Cindy and I recently attended the 1819 News’ 1st Annual Albert Patterson Gala titled “An Evening of Courage.” 1819 News is Alabama’s fastest growing independent, donor financed media group with a growing subscriber list, allowing it to produce unbiased Alabama news on politics and culture for Alabamians seeking the unvarnished truth.
The Gala was held at Alabama’s single biggest tourist attraction, The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Birmingham near Leeds. This museum, one of the most stunning feats of architecture of its kind I have ever seen, is jam-packed with vintage motorcycles, race cars and other surprises that excite and astound visitors from all over the world. Robert Pandya, Communications Director and self-described gearhead, was kind enough to give us a tour.
We began at what Robert called “the wild spot”—the spot where one instantly realizes the breadth of the collection and grandeur of the 230,000 square foot space. Robert began, “We’re standing on top of a warehouse full of motorcycles beneath us. There’re five levels. The building is designed a little bit like a parking ramp—a bit catawampus. We’re standing on Level Two, actually. Four is above us, and one, three and five are against the windows over there. Then, there’s a whole basement down there that’s the restoration shop. This particular building is twenty-one years old. It really came out of a mindset: if you build it, they will come. Total acreage is nine hundred. And (including the racetrack) just under three hundred has been developed.”
To stand on the wild spot evokes a feeling of being inside a jewelry box full of colorful, glittering machines; or, maybe, it’s like floating in the midst of a motorcycle/auto Christmas ornaments blizzard. It’s a sensory spectacular and a dreamland for motorcycle aficionados—all the brainchild of Mr. George Barber. As stated at www.barbermuseum.org: “George Barber’s zeal for speed ignited his vision for today’s museum. Having raced Porsches in the 1960s, Barber held an impressive track record—63 first place wins. A thriving business executive, Barber rediscovered his motorsports passion in 1988 and began collecting and restoring classic cars.”
“He was born into the milk industry—Barber Milk,” Robert said—which also explains the prominent black and white dairy cow statue gazing at the race track.
Cars whizzing around the gorgeous track may be viewed from the back side of the structure. “People come to know us as a motorcycle museum. This is a Guinness Book world record collection of motorcycles. But this is also the largest collection of Lotus sports cars and race cars anywhere in the world. We’re friends with the Chapman family. It was a gentleman named Colin Chapman who started Lotus Race Cars. The museum features a replica of the very first Lotus sports car with all of fourteen horse power, or something like that. It’s a tiny little lightweight thing. So, the purpose of the museum is to celebrate motorsports. The Lotus Car was never the vehicle that had the most horse power or the biggest engine. It was lightweight and simple. Colin Chapman was an engineer at heart. He said, ‘I need to make the car simple. If one part can do two things, great. If it can do three things, even better. So, how do I do that?’ That sort of engineering lives in Lotus. The Lotus brand has been synonymous with Formula 1, Indy racing, and sports car racing through the years.
Do you remember Dick and Tommy Smothers—the Smothers Brothers? The comics?” Robert pointed at a race car. “That blue and white one is actually Dick Smothers’ car! We also have a car owned by Paul Newman’s race team. When you look at engineering, and you look at a modern race car, and where things came from, you just realize how delicate these cars are. Because, you know, if you look at the shape of that thing, it’s like, wow, that looks like a big solid thing I could race. Right? But underneath it is something skinny like this tiny little space frame sitting atop spaghetti. It’s really incredible when you think about the speeds these racers went, and the bravado they had.”
When asked how the museum was able to acquire such cars and motorcycles, Robert answered, “Things come up in auction—there’s a site called Bring a Trailer. In the early part of the collection, it was important for the museum people to go out and seek these things. As the museum sort of solidified its collection, people started saying, ‘Oh, I want my (car or motorcycle) in this museum.’ And twenty-one years ago, when this part of it all started, Mr. Barber literally created an architectural marvel, a daring museum from a design layout. It was bold to build the building where the purpose of the building almost disappears as much as possible. So, you can stand on the edge of Level Two, look down into One and up into Three and actually see a lot more. This whole place has been very thoughtfully laid out.”
According to Robert, between the museum and the Motorsports Park, on an IndyCar weekend, one hundred thousand people will come here from all over the world. He’s talked to people from England, Germany, Russia—you name it. On an average museum day, it’s not uncommon to see a whole class of school children riding in the museum’s massive elevator—possibly, some of them newly-minted gearheads thinking: Start your engines!
Jeff Barganier is a novelist, travel writer and speaker. He travels far and wide upon the slightest excuse for something interesting to write about. His novels include Lawson’s Bluff (2021); The Slash Brokers (1998). He also manages Cindy Barganier Interiors LLC (www.cindybarganier.com) at The Waters in Pike Road, Alabama. Contact Jeff at Jeffbarganier@knology.net. You may print out his features at www.jeffbarganier.com and take them with you when you travel!