Research/Archive/Library museums & collections

Industrial heritage museum in a former 1896 railway building in Córdoba, founded in 1996 to document the region's metal-mechanic and automotive industrial history through cars, motorcycles, and aircraft engines.

Museum and research centre dedicated to Queensland's motor racing history, previously operating from a facility in Sumner on Brisbane's western outskirts.

A general Bahamian history museum housed at the Graycliff property in Nassau, displaying the private eclectic collection of British antiques collector Hamilton White, opened July 2014. It is not a dedicated automobile or motorsport museum, but reportedly includes some memorabilia related to the historic Bahamas/Nassau Speed Weeks motor races (1954-1966) alongside piracy-era and colonial artifacts.

Motorsport museum in Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul, displaying more than 100 historic competition vehicles including cars associated with Emerson Fittipaldi and Rubens Barrichello, plus an archive of over 100,000 photographs and documents.

Former museum on the Eixo Monumental in Brasília founded by José Roberto Nasser in 2004, sealed by court order in 2012 after a dispute over the government-ceded property, and never reopened.

Bulgaria's national museum of science and technology, with a sizeable transport collection of cars, motorcycles, mopeds, bicycles and scale vehicle models.

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.

Citroën's manufacturer heritage collection of roughly 370 vehicles, formerly housed at a 6,500 m² site adjacent to the Aulnay-sous-Bois plant, was permanently closed to visitors on 30 June 2024 after the land was reclaimed for redevelopment.

L'Aventure Michelin in Clermont-Ferrand is Michelin's corporate museum tracing the history of the tire manufacturer and its impact on mobility and motorsport since 1889. The 2,000 m² scenographic exhibit covers pneumatic tire invention, transportation history, and the Bibendum mascot.

A municipal museum on the site of the former Châtellerault arms manufactory (a classified historic monument), renamed from 'Musée Auto Moto Vélo' in 2019. Its transportation section displays over 200 vehicles and objects from the early 19th century to the 2000s.

Renault's heritage vehicle collection of over 700 cars is currently stored within the Flins factory and is not open to the public. Renault has announced an 11,500 m² public museum, working name 'Les Collections', to open at Flins-sur-Seine by around 2027.

Non-profit science center and technology museum near Thessaloniki that restores and exhibits cars of historical and educational value, organized around five thematic units built on landmark 20th-century car models.

Hungary's national museum of science, technology and transport, historically including a dedicated automobile/transport vehicle collection.

PT Astra International's corporate heritage museum at its Sunter head-office complex in Jakarta, presenting the company's history and product lines, including early engines and vehicles, via multimedia exhibits with free admission on weekdays.

A heritage museum in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah dedicated to the life and presidency of Suharto, holding roughly 13,000 objects including gifts from world leaders, plus vehicles used by Suharto during his presidency.

A roughly 15,000 sqm Stellantis-operated heritage collection inside the former Officina 81 building of Turin's Mirafiori industrial complex, holding over 300 historic Fiat, Lancia, Abarth, and Alfa Romeo vehicles. Since 2026 it has also displayed the ASI-owned Bertone Collection of 66 Bertone-designed concept and production cars.

Housed in the restored 11th-century Sant'Eufemia monastery in Brescia, dedicated to the history of the Mille Miglia road race (1927-1957) with period race cars on loan from private collectors and partner museums, plus an archive of roughly 130,000 original race documents. Founded as an association in 1996 and opened to the public in 2004.

Founded in 1991 in Romano d'Ezzelino near Bassano del Grappa, one of Europe's first museums to run semi-annual rotating thematic exhibitions on motoring, sport, and Veneto's engineering heritage, alongside the permanent "Giannino Marzotto" gallery on Veneto mobility and engineering added in 2011.

Operated by the Italian Army at the Cecchignola military complex in Rome, founded in 1955 and moved to its current 50,000 sqm site in 1991. Houses over 300 civilian and military vehicles, 60 tracked/armored vehicles, 60 motorcycles, and a historical archive.

Housed in the guest hall of Nissan's Yokohama Plant, this museum displays 28 engines that marked significant milestones in Nissan's engineering history, paired with a tour of the adjacent engine-production lines; visits require advance reservation and are unavailable on weekends.

Located in Nagoya on the former site of Sakichi Toyoda's textile business, this museum documents the parallel development of the Toyota Group's automatic loom technology and Toyota Motor Corporation's automobile manufacturing, with working-machinery demonstrations.

