Barber Vintage Motorsport Museum, Birmingham (must see)

The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, located in Birmingham, is a one-of-a-kind institution dedicated to the global history and artistry of motorcycles. It all started with George Barber, a businessman with a serious passion for vintage motorcycles. Noticing the lack of a museum that honored the international legacy of motorcycles, he set out to change that. His goal was clear: to preserve motorcycle history in the United States while showcasing a global perspective - giving enthusiasts access to machines that had previously only been seen in books and magazines.

Barber’s private collection officially became a public nonprofit museum in 1994 and opened to visitors a year later in Birmingham’s Southside. It quickly gained national attention. In 1997, the museum contributed 21 motorcycles to the Guggenheim Museum’s famous Art of the Motorcycle exhibition - a traveling success that reached audiences in New York, Chicago, and Bilbao. Inspired by this success, Barber took the museum to the next level by building a world-class facility that included its racetrack. He brought in racing legends John Surtees and Dan Gurney to consult on the design, and in 2003, the Barber Museum moved to its current home in the Barber Motorsports Park.

Today, the museum houses over 1,600 vintage and modern motorcycles and race cars, making it the largest motorcycle museum in the world. It’s also home to the world’s largest collection of Lotus race cars. With more than 900 motorcycles on display at any given time - ranging from 1904 models to contemporary machines - the collection spans 16 countries and over 140 different marques, including rare bikes from as far afield as Australia, New Zealand, and Sweden.

The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum is more than just a showcase of machines - it’s a celebration of motorcycle culture, design, and innovation on a global scale.