by: Alistair Weaver Sneak peek A bit of history Strange sources Tale of the Triumph Record breakers

Even some of the museum's more valuable exhibits have arrived under strange circumstances. "My favourite car is a 1962 Triumph Italia," continues Bagley. "I got a call in my office one day telling me that there was a guy downstairs who wanted to loan us his car.

"He'd shipped the Triumph over from Canada and, after driving it around Britain, he'd decided that he wanted to leave it on display. Customs and Excise couldn't understand why he didn't want to take it back to Canada and it took me six months of negotiations to sort it out." The car has been faithfully preserved and even his teddy bears still live on the back seat, exactly where he left them.

Princess Di's 'courting car'

Some cars are so historically important that the museum is prepared to buy them. The purchases include a red Austin Mini Metro. This is the so-called 'courting car' that belonged to Lady Diana Spencer when she first went out with Prince Charles. "Somebody rang up one day and asked if we'd like to buy it," recalls Littlewood, "we already had one of Queen Mary's cars and George VI's state car, so we thought it would make a nice contrast. That was before they divorced." The Metro is incredibly spartan - it doesn't even have a radio.