Luxembourg's only dedicated automobile museum, housed in the former Jean Wagner car factory and covering the history of motorized transport from the late 19th century through the 1970s with rotating thematic exhibitions.

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.

Norway's national museum for science, technology, industry, transport and medicine, in Oslo, with more than 25 exhibitions including automobiles, motorcycles, aircraft and trains.

Pakistan's first antique car museum, launched online in May 2022 by collector Shoaib Qureshy, aggregating more than 100 antique and vintage cars owned by private Pakistani collectors, organized by decade from the 1920s to 1980s.

Headquarters of the Polish national roads authority's (GDDKiA) road-engineering history unit, with an open-air museum of historic road-building and maintenance machinery rather than passenger cars.

Poland's largest technical museum, housed since 1955 in the Palace of Culture and Science, with exhibits spanning historic cars, motorcycles, bicycles, locomotives and industrial technology.

A combined heritage and classic car museum in Riyadh Al-Khabra, Al-Qassim Region, founded by Abdulrahman bin Nasser Al-Abry, pairing a folk-heritage exhibit with a courtyard display of classic cars and antique fuel pumps.

Formerly Serbia's flagship car museum, jointly founded by the City of Belgrade and collector Bratislav Petković, holding roughly 100 historically significant vehicles plus an archive/library on the history of Serbian motoring and the Belgrade Grand Prix.

Located inside Hyundai Motor Group's Namyang R&D Center in Hwaseong, this internal museum opened in 2007 and displays roughly 20 historic Hyundai and Kia vehicles with around 190 more held in storage.

Opened in 2002 as the first automobile museum in Spain open to the general public, MHAS is built on the Gómez-Planche Collection and traces the evolution of the automobile from its origins to the present with around 150 vehicles.

Founded in 1974, the Antic Car Club de Catalunya houses the Barcelona Automobile Museum inside a Via Augusta parking facility, with classic cars and a specialist library of more than 20,000 titles on automotive history.

A fully private historic car collection built up by four generations of the Söderström family, owners of dealer group Förenade Bil (founded 1921 in Malmö); shown only to pre-booked groups, not open to walk-in visitors.

Sweden's national technology museum in Stockholm holds significant automobile and motorcycle historical collections and a research archive/library with major car- and motorcycle-history holdings, alongside its broader technology exhibits.

Volvo's industrial heritage museum at the Volvo Powertrain/engine plant in Skövde, tracing Volvo's industrial development and Swedish industrialization from the mid-1800s, including production and prototype engines.

Volunteer-run museum preserving vehicles and archives of Albion Motors, the Scotstoun-based commercial vehicle manufacturer, maintained by the Albion Vehicle Preservation Trust and Biggar Albion Foundation.

Museum run by the Aston Martin Heritage Trust in a 14th-century tithe barn, tracing over 110 years of Aston Martin history through cars, archive material and memorabilia.

The world's largest collection of historic British cars, with over 400 vehicles on display spanning Austin, Morris, MG, Jaguar, Land Rover, Rover, Triumph, Mini and more, plus a Collections Centre housing an additional ~250 reserve vehicles including prototypes and concept cars.

East Midlands heritage motoring hub converted from the former Rolls-Royce Heritage Centre at the historic Victoria Ironworks site, featuring vintage vehicle exhibitions, dehumidified car storage, and rotating displays plus talks with collector-car figures.

Educational charity/trust preserving over 100–140 historic Jaguar, Daimler, Lanchester and SS vehicles plus a documentary and photographic archive, historically associated with a small heritage centre at the former Browns Lane plant.

Sheffield's flagship industrial heritage museum, whose Transport Galleries hold rare early Sheffield-built cars including the 1920 Sheffield-Simplex prototype, a 1921 Richardson Light Car and a 1921 Charron-Laycock.

Visitor centre at Morgan's historic Malvern factory featuring the Archive Room museum with over a century of company artefacts, documents and audio-visual displays, alongside guided factory tours showing the hand-built construction of Morgan cars.

Small free-entry heritage display run by the Scottish Motor Museum Trust inside the former Argyll Motor Works (now the Lomond Galleries retail centre), with information panels and surviving Argyll cars from the early 1900s.

A purpose-built museum on Pendine Sands telling the story of the 1920s land speed record attempts made there, using artefacts on loan from Amgueddfa Cymru and the UK's National Motor Museum alongside immersive audiovisual displays.

