If you are a fan of the Vauxhall marque, you’ll want to mark your calendar for Sunday, June 10, when Vauxhall Motors opens its Heritage Centre in Luton, UK, for a 25th anniversary celebration.
While the British brand has a 115-year history, its Heritage Centre is celebrating its 25th anniversary with what it calls the “world’s largest Vauxhall collection on display.” The centre’s collection includes 75 vehicle, ranging from the first 5 horsepower, single-cylinder, chain-driven horseless carriage to the newest 600 horsepower VXR8 GTS-R.
The event also will feature the 55th anniversary of the Viva, the 40th of the Chevette HS, the 35th of the Astra GTE, and the 25th of the Corsa.
Among other vehicles to be showcased are the 1918 D-type Staff Car used by the British Army in World War I, the L-Type Wyvern that began post-WW2 production from tanks to cars, several Bedford trucks, and the VX Lightning concept car.
The program will run from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., the company said.
Museums in motion
The AACA Museum is organizing tours to Maine and to Northern California and the California Automobile Museum plans to trip to Michigan.
In June, those on the AACA tour will visit the Owls Head, Seal Cove, Cole Land and Stanley museums in Maine and the group from the California museum will be in Michigan for the Detroit Grand Prix and visits to several museums. In August, the AACA tour group heads to California to visit the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, some private vehicle collections and at least a couple of wineries.
The AACA also is doing a day trip to the New York International Auto Show on April 8.
And, as usual, the National Corvette Museum has all sorts of road trips on its calendar, including one to France for the 24 Hours of Le Mans race.
Contact the AACA, California or Corvette museums for details.
There’s another kind of movement at Michigan museums
New reports in Michigan note movement at two of the Motor State’s automotive museums.
Repairs to the Buick Automotive Gallery building in Flint have meant that the vehicle housed there have been moved to the Courtland Center (shopping) Mall, where they’ll be housed in the former Steve and Barry’s store.
Meanwhile, flooding has threatened many structures in Michigan in recent weeks and the R.E. Olds Transportation Museum in Lansing closed temporarily while staff moved moving archives and artifacts and sandbagged around the building. The museum recently purchased its building, a former municipal bus garage, from the city of Lansing and already had begun making repairs to a leaking roof.
Special events this weekend
After being closed since February 20 for maintenance, the AACA Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania, reopens Saturday.
It’s the sixth annual “Under the Hood” weekend at the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan, where the engines of the museum’s car collection will be exposed all weekend. On Sunday, the museum’s winter speaker series features historian Mike Ersspamer’s presentation on “Jaguar: From Swallow Side Cars to Victory at Le Mans.”
The Blackhawk Museum in Danville, California, continues its 30th anniversary season Sunday with its speaker series as Vic Elford talks about “My Racing Life with Porsche.”
“Inside British Motorsport” is the topic Saturday at the British Motor Museum, where speakers include the museum’s curator, Stephen Laing, and Steve Cropley, editor of Autocar magazine.
