Thanks again to the volunteers hard at work making the cars look their best. Helped by some great product from AUTOGLYM continuing a relationship going back over 20 years when they supplied glass cleaning products to AutoWindscreens and the RAC.
Mark has been busy in the workshop but young Luke is down at Brooklands so we have missed him today.
We had a good project meeting this morning with our chairman and our biggest single shareholder working hard all day to make sure t’s are crossed and I’s all dotted by next week.
Builders , electricians, plumbers and other contractors are now in sight of the finish whilst Elite Signs from Gainsborough continue to tweak all the attraction signage. Huge thanks to you all.
Meanwhile our payroll continues to grow with janitorial, kitchen and reception staff all receiving inductions today. Welcome to you all and lets hope we enjoy the journey together.
Didn’t drive the McLaren today but pushed a Range Rover and commuted in my Rover Streetwise …the first ever urban crossover in the UK.
Lovely evening now but more like April than middle of May.
Thank goodness its stopped raining and it feels a bit warmer outside this morning.
Jane and I spent a few hours at Ambergate yesterday and Jason and Kirby (our catering manager) were also in evidence as we continue preparations for the grand opening.
Driving Experiences are selling well so if you want to be amongst the first few hundred people to take a “trip down memory lane”, book now to avoid disappointment. What a great Father’s day present : buy your Dad a drive in his old car !!!
I was lucky enough to drive our McLaren 650S yesterday although streaming wet roads meant that discretion was the order of the day.
Thanks to Bill and all the team at Woking for getting her to us safely and rest assured that she will be well cared for and admired in her new home in Derbyshire.
The BTCC starts at Thruxton today and is in full swing, live on ITV4. I was involved with this back in the early 1990s and have fond memories of great battles between the likes of John Cleland and Steve Soper. We were sponsoring the Peugeot team with Rob Gravett, Patrick Watts and Eugene O Brien. Another Grand Prix aswell although sadly no home crowd to cheer on Sainz and Alonso. 100 poles for Lewis : a truly staggering achievement.
Anyway, really looking forward to meeting visitors in less than two weeks. Stay safe and see you soon!
So, another week ends, and we are another step closer to opening our doors to the public. All the cars are in the hall and final adjustments are being made to put them in their position within the ‘journey’
This week we have had our volunteers with us and they have been fantastic giving up their time and getting stuck into anything and everything we have thrown at them!
The hard work doesn’t stop there though and we will be in over the weekend getting the café into shape!
Next week is looking just as packed, with a number of media visits planned, some press and some TV so do keep an eye out for us on TV or in print as we motor even quicker towards May 22nd.
Enjoy your weekend everyone and we look forward to welcoming you in very soon.
Richard.
Don’t forget, you can pre-book your entry tickets here: ticket sales
Wow! What a busy week! Great British Car Journey has been fully road tested this week with a “friends and family day” on Tuesday and our Press Day yesterday, followed by more journalist visits today.
Hopefully, many of you will have seen the great coverage on BBC Breakfast yesterday with John Maguire really getting into the spirit of “The Journey” and what its all about. This resulted in much comment from Louise Minchin and Dan Walker who both owned Rover Metros!!!
The legend that is Bob Warman followed up for ITV with a great 3 minute piece on Central News last night.
Needless to say, the phones have been very busy and we have plenty of bookings for our first weekend which is really pleasing after all the years of toil to get GBCJ on the road.
PLEASE remember that COVID is still out there so some queuing and delay will be inevitable to keep everyone safe but we are really looking forward to welcoming our first batches of guests. If you want to come this weekend, Sunday is less busy and has some capacity for more bookings. Those of you who are real car nuts are strongly advised to come on a weekday if possible .
The weather today has been really horrid but we were blessed with warm sunshine yesterday. The weekend is not looking great so an indoor attraction may be a good pick!!
Great piece in Autocar today: thanks to John Evans and photographer Max Edleston.
Lots of activity this week as we count down to opening. Car Parks and roadways all lined today so now looks even more like a venue. Two new team members have joined us on the journey: Welcome Becky and Kirby and we hope that you are here to stay.
Great work by our volunteers putting show stuff together and giving the cars a good clean: Thanks so much for your enthusiastic support.
Took Luke our apprentice for a very short spin in our ex-Elton John Bentley today. Just reward for all his hard work : he and Mark our head technician still busy fettling the Drive Dads Car fleet. Mini cylinder head removals was today’s tutorial.