The off-site store of Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum Wales), holding its reserve transport collection of cars, motorcycles, bicycles and buses not on permanent public display.

One of the world's leading motoring museums, part of the Beaulieu estate, housing over 250 vehicles spanning the history of motoring from Victorian pioneers to the present day, including world land speed record cars and an on-site motoring research library and archive.

Scotland's national museum includes Science and Technology galleries featuring early Scottish-built cars, such as an Argyll, and a Formula 1 racing car among its transport and engineering displays.

A private study collection of touring and competition cars assembled over four decades, open to researchers by written appointment only.

Manchester's science and industry museum, whose Revolution Manchester gallery covers the city's early motor-manufacturing era and displays one of the earliest surviving Rolls-Royce motorcars.

The Science Museum Group's large-object store on a former RAF airfield, accessible only via pre-booked guided tours, holding classic cars, trucks and buses among its wider science, transport and aviation collection.

Affiliated with the AACA Museum, holds roughly 3,000,000 items including books, periodicals, photographs, and factory literature related to automotive history.

Housed in the Art Deco former Auburn Automobile Company HQ (a National Historic Landmark), displaying 120+ cars across seven galleries, focused on Auburn, Cord and Duesenberg plus Packard, Cadillac and Rolls-Royce.

Not a vehicle-display museum but a 501(c)(3) automotive research archive (est. 1985) holding 5+ million scanned pages of automotive literature, focused on pre-1942 American automobiles.

Former small nonprofit museum, opened January 2011, documenting Route 66 history and co-sponsoring the annual Historic Route 66 Car Show.

A nonprofit preserving Buick history, primarily as a research archive of digitized Buick literature, catalogs, brochures, manuals and memorabilia; it also preserves a few historically important Buick automobiles.

A single-marque museum on the Gilmore campus displaying Cadillac and LaSalle automobiles in a building replicating a 1948 GM dealership, with artifacts, engines and memorabilia.

A 13,000-square-foot museum in Harrisville housed in a recreated WWII-era car dealership/repair shop, holding one of the largest automobile memorabilia collections in the region, including the most complete known collection of West Virginia license plates.

A small 501(c)(3) museum founded by author/collector Chad Culver, focused on the auto-racing history of Delaware and America, with ~15 race cars (vintage Modifieds and sprint cars) plus artifacts.

Volunteer-staffed nonprofit preserving Dayton-area automotive history with no fixed public hours.

Detroit Historical Society's permanent "America's Motor City" gallery, with an operating assembly line salvaged from a GM Cadillac plant, and a rotating "Automotive Showplace."

Nonprofit historical society preserving and restoring notable eastern regional racing memorabilia and vintage race cars, maintaining a growing showroom.

Community-run virtual archive documenting GM's Norwood Assembly plant in a Cincinnati suburb, which built Chevrolets, Camaros, Novas, and Firebirds from 1923-1987.

Primarily web-based archive documenting Road America history and how Elkhart Lake became a road-racing destination via 1950-52 public road races.

Former mansion of automotive pioneer Elwood Haynes, operating as a museum since 1967.

A project of the non-profit C.A.R.E.S. (Classic Automobile Restoration and Education Society) preserving Route 66 automotive culture, emphasizing a restoration garage and youth education programs.

GM's corporate heritage facility, 81,000 sq ft, with about 165 vehicles and the permanent home of GM's historic literature/artifact archives.

Located at the former du Pont family gunpowder works along the Brandywine River in Wilmington, Hagley is a Smithsonian-affiliated history museum and research library holding early du Pont family automobiles and hosting an annual antique car show.

A historical society (founded 1995) preserving the history of Hudson, Essex, Terraplane and related vehicles. Provides Hudson vehicles/displays to museums and manages the National Hudson Motor Car Co. Museum in Ypsilanti, MI.

Housed in the historic 1891 Pontiac City Hall, with Route 66 memorabilia including vintage cars, gas pumps, and signage.

An automotive museum on the grounds of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway housing the IMS Hall of Fame, with ~75 cars displayed at a time from holdings of 200+ race and pace cars, including 30+ Indy 500 winners.

A motorsports research library and archive in Watkins Glen dedicated to preserving the history of amateur and professional auto racing worldwide - books, periodicals, records, photographs and film.

Research and archive center in Watkins Glen dedicated to preserving motorsports history, including film, photographs, periodicals, race programs, model cars, and racing art.

