Norton News 201A - Flipbook - Page 26
A Pilgrimage Through Motorcycle History:
Museums of the US & UK
by
Art Bone
I
“To help with your road trip planning this summer”
’ve always loved museums, particularly motorcycle and
auto museums. On my 昀椀rst trip to the Isle of Man for the TT I
had a list of motorcycle museums in the British Isles. I’m not
sure where I got the list in those pre-internet days. If memory
serves, I copied it out of the AMA magazine and, at that time, I
believe they had the only motorcycle museum in the United States.
I rented a motorcycle in London and I planned to ride around
England for a week and hit as many museums and racetracks as
possible, then catch the Steam Packet to the Island. Most of the
ones I visited are no longer in existence, their owners having gone
on to their rewards.
The 昀椀rst one I visited was in Rochester, just south of London,
upstairs above a jewelry store. The only way you know there was
a museum there was a Rudge or somesuch parked just inside the
door surrounded by cases of jewelry. It was the collection of a
former TT winner whose name I’ve forgotten.
The second was Sammy Miller’s Museum which, at that time,
was housed in an outbuilding next to his Kawasaki dealership. It
was small and dimly lite, a far cry from the beautiful place he has
now.
Most of the collections I visited were similar. The Murray
Museum on the Isle of Man was housed in an abandoned WWII
building atop Monte Snafell on the TT course. It was dark, cold,
and drafty and had a moldy smell. Thank goodness it’s been
moved to a much nicer location in Santon.
In 1989 I couldn’t imagine a motorcycle museum like
Sammy Millers and the idea that the largest motorcycle
museum in the world would be in Birmingham, Alabama and
not Birmingham, England was inconceivable.
United States Museums
Barber Motorsports Museum — 6030 Barber Motorsports Pkwy,
Birmingham, AL 35094
Wheels Through Time Museum — 62 Vintage Ln, Maggie Valley,
NC 28751
Number 201
23
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