All in all a really good feel about Derwent Works this week. Can’t wait to open the doors to visitors in just over 2 weeks.
Its’ been good to have a long weekend although I do seem to have spent a lot of time in the home office. Last week was very exciting as well over 100 cars crossed the river to their new home in Unit 4 at Derwent Works and the nine chapters of Great British Car Journey took shape. After nearly four years of planning the project which was nearly scuppered by illness and Covid, it’s great to be nearly there. Last weekend was fun with Drive It day and thanks to all those owners who dropped in. We saw well over 100 cars in the Spring sunshine and raised over £200 for Childline. The weather today is definitely not hood friendly so I suspect most Classics will be safely in the dry.
We are really grateful for all the messages of support and encouraged by the ticket sales for both Car Journey and Drive Dads Car. If you haven’t booked yet and you want to visit in our first week, please go to www.greatbritishcarjourney.com or www.drivedadscar.com
The whole team are really looking forward to our new adventure and welcoming you: our guests and introducing you to the cars and a heavy dose of nostalgia! See you soon!
Welcome to the Great British Car Journey Blog. You join us just 24 days away from officially opening our doors to the public and it has only been 4 years, nine months and 24 days coming!
As we start to hang the banners and move the cars in to the main hall, my vision from 2015 is rapidly becoming a reality as the building starts to fill up and take shape.
As you can imagine, with well over 100 cars in the exhibition and 32 in the Drive Dad’s Car experience there has been plenty of moving, shunting, nudging and bump starting going on!
I have added a few photographs to this blog to illustrate the ‘journey‘ we have been on, getting this wonderful venue on the banks of the River Derwent ready to deliver what we believe will an exciting new attraction in the UK for the car enthusiast and families alike.
We will be updating the blog daily from next week, so do check back for the latest updates, but for this Bank Holiday weekend my staff and I will be taking a deserved few days off to recharge our batteries ahead of the final push to get everything ready for May 22nd.
If you are planning to come and take the tour or book a driving experience during our opening month, Covid guidelines mean we have halved the daily capacity, so we would urge you to book your places as soon as possible.
Finally! If you haven’t already, head over to our Facebook, twitter and Instagram pages and follow us to get all the latest updates from the Great British Car Journey and Drive Dad’s Car.
Great British Car Journey is out of the garage and all set to hit the road in 2021
Great British Car Journey – a brand new Derbyshire visitor attraction – is all set to open later this year.
The announcement follows the signing of a lease on the former Wire Works site in Ambergate, Derbyshire.
The site, which is located just off the A6 in between Derby and Matlock, is currently undergoing an extensive refurbishment ahead of Great British Car Journey opening in summer 2021.
Originally due to open in 2020, plans for the attraction had to be shelved following serious health issues with two of its founders. Now back to full health, Great British Car Journey is out of the garage, back on road and all set to open later this year with even more cars joining the original line up.
Located beside the River Derwent and within the Derwent Mills World Heritage Site, more than 150 classic British cars which were at the forefront of a global transport revolution, will be exhibited at the new family-friendly attraction.
The visitor attraction is the brainchild of former Auto Windscreens and Blyton circuit owner Richard Usher. He explained: “Signing the lease is a real line in the sand and puts us on track for opening in 2021. The enforced break, through both ill health and the pandemic, means Great British Car Journey is coming back stronger having given us the opportunity to acquire even more fantastic British made and designed classic cars.”
The covered exhibition features vehicles from a bygone age, including Austin Sevens and Morris Minors as well as the more modern classics including the original Mini, Ford Cortina and Vauxhall Cavalier.
Great British Car Journey will take visitors on an interactive journey through the golden years of British design and manufacturing from the 1930s – 1990s using a unique audio-visual device.
Alongside the exhibition, Great British Car Journey will also boast a gift shop, café and onsite driving route on the four-acre site for the special Drive Dad’s Car experience.
Drive Dad’s Car will allow visitors to go for a drive with an instructor in a selection of over 30 iconic British cars from the Austin Seven to a Rolls Royce Silver Spirit. That old car smell and an analogue driving experience guarantees a wave of nostalgia for times gone by.
Richard added: “The team and I are tremendously excited about the launch of Great British Car Journey and the Drive Dad’s Car experience in 2021. It will be a fabulous addition to the many attractions in and around the Peak District and Derbyshire.”
Keep up-to-date with developments at Great British Car Journey as it gets ready to open the doors, on Facebook and Twitter.
