Watch: A walk through of MOTAT's new Accelerate exhibition
Friday, 22 June 2018
Auckland's Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) has launched a new exhibition with the roar of an un-muffled V8 engine.
'Accelerate: Driving New Zealand' is now open to the public, with legendary and iconic vehicles like Bruce McLaren's Cooper Climax and Sir Edmund Hillary's tractor amongst those on show.
MOTAT says it brings a new perspective to its road transport collection while exploring the technologies, social impacts and culture associated with automobiles in New Zealand.
At the same time, they want visitors to be able to revisit some of the museum's most cherished vehicles, as well as introducing new cars and the stories of the people who love them.
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The new exhibition features a number of local motoring legends like Bruce McLaren's Cooper Climax, the Team New Zealand A1GP 'Black Beauty' racing car, and a prodigiously powerful Mazda RX7 once owned by drift legend Mad Mike Whiddett.
There's also New Zealand's only locally designed and built production car - the legendary Trekka - as well as one of the three Massey Ferguson tractors from Sir Edmund Hillary's Trans-Antarctic Expedition.
Sir Edmund's son, Peter Hillary, officially opened the exhibition, recalling his father's epic 2000km trek and jokingly wondered how the tractor made its way into an exhibition called 'Accelerate'.
The exhibition is the culmination of months of work by the MOTAT team and exhibition curator Elspeth Hocking is looking forward to seeing the exhibition come to life.
'I've been privileged to meet some inspirational, adventurous and quirky Kiwis, who have innovated and used vehicle technology in all sorts of fascinating ways,' she said.
'Vehicles of all shapes and sizes really do drive New Zealand, and I can't wait to see how stories of transport and technology continue to change and grow into the future.'
The exhibition celebrates the 'Kiwi-can-do' attitude and its application to cars and other vehicles, highlighting the fact that 'we have created solar-powered and autonomous vehicles, modified souped-up performance cars, and even 3D printed an electric car kit' and asks the question: could New Zealanders be pioneers in the search for sustainable and safer alternatives in vehicle technology?
'The exhibition sheds light on our heritage collection, but also emphasises the technology, the innovation and the cultural importance of vehicles in a New Zealand context,' said Dr. Lesley McTurk, Chair of the MOTAT board.
'We hope that it attracts not only history buffs, but car enthusiasts alike.'
'Accelerate: Driving New Zealand' is a long-term exhibition with feature objects scheduled to be switched out periodically.