Pre-war museums & collections

Perth's dedicated car museum, located within Whiteman Park, opened to the public in December 1994. Displays vintage, veteran, classic and modern cars, motorcycles and racing vehicles with guided tours available.

Australia's oldest and largest automotive museum, operated by the History Trust of South Australia in the historic township of Birdwood since 1965. The collection spans more than 300 cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles from 1899 to the present.

Vintage motoring museum in the Dandenong Ranges town of Gembrook, with the centrepiece being the world's only 1925 Studebaker limousine with a polished brass body.

Long-running motor museum on the main street of the historic town of York, Western Australia's oldest inland town. Since 2017 it has been run as a community venture by the non-profit Avon Valley Motor Museum Association.

A car museum in Aspang Markt with over 100 vehicles spanning early motoring history, including a 1908 Delaunay-Belleville, 1910 Adler and 1936 Graf & Stift.

A Renaissance castle in Lassing housing one of Austria's largest oldtimer collections, focused almost exclusively on the Steyr marque, with a near-complete run of Steyr passenger cars from 1920 to 1941.

A museum in Mattsee near Salzburg dedicated to the early career of Ferdinand Porsche, displaying historic Austro-Daimler, Lohner-Porsche and Steyr vehicles connected to his pioneering automotive engineering work.

A private early-automobile museum at the Das Salvator country hotel in St. Salvator near Friesach, Carinthia, showing veteran-era cars including rare makes such as Praga, Orel and SS.

A large private collection at the Heldenberg exhibition grounds in Kleinwetzdorf showing roughly 100 cars from 1886 to modern times, including rare marques such as Bugatti, Hispano-Suiza and Packard, plus motorcycles and tractors.

A private technology museum in the Lauffen district of Bad Ischl combining historic automobiles with aviation and general technology exhibits, including makes such as Adler, Aero and Steyr.

A private collection in Dornbirn billed as the world's largest Rolls-Royce museum, with around 60 original vehicles spanning the Phantom I through Silver Cloud/Silver Wraith eras, displayed across three floors of a historic building.

Austria's national museum of science and technology in Vienna, whose mobility galleries include early automobiles such as the 1888 Marcus car, the 1893 Benz Model 3 and a 1920 Austro-Daimler, alongside rail, aviation and industrial exhibits.

Believed to be the first car museum in Bahrain and the GCC, established roughly two decades ago by Bahraini businessman Akram Miknas, with a small collection of around 20 antique vehicles.

Themed park in Nova Petrópolis, Rio Grande do Sul, dedicated to the Ford Model A, opened in 2026 and featuring around 40 restored vehicles and related exhibits.

Planned automobile museum in Vila Velha, Espírito Santo, announced for opening in 2025, intended to display around 30 pre-1950s European cars.

Private automobile museum near Plovdiv with over 70 restored retro, classic and modern exhibits including cars, motorcycles and bicycles, adjoining the Park & SPA Hotel Markovo.

Private retro-car museum opened in 2022 next to the Zlaten Rozhen winery, spanning 1,400 m² in two halls with roughly 60 cars and 44 motorcycles.

A provincial agricultural, industrial and transportation museum on a 220-acre site in Wetaskiwin, built around Stan Reynolds' collection. Its automobile holdings are among Canada's most significant.

Private museum built by businessman Carlos Cardoen on the Viña Santa Cruz estate in Chile's Colchagua Valley, tracing automotive history from the 1890s to the 1980s.

Turn-of-the-20th-century antique car theme park near Villa de Leyva, Boyacá.

Croatia's first dedicated automobile museum, relocated from a Zagreb factory hall to the WestGate Shopping City in Jablanovec near Zaprešić; displays over 100 historic cars, motorcycles and bicycles plus thousands of photographs from early Croatian drivers' family albums.

State-run museum operated by the Oficina del Historiador de La Habana, housed in a former 1891 neoclassical warehouse in Old Havana. It displays roughly 40 antique automobiles and motorcycles dating from 1905 to 1989, many with ties to notable Cuban historical figures. It opened at this San Ignacio location in November 2019, succeeding the earlier 'Depósito del Automóvil' that had been located on Calle Oficios.

A large transportation museum located in Parque Nacional Baconao, roughly 25 km east of Santiago de Cuba, tracing the history of land transport from early wheeled vehicles to modern automobiles. It combines an outdoor collection of full-size vehicles with an extensive miniature/model vehicle exhibit.

