Coventry's transport museum

I was very impressed by Coventry's transport museum. And as luck would have it, the day I turned up last month was the last day on which entry was free for non-Coventrarians.

It has a very extensive collection of bicycles, cars, and other stuff, illustrating a century and a half of the city's manufacturing output.

Initially Coventry was very big on bicycles, and when motor vehicles came along, all the bicycle companies switched over rapidly to car manufacture.

The day I was there saw a big gathering of Jaguar cars and their owners on the museum forecourt. They're particularly proud of their Jags in Coventry. It's one of the few of the big brands that's still manufactured there - mind you, it's owned by Tata Motors of India now.

It was Coventry's vehicle manufacturing industry that made it an obvious air raid target in World War 2. At that time it had switched to manufacturing mainly military vehicles.

I was delighted to encounter there examples of two of the cars that I've owned. And they were side by side!



There was a Hillman Imp. The last car I owned in England was one of these.



And here's a Hillman Hunter, my first Australian car. I see by the number plate that this one spent time in Tehran. When I passed through Iran in 1974 every other car was a white Hillman Hunter. I think it was something to do with one of them having won the much publicised 1968 London to Sydney endurance car rally.

Below: one of their many E-Type Jags