safety to official paper work.

“We are totally dependent on volunteers and if it wasn’t for the various teams then we could not open. We all have different skills and try to utilise them as best we can.

“I am more on the maintenance side with nails and screws while someone else works on electrics.

“We have also had a lot of support from Dundee City Council and Historic Environment Scotland.”