The National Motor Museum has opened its new exhibition gallery, Driven: Britain’s Motoring Story. The exhibition focuses on how Britain has changed over the decades, delving into the social and cultural impact of motoring.

It features stories, artefacts and images  to surprise, engage and inspire visitors, plus of course, vehicles from five eras of UK motoring:

• Ignition: Motoring’s First Pioneers 1870 – 1910s – A period of extraordinary technological change that started with road locomotives such as the 1875 Grenville Steam Carriage (led by men waving red flags. See feature image) and ended with elegant petrol-driven sports cars like the 1910 Bugatti Type 15.
• Handbrake Off: Motoring Between the Wars 1920s and 1930s – Thanks to mass-production, cars like the 1923 Calcott 11.9hp became affordable for ordinary British families.
• Accelerating Away: The Motorway Age 1940s – 1960s – An expanding road network and increasingly reliable cars like the Mini created a boom in road use. By 1969, there was one car on the road for every 5 people in the UK.
• Buckle Up: Motoring through Challenging Times 1970s – Who remembers the dreary Hillman Imp or the ‘cool’ Jensen Interceptor? I don’t mean to be unkind but I remember them both as rust-buckets! They certainly were challenging times!
• Plugged In: New Journeys 1980s – Today – Well, here we are. An era we know well illustrated by Europe’s first 3D printed electric vehicle the 2020 Chameleon 3D, a Model S chassis of a 2016 Tesla Model S P90D, and 2015 Volkswagen XL1, a pioneering concept for a super-efficient diesel hybrid, and a 2005 Rover 75 1.8 Connoisseur SE.

Dr Jon Murden, Chief Executive of the National Motor Museum says, “This exhibition’s new displays have an overarching story of motoring from its earliest times to the present day. Britain without cars and motorcycles would be unrecognisable – they have changed the shape of our cities, nations and landscapes, revolutionised the way we make and sell things, and transformed how we live our lives.”

Driven: Britain’s Motoring Story was officially opened last night by TV presenter Jon Bentley with Lord Montagu of Beaulieu and invited guests in attendance.

It is open to the public from today and is included in the Beaulieu admission ticket.