National Motorcycle Museum (UK)
The National Motorcycle Museum occupies an 8-acre site in Bickenhill, Solihull, England and holds the world's largest collection of British motorcycles. In addition to over 1,000 motorcycles, which cover a century of motorcycle manufacture, the museum developed award-winning conference facilities in 1985. It is located close to the junction of the A45 and the M42, close to Birmingham Airport and the National Exhibition Centre Birmingham and attracts over 250,000 visitors a year.
History
The Museum owes its formation to the drive and ambition of one man, construction entrepreneur and self-made millionaire Mr WR Richards, who started collecting good examples of British motorcycles in the 1970s. The museum opened in October 1984 with an initial collection of 350 machines.Richards died in 2008 but the museum continues under the guardianship of his widow Christine and his sons Simon and Nick Hartland. The Museum collection is curated by Museum Director James Hewing.
2003 Fire
The museum was severely damaged by a fire which broke out shortly before 5pm on 16 September 2003. West Midlands Fire Service investigators concluded that a cigarette thrown away in a designated smoking area was responsible for igniting a pile of cardboard boxes containing old air-conditioning filters. The fire spread very rapidly inside the museum's dropped ceilings which, though conforming to safety regulations, lacked a sprinkler system. The building did have smoke detection and fire alarm equipment which contacted the fire service within minutes of the fire starting, but the fire had taken a strong hold before it was discovered on site.Staff and people attending a conference helped to save more than 300 historic motorcycles, but three of the five exhibition halls were completely burnt out. 120 firefighters were needed to put out the fire which was visible for. Fire crews were delayed by rush hour traffic and hindered by an inadequate hydrant on site, but the fire was extinguished after about an hour and a half. Many of the museum's rarest and irreplaceable exhibits were destroyed, with the loss of 380 motorcycles. The cost of the fire was estimated at over £14 million.
After fifteen months and a £20 million rebuild which included installation of a £1.2 million sprinkler system, the museum was reopened on 1 December 2004. 150 of the motorcycles that had been destroyed in the fire were fully restored for the re-opening. Many of the fire damaged motorcycles were restored to showroom condition.