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Cars Of The Stars Museum, Cumbria

Aston Martin DB5 as used by James Bond. This image is copyright free

Cars have been related to show business for most of their history. In the 1920s Alfred Sloan of General Motors found himself having to compete in a car market in which demand for basic transportation had been saturated. Henry Ford had built 15,007,033 Model Ts at his Baton Rouge plant in Detroit between October 1908 and May 1927. These cars were produced - minor refinements aside - to a uniform standard. As a result by the mid 1920s Sloan decided to offer "style" cars with superficial differences. The style changed yearly, with different models arranged in a hierarchy to encourage people to upgrade their cars. Sloan brought in Harley Earl to style cars for General Motors. Harley Earl was not from Detriot where car manufacture was based. Instead he was from Hollywood, and he brought an essential element of show business to cars. As David Gorman says in his book Auto Opium, Earl recognised that the purpose of his styling changes was to "dramatise progress", through the gradual development of visual themes. Earl's first job in automotive show business was to make cars look long and low, to get away from the style of utilitarian vehicles driving along rutted roads. Optical illusions helped to do this, including a "through line", a horizontal line that began at the radiator and flowed to the back of the car. The line was even carefully designed with an angle that would reflect light more effectively and therefore be more visible and striking. This line is still used on cars today.

With cars being designed by people from Hollywood it is not surprising that a link between cars and show business should extend to the actual use of cars in films. Cars Of The Stars Museum in Keswick Cumbria has one of the world's biggest collections of cars from film and television. The museum dates back to 1982 when Granada Television asked a Keswick artist named Peter Nelson if they could borrow his MG TC car for use in their Spoils of War television series. This gave Nelson the idea for his museum, which eventually opened in May 1989. The museum now displays many cars made famous by their role in show business. You'll be able to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, cars from The Flintstones, Back To The Future, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, The Pink Panther, as well as a collection of Bat Mobiles and James Bond vehicles. In keeping with the sense of show business, much thought and work has gone into presenting the cars in a dramatic manner. Many car museums simply line their exhibits up. At Cars Of the Stars entire film sets, complete with lighting and sound, are recreated in which cars play their role. Displays change when vehicles are required for film work, or on a rotation basis, since there is not the space to display the entire collection. If you wish to see a specific vehicle contact the museum first.

 

Address: Cars Of The Stars, Standish Street, Keswick, Cumbria, CA12 5LS

Directions: Keswick is fifteen minutes from junction 40 of the M6. The museum is in the centre of Keswick and is well signposted. Use Bell Close car park off Victoria Street. Click here for an interactive map centred on Cars Of The Stars.

Opening Times: February Half Term for two weeks, open daily 10am - 5pm.

One week prior to Easter until end of November, open daily 10am - 5pm.

1st December until Christmas 10am - 5pm, weekends only.

Please note that it appears the museum is currently closed and may be looking for new premises. It would be wise to contact Cars Of The Stars before visiting. We will update the page once we have more information.

Access: All of the site is level, and would be suitable for wheelchair users. Note there are no toilet faciltities on site, but there are facilties close by in Keswick.

Contact:

telephone: 017687 73757

fax: 017687 72090

e-mail: cotsmm@aol.com

web site: http://www.carsofthestars.com/cots.html