As you might have guessed from the title, today I called in on the National Transport Museum in Inverell.

So, if pictures of old cars and the like aren’t your thing, you might want to skip this post.  It’s basically going to be a wall of photos and only a little bit of typing.

The museum was basically a giant warehouse with all the cars set up inside.  They have signs saying not to touch them, but they’re not roped off so you can walk all around them and investigate everything.  It’s pretty fascinating.

1950’s Race car:

Triumph Dolomite Sprint:

At this point I started taking pictures of the signs so you, too, can be informed!  You know the drill – clicking on them should get you a close-up.

This is a bike, but it’s transport, so it counts:

Volvo cars over the years:

I like stuff like that, showing you how design and function evolve over the years.  You can see how the earlier models aren’t anything approaching streamlined, because they didn’t need to be – cars weren’t going fast enough to make it an issue.  It was only when engines started getting more powerful that they had to take air resistance into account.

And now for the first long string of car photos.  Hope you like it, because there’ll be a lot of them.

Yes, the only one in the world!  It’s hard to see how ridiculously big those wheels are, so here is me next to it to give it some scale:

I was worried about the timer working properly, which is why I have such a funny look on my face.  Now, some more transport (not cars):

Now cars!

This one came with a cute poem:

And me for scale:

They weren’t joking when they called it a mini.  Golf carts are bigger than that.

Another of those ‘through the years’ posters:

An old school bus:

When they said ‘transport’, they didn’t just mean land-based:

For scale:

Slightly bigger than a gold cart, but not by much.

Close-up of the hood ornament:

Close-up of the hood ornament:

Hood ornament:

The informative sign said to take a look at the windscreen wiper – it was installed by the owner, and could be operated by either drive or passenger:

The interior:

Hood Ornament:

From the rear:

From the rear:

Hood ornament:

The interior:

See how the coffin is held in place?  Those little loops and pins are at set intervals all around it.

They also had a big collection of dolls and dresses.  I’m not sure why – the words ‘transport museum’ don’t conjure up images of either – but they’re there.  I took photos of some of the more interesting ones.

These marionettes are believed to be from the 1930’s:

I’m sure this is unintentional, but something about that veil and the lack of any features underneath it made me think it wouldn’t be out of place in a horror film.  I don’t know why.

They had cakes as well.  Again, don’t ask me about the connection, but here are some of them:

I like the ‘sunken ship’ one.  And I had to get a better angle on the one that looks like a bed, so you guys could see what was on top of it:

Now back to our regularly-scheduled cars:

Again, this is a tiny car, so have some scale:

The interior:

I can see why people called it ‘the Rolls’ – pretty swanky!

They had some engines on display as well.

1936-1948 Cadillac engine:

1920 Studebaker engine:

This is a tune-up machine – what the garage hooked your car up to so they could measure engine performance:

More cars:

Two Fords that were used for racing:

They also had these very old petrol pumps:

Haven’t seen Mobilgas around here for a while.  Apparently the Australian branch got gobbled up by 7-11.

And for scale:

The interior:

It’s basically an enclosed trike.  Tiniest thing that could claim to be a car I’ve ever seen.

That’s it for the cars.  Now for the motorcycles:

What you see resting on the seat is a prize – best vintage bike.  Couldn’t see what year it was held or where, but it took first place.

You think this was all they had?  No, these were only the ones I found interesting – they have more motorcycles, more buses, and they have so many cars it seems ridiculous.

They also had an old pinball machine – 1984 Williams Space Shuttle Pinball Machine, it was called.  No one can doubt they deserve to be called a transport museum, but maybe they should add ‘and eclectic additions’ to the title.

They had a 1974 BMW motorcycle that was apparently for ‘bragging pictures’.  I’ve never been one to pass up a good brag, so I hopped on.

Then I had to get off the bike and back to Turtle Shell.  After seeing all those cars buffed and polished to that gleaming shine, I found myself thinking my car was in need of a wash.  Not enough to actually, you know, wash it – I think I’ll get that done in Armidale.