Museum in a former hydroelectric power station displaying about 40 pre-war automobiles plus motorcycles, bicycles, stationary engines, tractors and petrol pumps dating up to 1950.

The first and largest museum of pre-war American automobiles in the Czech Republic, with more than 70 cars displayed in themed halls inside a former textile factory.

The largest Czech technical museum; its Transport Hall in Prague exhibits Czechoslovak-made automobiles from Laurin & Klement, Tatra, Škoda, Praga, Aero, Jawa, Wikov and others alongside motorcycles, bicycles, aviation and rail history.

The second-largest museum of historic BMW vehicles in Europe, founded by collector Miloš Vránek, showing more than 40 cars covering BMW's history.

Private family collection of about 300 cars and 150 motorcycles, including a Benz Parsifal, extensive Mercedes-Benz and Laurin & Klement holdings, and the largest Bugatti collection in the Czech Republic.

Museum devoted to Tatra passenger cars, part of the Regional Museum in Kopřivnice, tracing more than a century of Tatra's typologically distinctive car designs.

One of the largest publicly accessible museums of pre-war Czechoslovak cars in the country, spanning more than 3,000 m² in Olomouc.

Formerly one of Europe's largest private veteran car collections, housed at Aalholm Castle near Nysted, with four halls showing around 200 motorcars from 1886 to modern times, mostly pre-1940.

National museum in Helsingør covering the history of Danish science, industry and technology, including a significant road-transport collection alongside rail, aviation and other exhibits.

A large collection of over 100 vehicles, from the early 20th century to the early 1980s, displayed in a converted historic thatched barn on the grounds of Egeskov Castle on Funen. Part of the wider Egeskov Castle visitor attraction alongside the castle, gardens and other collections.

Formerly Denmark's leading vintage car museum in Gjern (near Silkeborg), founded in 1967 by master mechanic Aage Louring, displaying around 140 vehicles from 1900-1987 representing a cross-section of the Danish vehicle population.

Located next to the Valmet Automotive factory, this is considered Finland's leading automobile museum and the home of the Finnish automotive industry. It holds roughly 100 cars including Finland's first domestically built car and the country's largest Saab collection, plus mopeds, motorcycles and two aircraft.

A nostalgic private automobile museum and tourism/camping site in Karstula (Central Finland), converted from an old potato-flour mill, with over 100 (some sources say up to 400 counting all vehicle types) restored vehicles including cars, motorcycles and mopeds.

A private automobile museum in the Lehtoniemi district of Varkaus, open since 1994 (at its current site since 2003), displaying around 30 of the owner's collection of over 100 vintage cars from the 1920s–1960s.

Housed in a former Mulhouse spinning mill, this museum displays the Schlumpf brothers' collection of over 400 vehicles, the largest single automobile collection in the world. It holds the world's largest collection of Bugatti automobiles, including three Bugatti Royales.

A 'living museum' of vintage motorcycles opened in April 2013 in Bantzenheim, built around the donated Lemoine Collection of 90 vintage machines, operated by Mulhouse Alsace Agglomération.

A private collection near Serres assembled by local enthusiast Michel Mouttet, covering cars, motorcycles, agricultural equipment and WWI/WWII-era objects from 1898 to the present.

Founded in 1967 by driver and collector Pierre Delliere in Orgon, this museum displayed vintage cars, motorcycles and curiosities. It closed permanently around September 2022 after more than 50 years, and the site has since been redeveloped for housing.

Founded by collector André Sagne and opened on 2 April 1994, this museum exhibited around 60 pre-1940 French vehicles including Bugatti, Hotchkiss, Panhard-Levassor and Lorraine-Dietrich models. It closed permanently in 2004.

This museum displays over 150 vintage vehicles spanning roughly forty marques, including an 1885 De Dion-Bouton steam car, within a 3,300 m² hall furnished with period posters and accessories.

An associative museum founded in 1985 by enthusiasts to continue the collection of automotive designer Philippe Charbonneaux, originally the 'Centre Historique de l'Automobile Française'. It is one of the largest private vehicle collections in France.

France's first automobile museum, opened in 1960 inside the 12th-century Château de Rochetaillée near Lyon, based on the collection assembled by Henri Malartre. It displays around 150 cars (1890-1986), 40 motorcycles, and Lyon public-transport vehicles.

A municipal history museum in a former Carthusian monastery in Molsheim, which also houses the Fondation Bugatti honoring Ettore Bugatti, whose automobile factory has stood on the town's edge since 1909.

