British Motor Museum to host brand new ‘Metro at 40’ online exhibition

Published: 10/09/2020

The British Motor Museum is to host a brand new exhibition to celebrate one of Britain’s best-selling small cars - entitled “Metro at 40”. For the first time the Museum will be hosting the exhibition online as part of its drive to have more online and accessible insights into their collection. The exhibition, which went live on 9 September, is free to view from their website and gives everyone the chance to celebrate this iconic car’s special birthday.

2020 marks the 40th anniversary of the Austin Metro and 30th anniversary of the Rover Metro. As part of the anniversary celebrations, the Museum hosted a one day celebration of the two iconic British small car marques. The National Metro & Mini Show took place on 6 September and saw enthusiasts enjoy a scaled back, but very enjoyable show. 

Cat Griffin, Curator at the British Motor Museum said “We opened our other anniversary exhibition “Range Rover at 50” in March but due to lockdown it was only open for two days. As the Museum was closed for three months we decided to extend the run of that display until 28 September and come up with a new way for people to enjoy the story of the Metro. We thought it would be a great subject to present as our first virtual exhibition”.

The online exhibition is packed with all things Metro from the Archive, including facts, photos and film clips. Visitors can also read about many fond memories of the small hatchback which have been submitted to the Museum by Metro owners.  Anyone that would like to send in their own Metro musings for the ‘Metro & Me’ feature can email their stories and images to museum@britishmotormuseum.co.uk

The Museum is now reverting to Friday to Monday opening until October half-term (24 October - 1 November), when it will be open daily, subject to any changes in government advice.  It will then return to Friday to Monday opening throughout November & December until 20 December when it will close for Christmas, reopening on 2 January 2021.

For more information about the exhibition please visit www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk/explore/temporary-exhibitions