Southward Car Museum

Last updated

Southward Car Museum
Southward Museum 03.jpg
Southward Car Museum
Established22 December 1979;45 years ago (22 December 1979)
Type Car museum
Founder Len Southward
Website www.southwardcarmuseum.co.nz
The entrance to Southward Car Museum from Otaihanga Road. Southward Museum Otaihanga.jpg
The entrance to Southward Car Museum from Otaihanga Road.

The Southward Car Museum is an automobile museum and event centre in Otaihanga, New Zealand. It was established by Len Southward in the 1970s to house his collection of over 450 vehicles and several aircraft and is now run by a charitable trust. [1]

Contents

The purpose-built building includes a 6,000 square metre exhibition hall, engineering workshop, gift shop and small coffee/snack bar, all set in park-like grounds. The building also incorporates the 474-seat Southward Theatre, which features the 1929 Wurlitzer Unit Orchestra theatre organ that was originally installed in the Civic Theatre in Auckland.

History

The core car collection was the personal work of Len Southward and his wife Vera. The couple began collecting cars in 1956 with a Ford Model T. [2]

Having established the largest private car collection in Australasia, in 1976 Southward purchased a 6-hectare (15-acre) site on which to establish a museum open to the public. Ground was broken on the museum site in 1971, but construction wasn't given council consent until 1977. The museum officially opened on 22 December 1979. [1]

Len and Vera Southward Legacy exhibit Len Southward lecagy exhibit motorcycle.jpg
Len and Vera Southward Legacy exhibit

In 2020 a new exhibit in the museum was opened, detailing Len and Vera's lives and achievements, including new digital and material installations. [1]

Collection

Main display hall of Southward Car Museum, New Zealand, 2023 Southward Car Museum overview from above.jpg
Main display hall of Southward Car Museum, New Zealand, 2023

The museum has about 450 vehicles, [1] which include:

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Haxton, David (11 December 2020). "Southward Car Museum adds legacy room in honour of Sir Len Southward". Kapiti News . NZME Publishing . Retrieved 22 July 2022 via The New Zealand Herald.
  2. Lambert, Max (1991). Who's Who in New Zealand, 1991 (12th ed.). Auckland: Octopus. p. 595. ISBN   9780790001302.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Southward Car Museum at Wikimedia Commons

40°53′39″S175°01′45″E / 40.894035°S 175.029224°E / -40.894035; 175.029224