Founded in 1927 by the Touring Club de France and housed within the Château de Compiègne, this French national museum documents the transition from horse-drawn carriages to early motorized transport.

Also known as the Krauser-Gedächtnis-Zweiradmuseum, a museum in a heritage-protected former tobacco shed in Pleidelsheim, Baden-Württemberg, predominantly a motorcycle collection honoring BMW/Krauser racing history, opened 1993 by collector Manfred Wirth, also including a small number of automobiles.

A small private vintage car and motorcycle collection in Gundelfingen an der Donau, Bavaria, founded in 1972 by collector Jürgen Viktor Mayr. It displays around 20 cars and 10 motorcycles dated 1907 to 1955, sourced largely from France, Spain, Portugal and Italy.

Automuseum Melle ("Geschichte auf Rädern"), operated as a nonprofit (gGmbH), is located in Melle, Landkreis Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, in a protected former furniture-factory building with nearly 3,000 m² across three floors. It displays roughly 250-350 operational vehicles spanning from the earliest automobiles to more recent historically significant cars.

The first automobile museum in Rhineland-Palatinate, located in Neuwied and founded 10 November 1975 by collector Heinz Schramm, exhibiting roughly 60 vehicles of the former Borgward group brands (Borgward, Lloyd, Goliath, Hansa and Hansa-Lloyd).

A classic car museum combined with an event hall in Leipzig-Plagwitz, housed in a former iron-foundry building (1894) once part of the Rudolph Sack works. Opened in 2000 by collector Manfred Rübesam and operated since 2002 by the event company Michaelis.

Private collection of around 160 classic cars and over 240 motorcycles owned by the Dauphin family, displayed chronologically by brand in a converted 1960s factory hall in Hersbruck, Bavaria, as the centerpiece of the Dauphin Speed Event venue.

A large private transportation museum in Marxzell near Karlsruhe, opened in 1968 in a former sawmill by Bernhard Reichert and still family-run. It spans over 3,600 m² of exhibition space.

A private vintage vehicle museum in Gundelsheim, Baden-Württemberg, opened 1991 by Fritz Schmid, operator of the Hotel-Restaurant 'Zum Lamm,' displaying roughly 10 cars, 1 truck, 32 motorcycles, 4 mopeds and 1 engine.

An automobile and vehicle museum in Cunewalde, Saxony (Oberlausitz), opened in 2000 and operated by the Oberlausitzer Kfz.-Veteranen Club e.V. in a restored three-sided farm barn. It focuses on vehicles that shaped the streetscape of East Germany, displaying about 18 cars, 3 trucks/buses, 30 motorcycles, 10 mopeds, 8 bicycles, and 12 engines.

An automobile museum in Hameln, Lower Saxony, located in the Hefehof complex; it opened on 1 July 2006 and is run by the Förderverein der Fahrzeuggeschichte Hameln e.V. It documents the history of vehicle manufacturing in Hameln, focusing on the local marques Norddeutsche Automobilwerke (NAW) and Selve, active from 1907 to 1929.

A museum in Chemnitz, Saxony, dedicated to the history of Saxon vehicle manufacturing, housed since 2008 in the historic Stern-Garagen, one of Germany's oldest preserved multi-story parking garages. It displays roughly 150-200 automobiles, motorcycles and bicycles from over 50-70 Saxon manufacturers.

A large private automobile museum in Dietzhölztal-Ewersbach, Hesse, opened to the public on 23 July 2023 by the nonprofit Stiftung Nationales Automuseum, showcasing the collection of entrepreneur Friedhelm Loh in a converted historic ironworks building.

A volunteer-run vintage vehicle museum in Engen, opened in October 2013 by an association of about 20 enthusiasts, with rotating themed exhibitions of two-, three- and four-wheeled vintage vehicles.

Vintage vehicle and technology museum in Perleberg, Brandenburg, run by Oldtimerfreunde Perleberg e.V. in a listed former gymnasium built in 1896, open since May 1, 2002.

A motorcycle-and-car museum in Groß Raden, a district of Sternberg in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, opened in spring 1999 by Freunde historischer Fahrzeuge e.V. in a restored grain storage building. The collection is dominated by two-wheeled vehicles with a smaller complement of about 8-10 automobiles from 1924-1970.