State history museum in Topeka holding the 1908 "Great Smith" automobile, made by the Smith Automobile Company of Topeka, among broader Kansas history collections.

Private fire-protection history collection assembled by Randy Koorsen, housed at the Koorsen Fire & Security training center.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln museum on the East Campus preserving the history of the Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory, with about 40 antique/unique tractors.

A single-marque museum on the Gilmore campus dedicated to Lincoln Motor Company history, displaying coachbuilt Lincolns and a large archive of memorabilia and documents.

Located within Marathon Village, a restored early-1900s factory complex in Nashville that manufactured the Marathon automobile from 1909-1914, this small museum displays several of the roughly nine known surviving Marathon cars.

Houses what is described as the world's largest collection of automobile sales literature, manuals, and parts books from the 1800s to present, plus a small collection of restored antique automobiles, in Alda.

State-run museum near Negaunee about Michigan's iron industry, which occasionally shows automotive artifacts tied to the iron-auto link and hosts an annual antique car show.

A 501(c)(3) educational foundation dedicated to preserving Model A Fords. Its actual Model A Ford Museum is located on the Gilmore Car Museum campus in Hickory Corners, Michigan (opened 2013).

A museum (founded by Speedway Motors' 'Speedy' Bill and Joyce Smith) dedicated to American hot rod and racing history, with race cars, hot rods and an unrivaled collection of racing engines and speed equipment.

A museum/collection related to automotive history.

Located in original Auburn Automobile factory buildings, NATMUS displays hundreds of historic cars and trucks (antique through concept), plus 4,000+ die-cast models and a large petroliana collection.

Located in Warren, OH (Packard's birthplace), presenting rotating displays of Packard automobiles with documents, engines, tools and artifacts, plus an annual motorcycle exhibit.

A 501(c)(3) (founded 2007) to celebrate the automobile and especially Connecticut-made cars. Currently in the development/fundraising stage, hosting car shows and events rather than a permanent exhibition.

A Seattle-headquartered nonprofit founded in 1994 that operates as a virtual/archival motorcycle museum with no permanent physical location, occasionally loaning exhibits to other institutions.

Butte museum built from Roy Alan Carson's transportation memorabilia collection; vintage cars alongside license plates and petroliana.

Nonprofit museum in Pontiac, IL devoted to Pontiac and Oakland cars, memorabilia, and a research resource center.

A research-oriented automotive museum and archive in Naples, FL housing the Miles Collier Collections of over 100 significant automobiles built 1896-1995, called by the New York Times the finest sports car collection in America.

A nonprofit preserving Rolls-Royce and Bentley heritage. Its ~5,000-sq-ft facility displays ~29 Rolls-Royce and Bentley motorcars (1929 Springfield Phantom I to 1989 Silver Spirit), plus a research library and technical garage.

Independent nonprofit dedicated to preservation of Rolls-Royce and Bentley motorcars, housing about a dozen vehicles plus a research library.

Free museum inside the public library in Lebanon featuring life-size dioramas of a 1930s gas station, 1940s tourist cabin, and 1950s diner, plus a Route 66 research archive.

Flint's science/history museum, reopened July 2022, with a History Gallery and Durant Vehicle Gallery displaying 130+ vehicles built in the Flint/Genesee region alongside Buick/Chevrolet/GM/Durant Motors archives.

State history museum in Des Moines with some classic car exhibits among broader Iowa history collections.

A museum chronicling the Studebaker Corporation's wagons, carriages, cars, trucks and military vehicles with 70+ vehicles. Holds the world's largest collection of US presidential carriages.

A private museum (founded 1993) showcasing ~80 Ford vehicles from roughly 1928-1932 (44 running), including a '32 open-cab pickup, '31 ambulance and a period hot rod, plus a 25,000-piece Ford literature library.

A research institute and museum housing the Miles Collier Collections of 100+ historically significant automobiles and race cars (1896-1995) across four galleries, plus a major automotive research library.

Operated by the BMW Car Club of America Foundation next to the BMW Performance Center, this is the only BMW-dedicated museum outside Munich, hosting curated rotating exhibits plus the largest BMW archive in the US.

An online-only resource (not a physical museum) functioning as a historical encyclopedia of antique steam automobiles, with a database of known steam car manufacturers.

Local history museum documenting Waltham's industrial past, including the Metz/Waltham Manufacturing Company's early automobile and motorcycle production from 1895 to 1931; holds a restored 1911 Metz Plan Car and hosts an annual "Metz Day" car show.