Nick Larkin
A museum’s switch to newer cars has startled Nick
Nick asks if there is a place for younger classics in museums.
They’re doing what?’ It’s difficult not to jump to a knee jerk reaction and spout biased piffle without considering the facts about the classic car story that has caused more discussion around here than just anything recently. Newburn Hall Motor Museum in Tyne and Wear is ousting a large proportion of its older exhibits in favour of vehicles from the Seventies, Eighties and particularly the Nineties.
Cue a terrible vision of Wolseleys and Morris Tens sitting outside, tyres flat and covered in muddy snow while Renault Meganes are proudly displayed under spotlight and Ford Focuses (Focii?) are cleaned with feather dusters every Tuesday.
‘Hopefully we’ll be able to find a suitable Granada Scorpio soon. Once we’ve got that and a maroon Ford Escort MKV we’ll be able to kick out the Rover P4 and have even more Nineties fun. It was such a great decade,’ museum curator and manager Marc Porelli in fact didn’t say. But let’s not let that spoil the story.
Sign of the times
Marc, whose dad, garage proprietor and car fanatic Tony set up the museum in a converted drill hall at Newburn Hall in 1982 did reveal that the decision, which is by no means affecting all the 35 exhibits, was taken after collecting extensive feedback.’
‘Maybe it’s a sign of the times but our suggestions box and comments from visitors shows they want to see Seventies, Eighties and Nineties cars rather than older ones,’ he told me.
‘Cars like Cosworths and even the Focus RS are what people remember, so we’re adding cars like this to the collection. These are what people remember. The museum, currently closed for the winter months, genuinely is selling a car of almost unfathomable joy, a 1950 Invicta Black Prince, in order to make space. The beautifully restored, Jensen-bodied car, on of 16 built, needs recommissioning as it’s not been used since 2001.
The asking price is £30,000, presumably enough to pay for at least 100 dinky Fiat Seicentos, if you could find them that is.
I must admit to being in a minority for, with exceptions, getting most excited over vehicles from the mid-thirties to mid-sixties, most of which are older than I can remember ever seeing in service. Their styling, over engineering, simplicity, sounds and smells, plus, I suppose the optimistic spirit of their admittedly far from perfect times all contribute. Don’t let me anywhere near that Invicta, for goodness sake! But, 30 years on from when
I first began to write about classic cars, the Fifties are a long time ago now.
This is the modern world
I am a bit lost with this current wave of Nineties nostalgia. ‘Eeh, it were great watching rat boys crashing stolen Astras through Alldays window, huddling around the wireless listening to see whether Oasis or Blur had reached number one and waiting for someone to come round and fix our Amstrad computer. And then there were Daewoos, that lovely Tony Blair and his 232-tooth triumphant grin, Terry Christian on The Word and more.
To anyone growing up in the Nineties, these are their nostalgia buttons and no, they wouldn’t prefer to watch flickering black and white promotional films for Austin of England or listen to skiffle. Did Britain lose a lot of its quirky individuality in favour of corporate blandess in the Nineties?
I must confess to at least a wry smile at the sight of the Newburn Musuem’s Escort Cossie in gleaming blue with huge spoiler. I could go for a Renault 19 GTI you know!
What am I saying? Museums need all the support they can get in order to continue to survive, and it is good to see vehicles of all eras on display.
But don’t give up on the oldies!
‘Visitors want to see Seventies, Eighties and Nineties cars rather than old ones’