An automobile and motorcycle museum operating since 1999 in the former carriage house ('Remise') of Schloss Meßkirch, run by the Verein der Oldtimer-Freunde Meßkirch und Umgebung e.V.

A vintage vehicle museum in Hechingen occupying a former department store building (~1,800 m²), presenting the history of mobile transport since 1886 through cars, motorcycles, and tractors, with over 100 vehicles on rotating display.

Opel Classic is Opel's manufacturer-owned heritage vehicle collection, housed in a hall (Hall K6) on the secured Opel factory grounds in Rüsselsheim am Main. It preserves several hundred vehicles spanning more than 160 years of company history, from the 1899 Opel Patent-Motorwagen and the 'Laubfrosch' to postwar touring/rally cars, concept studies, and modern production vehicles.

A private classic-car collection maintained by the Opel dealership Autohaus Konrad Martin GmbH & Co. KG in Stockach, Baden-Württemberg. Displays roughly 20-25+ historic Opel vehicles, most kept running, plus a few vintage motorcycles, illustrating over 80 years of Opel history including rare pre-war convertibles.

Private Renault museum in Fellbach (near Stuttgart), run by Fritz Schweier, owner of one of Germany's oldest Renault dealerships (Autohaus Schweier, selling Renault since 1951). Since 1999 he has exhibited his collection in a converted glass hall called Primastella.

Private automobile and transport-history museum in Sinsheim, run by Klaus Philipp of Autohaus Philipp, covering roughly 100 years of vehicle history (c. 1908-1990s) across about 2,000 m².

Automobile museum in Bedburg-Rath (North Rhine-Westphalia), housed in a manor estate (Schopenhof) with 12th-century origins, opened September 1992 and dedicated to French automaker Lucien Rosengart, whose cars (built partly under Austin Seven license) it displays.

Private family museum in Nassach (Aidhausen, Landkreis Haßberge, Bavaria), run by the Hesse family since 1970, exhibiting roughly 1,000 objects - predominantly antique tractors and agricultural machinery - alongside a genuine collection of historic cars and motorcycles from the 1920s-30s.

A marque museum in Wald-Michelbach, Hesse, dedicated to the Stettin-based car and bicycle manufacturer Stoewer, built around a private collection assembled by collector Manfred Bauer, open from April 2002.

Private vehicle and art museum in the Stritzling district of Lalling, Bavaria (Bavarian Forest), founded 1991 by car dealer Albert Streicher and now run by Roland Streicher. Displays roughly 100 classic and exotic automobiles alongside more than 200 motorcycles and a large model collection.

Private Tatra-marque vehicle collection in Angermünde (Landkreis Uckermark, Brandenburg), maintained by Iris and Jürgen Riesebeck and associated with the Internationaler Kreis der Tatra-Freunde e.V.; described as the only privately-owned Tatra collection open to visitors in Germany.

Local heritage and technology museum in the Kratzmühle district of Kinding, Landkreis Eichstätt, Bavaria, founded 1995 by the Kulturhistorischer Verein Beilngries-Kinding e.V. Alongside motorcycles, mopeds, bicycles and craft workshops, displays a small collection of historic automobiles including a Messerschmitt Kabinenroller, NSU Prinz, Fiat Nuova 500, Opel P1, Trabant 601, and Apollo Piccolo cyclecar.

A foundation-run technical collection in the Gallus district of Frankfurt am Main, assembled by entrepreneur Fritz Hochhut and converted into a foundation after his death in 1999. Alongside stationary steam engines, Stirling engines, and aircraft/ship engines, it holds a notable group of historic automobiles and motorcycles.

Branch of the Deutsches Museum at Theresienhöhe/Bavariapark in Munich, housed in three historic former trade-fair halls, displaying roughly 250 objects from its land-transport collection (cars, locomotives, bicycles, motorcycles, carriages).

Athens museum owned by the Theodore Charagionis Foundation, opened in March 2011, displaying around 110 of its roughly 300-car collection at a time, spanning from Karl Benz's era to modern cars.

Museum of the Greek Federation of Vintage Vehicles (E.O.O.E) displaying members' restored antique and classic vehicles in Nafplio, one of Greece's historic former capital cities.

Private classic and vintage car exhibition in Óbuda, Budapest, displaying over 100 vehicle rarities across roughly 2,000 m², with quarterly rotating themed exhibits.

Private collection of running, pre-WWII-era veteran automobiles and vehicles, all kept operational and started daily.

