For quite some time it has been the ambition of the GOC Committee to exhibit a Gilbern at one of the countries major museums
to increase public exposure for our favourite marque. The 'life blood' for any minority marque such as ours is to find a
succession of enthusiastic owners who want to drive, maintain and restore their cars to ensure their perpetuation.
There is a lot of marque competition for such owners, so having Gilberns at the front of mind when selection decisions are
being made is vital. We felt that seeing a shining example at a museum could have a major influence on the outcome of this
process.
To take this forward we had to do two things, find a suitable Gilbern example and negotiate with a high profile museum. By fate both of these aspects fell in place last December when long term member Les Tod decided that, because of health reasons, it was time to stop driving and offered his excellent, owned from new, red Estate to the club as a museum exhibit and Val and I got an invitation to the Haynes Museum's Christmas celebration bash. Between mince pies and mulled wine I was able to engage the museum's curator Mike Penn and the founder / Chairman of Trustees John Haynes (of workshop manual / publishing fame) regarding why they should have a Gilbern in their famous 'red room'. The response was very positive and John recalled with great enthusiasm his knowledge of the various Gilbern models, particularly the 1800 GT that had been featured in one of his early books on component cars back in the sixties. In short he was very grateful for the offer of a Gilbern as he had a strong association with minority marques having owned and/or raced a tasty selection when they were current. The list included a Lotus Seven, Elva Courier, Reliant Scimitar and a TVR Tuscan V8 to name but few.
The intervening period involved further negotiations, understanding and meeting the conditions of making a donation to the museum as a Charitable Trust, organising temporary garaging for the Estate and its transportation from Sussex to Somerset.
Roger Frankland kindly trailered the Estate down to Somerset on Sunday 15th July and the pictures show it being unloaded and handed over to the museum's curator Mike Penn.
I hope you all put the Haynes Motor Museum on your list of places to visit because it is a wonderful experience for motoring enthusiasts. It has some really significant and impressive exhibits such as the pre-war Duesenberg Model J and Cadillac Madame X, lots of everyday transport examples from all generations and a fabulous mouth watering array of sporting /racing cars. There is now, of course, the new incentive of seeing a Gilbern in the 'red room'; there was great significance in Les's Estate being red after all!
To take this forward we had to do two things, find a suitable Gilbern example and negotiate with a high profile museum. By fate both of these aspects fell in place last December when long term member Les Tod decided that, because of health reasons, it was time to stop driving and offered his excellent, owned from new, red Estate to the club as a museum exhibit and Val and I got an invitation to the Haynes Museum's Christmas celebration bash. Between mince pies and mulled wine I was able to engage the museum's curator Mike Penn and the founder / Chairman of Trustees John Haynes (of workshop manual / publishing fame) regarding why they should have a Gilbern in their famous 'red room'. The response was very positive and John recalled with great enthusiasm his knowledge of the various Gilbern models, particularly the 1800 GT that had been featured in one of his early books on component cars back in the sixties. In short he was very grateful for the offer of a Gilbern as he had a strong association with minority marques having owned and/or raced a tasty selection when they were current. The list included a Lotus Seven, Elva Courier, Reliant Scimitar and a TVR Tuscan V8 to name but few.
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The intervening period involved further negotiations, understanding and meeting the conditions of making a donation to the museum as a Charitable Trust, organising temporary garaging for the Estate and its transportation from Sussex to Somerset.
Roger Frankland kindly trailered the Estate down to Somerset on Sunday 15th July and the pictures show it being unloaded and handed over to the museum's curator Mike Penn.
The GOC is very grateful to:-
Les and Brenda Tod, for generously donating their Gilbern Estate to the museum.
Mike Penn and John Haynes, for providing the opportunity to display a Gilbern.
Roger Frankland, for his great help in the local negotiations, organising storage and for providing the transport.
Bob Sellix, for providing garaging for the Estate in Sussex.
Colin Pascoe, for helping with the car's preparation.
Local Somerset members, Stuart Eddy and Tony Ware for helping unload the Estate and for commemorating its arrival.
Les and Brenda Tod, for generously donating their Gilbern Estate to the museum.
Mike Penn and John Haynes, for providing the opportunity to display a Gilbern.
Roger Frankland, for his great help in the local negotiations, organising storage and for providing the transport.
Bob Sellix, for providing garaging for the Estate in Sussex.
Colin Pascoe, for helping with the car's preparation.
Local Somerset members, Stuart Eddy and Tony Ware for helping unload the Estate and for commemorating its arrival.
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I hope you all put the Haynes Motor Museum on your list of places to visit because it is a wonderful experience for motoring enthusiasts. It has some really significant and impressive exhibits such as the pre-war Duesenberg Model J and Cadillac Madame X, lots of everyday transport examples from all generations and a fabulous mouth watering array of sporting /racing cars. There is now, of course, the new incentive of seeing a Gilbern in the 'red room'; there was great significance in Les's Estate being red after all!
Peter Daye - 23/08/07
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