pair of hands holding a model car over an archive box of model cars

Motoring Objects

From spark plugs to petrol pumps, the Object Collection represents the social history of motoring. The objects tell an endless number of stories about vehicles and their impact on our everyday lives.

The Collection

The National Motor Museum collects objects associated with motoring on the roads and race tracks of Great Britain. With so many historic vehicles to care for, we also collect objects specifically associated with each of them. We currently hold around 50,000 objects, some of which are on display at the National Motor Museum or loaned to other museums.

The Collection focuses not just on the car but its impact and relevance to our daily lives. Themes include families and motoring, popular culture and women in motoring. The Collection covers a range of materials from brass lamps to motoring clothing, decorative art, toys, games, road signs and roadside furniture.

We also aim to grow our collections to reflect themes that are relevant to the wider story of motoring now and in the future. From technology, to climate change, personal mobility and the built environment, all combine to help us tell the story of motoring.