A private vintage car museum in Denpasar founded by collector Jos Dharmawan and opened in 2019, showcasing pre-1970 imported vehicles from Asia, Europe, and the US alongside an on-site cafe.

A history museum in Menteng, Central Jakarta, commemorating Indonesia's independence struggle, which holds three historically significant vehicles connected to the country's first President and Vice-President.

Ireland's first dedicated veteran-car museum, opened in 1966 by collector Knollys Stokes at the Muskerry Arms Hotel in Blarney, displaying around 20 veteran cars from 1899-1920 including a rare 1900 Arrol-Johnston and a 1910 Wolseley-Siddeley formerly of the Gore-Booth family.

Major private collection of roughly 200 vintage and veteran vehicles assembled by veterinary surgeon and collector Denis Lucey, exhibited as the Museum of Irish Transport at Scott's Gardens, Killarney, from 1987. Noted for nine early Wolseleys and the rare 1907 Silver Stream, the first car assembled in southern Ireland.

Ireland's principal transport-heritage collection, holding roughly 170 vehicles including trams, buses, fire engines, military and utility vehicles spanning 1883-1984. Around 60 of the ~100 vehicles at the Howth site are on permanent display, with others viewable by prior arrangement.

Housed in the 1907 Art Nouveau extension of Fiat's original Corso Dante workshops in Turin, displaying the Fiat 3 1/2 HP (the company's first production car), the 1923 Eldridge "Mefistofele" land-speed car, and early Fiat trucks and tractors.

Italy's national automobile museum, opened in its current building in 1960 with roots in a 1932 collection; one of the world's oldest and most significant car museums. Holds roughly 200 vehicles including the 1907 Peking-Paris winning Itala 35/45 HP and the Cisitalia 202.

A private collection near Mount Fuji pairing vintage and classic automobiles with restored World War II-era Japanese fighter aircraft, including Zero fighters; the museum opens to the public only during August each year, with restoration work continuing the rest of the year.

Established in 1978 in Komatsu, this is Japan's first and largest dedicated automobile museum, displaying more than 500 vehicles including American classics, European exotics, and historic Japanese cars across roughly 12,000 square meters.

Opened in 1989 by Toyota Motor Corporation in Nagakute, this museum traces the global history of the automobile through roughly 140 vehicles from Japan, Europe, and the United States dating from the late 19th century to the present. Since 2023 it has also housed an exhibition dedicated to the Japan Automotive Hall of Fame.

The first public automotive museum in the Arab region, inaugurated in 2003 by King Abdullah II as a tribute to the late King Hussein of Jordan, displaying roughly 70-80 vehicles and motorcycles from the king's personal collection.

A Kuwaiti classic car museum opened in October 2010 with support from former PM Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah, housing over 30 restored historic cars from the early 1900s through the 1970s, alongside a children's driving track.

The largest antique vehicle museum in Latvia and the Baltic states, founded in 1989 and fully renovated in 2016, housing more than 100 unique vehicles including the 'Kremlin Collection' of Soviet leaders' limousines.

Lithuania's largest private historic transportation museum, opened in 2023 in the former Vilnius Taxi Park, exhibiting over 100 vehicles from more than 70 brands including Rolls-Royce, Hispano-Suiza and Ferrari.

Malaysia's national automotive history museum, opened in March 2004 at the Sepang International Circuit, with two floors covering the country's transport history and national automotive industry including Proton, Perodua, and Modenas.

Latin America's pioneering classic-car museum, founded by Arturo Pérez Gutiérrez and opened around 1989/1991 in San Pablo Tepetlapa, Coyoacán; displayed more than 120 vehicles from 1904 onward, including steam-, gasoline-, and diesel-powered cars, with roughly 30 cars rotated periodically from lending collectors. Permanently closed in December 2021.

Private museum in Cancún founded and directed by Benjamín de la Peña, dedicated to the history of the Carrera Panamericana road race; holds roughly 45 antique and classic automobiles (1917-1992) plus an archive of more than 18,000 photographs and 200 hours of film on the race.

A private family collection emphasizing pre-war French cars and 1950s-60s English sports cars, plus a near-complete range of DAF passenger car models.

A combined car museum, classic-car sales gallery, and events venue displaying a rotating collection of veteran, pre-war and post-war classic cars alongside modern exotics.

World's oldest private car collection, housed in a purpose-built museum designed by Michael Graves, with roughly 275 automobiles, motorcycles, and carriages dating from 1886 to the present.