Insider's View of the British Car Museum - Memorabilia

by Paul Sweeney.

Haumoana in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand filmed in late September 2021. This is where the late Ian Hope began to create his unique and very personal British Car Museum back in the 1990s. Ian passed away in 2019 and sadly the museum is now closed to visitors and is for sale.

I was recently reminded of the time back in 2014 or maybe it was 2015 when Ian told me he needed my help; it was bothering him that he didn’t have any notes about the exhibits in his collection; nobody would even know what was there, so he asked me if I would film some video for him to explain.

Of course I was happy to do that, so what follows is essentially a private tour around the buildings with Ian beside me pointing out all the items he wanted to bring to our attention. It wasn’t so much about the cars as he felt people would recognize all the models and know about them. His concern on that day was all the memorabilia he had accumulated, starting initially with family items like his first car, old photographs and his mother’s hand-made baskets but growing over time to include all manner of now- forgotten and obsolete items.

Initially he was reluctant to speak on camera preferring me to do it, but after a while his enthusiasm got the better of him and I’m pleased to say he took over, leaving me only to operate the camera and prompt him occasionally. Essentially I followed him around, letting him talk. As a result this video is close to what you might have experienced if you had visited Ian’s collection while he was still alive; he had a tale about every car and every item of memorabilia in that place.

I hope you enjoy it and can forgive the odd lapse in quality - I have used one or two of the clips only because what they show cannot be replaced (esp the clips of Ian moving a couple of cars out from the shed). Lighting was a challenge too, because Ian was always very reluctant to turn on any lights inside the building due to the cost. Anyway, I think this gives a good idea of what his museum was actually like; untidy, disorganised and not a little dusty but fascinating for all that.