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Great British Car Journey acquires AROnline

Great British Car Journey has acquired the AROnline website from its founder Keith Adams.

AROnline was established in 2001 by Keith and has grown to become regarded as the ultimate resource for fans of British motoring history, boasting nearly 6,000 published articles.

Richard Usher, founder of the museum, commented: “As a classic car authority and renowned journalist, Keith was a terrific help to us four years ago when we were putting Great British Car Journey together. He has been a stalwart supporter of our vision.

“AROnline is a ready-made archive of the history behind the majority of our exhibits, and it is a site I have been visiting for more years than I care to admit. It made absolute sense to acquire the site and give our visitors and club members access to even more of the UK’s very rich automotive history.”

Keith Adams said: “I am delighted that the future of AROnline has been secured and I am pleased to be able to retain control of the past and future content by working with Richard and his team.

“There are no plans to change the website in any material way or introduce any form of subscription charge. It has always been a free resource and the intention is that it stays that way.”

The acquisition of AROnline follows the Autocar deal in 2022, which saw Great British Car Journey secure an agreement to reproduce articles and artwork from the 125-year Autocar magazine archive.

Richard added: “We want Great British Car Journey to become recognised as the authority and place to go for all British motoring history, whether that’s viewing cars, driving them, hanging pictures of them on their wall or, now, reading about them at AROnline.”

Great British Car Journey opened in May 2021 and is a celebration of cars built in Britain. Richard, a lifelong car enthusiast and being born in Birmingham, has a natural affinity with cars built in the Midlands and beyond.

Keith has been similarly car obsessed from a very early age and has had a long journalistic career during which he has written articles for all the leading classic car magazines and is currently editor of Parker’s Guide.

Between them, Richard and Keith have owned more than 500 cars and have an abiding interest in the cars that gave the ordinary family the freedom of the road.

AROnline can continue to be accessed at www.aronline.co.uk.

Great British Car Journey secures Autocar archive merchandise deal  

We’re delighted to announce that Great British Car Journey has completed an agreement with Haymarket Media Group to reproduce images and articles from the Autocar archive, which spans more than 125 years of automotive history.

The deal, secured by the Derbyshire-based classic car visitor attraction, follows the digitisation of more than a million pages of Autocar magazine, which has been published since November 1895. 

Great British Car Journey is the first organisation to be licensed to reproduce and sell images from the Autocar archive. 

Autocar is one of the world’s oldest car magazines, and the weekly’s archive is made up of around 6000 magazines.

The images from the newly digitised archive will be reproduced on a range of on-demand wall art, including framed and unframed canvases and prints as well as metal plaques.

The images are all available to order in a range of sizes through Great British Car Journey’s new online store.

Great British Car Journey founder, Richard Usher has selected an initial 75 front covers, dating from 1925 to the mid-1960s. They feature a range of British marques and models that have either disappeared from, or are rarely seen on, UK roads, including the Austin Seven, Morris Minor and the classic Mini. 

The selected front pages are mainly hand drawn colour illustrations. “They are stunning images and evocative of a bygone era,” said Richard.

The images are available in four different sizes and prices start from just £16.99 and can be viewed and purchased from here.

Great British Car Journey was opened to the public in May 2021. Its new online store and partnership with Haymarket represents an exciting new development for the business.

Richard said: “This is a tremendously exciting development for Great British Car Journey. We are excited by the opportunity to present the Autocar archive and to share it with other car enthusiasts.”

Rachael Prasher, Managing Director of Haymarket Automotive, added: “Day-to-day we inevitably tend to focus on our future, but we are incredibly proud of our past, and it makes perfect sense for us to partner with a company that understands the history of the brand and the industry so well.” 

“Autocar front cover is famous as the billboard for car manufacturers who want to show their latest model to the motoring public. Many of the marques that appeared on the Autocar front covers can now be found within the visitor attraction.”

More Autocar covers will be offered for sale soon.

Richard explained: “We will be adding more Autocar covers to our online store in the future, however we were keen to get the store launched ahead of Christmas.”

The Autocar prints can be purchased online at https://greatbritishcarjourney.com/buy-merchandise/ or ordered within the giftshop at the Great British Car Journey.

Discover the Autocar range today

A stunning selection of Autocar images are available in a range of sizes as framed and unframed prints and stretched canvases.