October 24th 2010
Think of Motor Museums, and the mind conjures up pictures of Lord Montague’s magnificent establishment at Beaulieu, The Heritage Museum at Gaydon, or the Haynes collection at Sparkford, but Stondon ?, what and where is Stondon ?. Well, Stondon Transport Museum lives in a converted Garden Centre, hiding at the end of an unadopted drive in a small village called Henlow, 4 miles north of Hitchen in Bedfordshire.
The largest private collection of vehicles in the country, and very much “a one off”, don’t expect rows of gleaming and beautifully restored cars, Stondon is not like that. The collection of vehicles have been taken off the road, warts (rust ?) and all, straight into the Museum as working examples of their marque, many of them are still perfectly roadworthy. The Museum was founded in 1994 by F.J. Saunders, a delightful old Gentleman, who started collecting vehicles 40 years ago, and has just celebrated his eightieth birthday and is still fully active within the Museum, he even helped serve our coffee on arrival !.
The first sight to greet you on arrival at the site, is probably the last thing that you would expect in the wilds of Bedfordshire, and is a full size replica of Captain Cook’s ship the Endeavour, constructed from original drawings from the National Maritime Museum. Although it is now well accepted by local residents and the Planning Authorities, getting planning permission pre construction wasn’t without its difficulties, hence full size masts and rigging were not allowed, particularly as nearby RAF Henlow, were concerned with the safe access to their airfield for gliders and small aircraft, full size masts and rigging would have compromised safety.
Partial view of Endeavour !
Our very well informed guide, certainly gave us considerable insight as to what life below decks was like for those employed by Captain Cook in those far off days, and as you would imagine, this replica ship exposed to the elements of British weather all the year round, needs a considerable amount of maintenance.
I must admit that I still cannot get my mind around the connection between a Ship from the mid 1700’s, and Motor Transport from the twentieth century ?, still very interesting though !.
So, having survived our voyage aboard the Endeavour, and without contracting scurvy, (apparently Captain Cook fed his crew with copious amounts of boiled cabbage, fresh greens and lemon juice, all rich in vitamins ), so me hearties, that’s how to avoid scurvy !, its time to visit the classic vehicles, which are housed in eight halls.
It is probably almost impossible to provide a comprehensive guide to all of the cars and vehicles on display, there are even some cars for sale, although with the way in which vehicles are fitted into the hall, a jigsaw comes to mind !, quite how the car of your choice would be extracted from the mass remains to be seen !. It would probably be worth the purchase price in entertainment value, to see just how they do it !!. The Museum is certainly quite comprehensive, with a fine array of cars and motor cycles, everything from a London Transport AEC RT Bus, to an Asian Tuk Tuk motorised Rickshaw, a Russian Sam Missile, on its Transporter, that was recovered from the Berlin Wall, to a 1912 Lacre “L” type Road Sweeper. And as for the cars, well, it is difficult to know where to begin, with everything on display from the fairly typical, like a sectioned Austin 1100 Countryman, first seen at the Geneva Motor Show in Spring 1966, to the bizarre, in the shape of a 1985 Cursor, with detachable weather cover, built in Kent, this example being one of only 44 made, its 49cc engine returning 90 miles to the gallon !!. Greece ordered 200 of these strange little vehicles, but subsequently cancelled the order (when sanity was restored ? ) Anyone with a Group E licence can drive one of these Moped like vehicles, including 16 year olds !!. The strange little green vehicle, unfortunately, couldn’t be identified, as its descriptive notice had been ruined by damp ingress.
So, I think that the best thing that I can do is to show some further pictures of some of the exhibits below. The best thing that you can do is to pay Stondon a visit, I doubt that you will be disappointed!.
London Transport RT
Tuk Tuk
Russian SAM Missile
1912 Lacre L road sweeper
Hall 1 overview
sectioned Austin 1100 Countryman
1985 Cursor 49cc
Unidentified
Austintatious