Australian vehicle museums that'll rev your engine

Whether you’re team Holden or Ford (JDM, custom, or something in between); what’s indisputable is that Aussies love cars.

Between off-roading, camping, beach rides, street shows and racing, road-tripping around Australia, opting for the freedom of van life, or just day-to-day life zipping around town, our vehicles are a quintessential part of Australian culture and our history.

This explains why dotted all around and across Australia you’ll find museums dedicated to the vehicles that have made an impact and for the rev heads who lap it up.

Here are some of the best car museums around the country.

The National Motor Museum

Located about an hour’s drive from Adelaide in Shannon Street, Birdwood, the National Motor Museum is well worth the drive.

With permanent and temporary exhibitions that showcase everything from the icons of Australian motoring to the manufacturing journey and the personal stories of trailblazers within the industry including Australia’s first female garage proprietor, Alice Anderson, there is no shortage of interesting subject matter.

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The National Motor Racing Museum

Located at the final corner of the country’s most famous racing circuit, Mount Panorama in Bathurst, a visit to the museum can tick two items off your car lover’s bucket list.

The National Motor Racing Museum celebrates the rich history of Australian Motor Sport, with a particular focus on Bathurst and Mount Panorama as the spiritual home of Australian motor racing.

Stories of drivers and events are told through original trophies, race suits, leathers, race footage and photographs and the Immersive Room gives visitors a taste of the speed, sound, and excitement of racing at Mount Panorama.

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The National Automobile Museum of Tasmania

If you’re ever in the Apple Isle, a trip to the National Automobile Museum of Tasmania is well worth adding to your travel itinerary.

 Located in Launceston, the museum prides itself on its ever-changing display of motor vehicles and motorcycles as well as exhibitions that showcase Australia’s heritage.

Current displays include a 1974 Lola T332, which was part of an open-wheel, single-seater race series; a 1976 Rolls-Royce Phantom VI (one of only 374 ever produced) and a 1951 Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle (at the time of launch in 1948 it was the fastest street-legal motorcycle money could buy).

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The Museum of Vehicle Evolution (MOVE)

Located in the regional Victorian town of Shepparton, MOVE features legends of the road transport industry and their machines in the Kenworth Dealer Pavilion's "Avenue of Legends."

The exhibition tells the stories of local Goulburn Valley truckers – their lives, their businesses, and the trucks they operated.

The museum also houses the Garth Wallace Harley Davidson Collection, which showcases a century’s worth of fully restored and survivor machines from the iconic brand and the Farren Bicycle Collection (a collection of over 200 vintage bikes).

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The National Military Vehicle Museum

If military vehicles pique your interest, then you can't go past the National Military Vehicle Museum, located in South Australia.

Housing vehicles from current times back to World War I, the museum also features vehicles that have served in combat.

Owned by members of the Military Vehicle Preservation Society of South Australia, many of the vehicles have been expertly restored and are still in running order and driven regularly.

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