Brisbane Motor Museum

WORDS AND PHOTOS Courtesy of Brisbane Motor Museum

The Brisbane Motor Museum is served by major arterial roads and enjoys the fact that it is only minutes from Brisbane’s Airport and CBD. 

Being located on the corner of Tufnell and Nudgee Road, the Brisbane Motor Museum is set up to be an easy access destination for friends, families, groups, enthusiasts and clubs.

Founder of the Brisbane Motor Museum, Colin Galley, is a diehard car collector. The Museum will feature some of Colin’s vehicles, for visitors to enjoy and see, as well as other exhibitors from Brisbane and Australia. Colin’s wish for the Museum is to leave a legacy and give back to Brisbane’s enthusiasts and communities. Colin still enjoys engaging with enthusiasts and communities to this day at motoring shows and events. 

Director and grandson Jackson Smith keeps the Brisbane Motor Museum ticking and on track. Utilising his knowledge from managing Colin’s collection over the last few years as well as putting to work his degrees in business and legal. Jackson has taken the bull by the horns and nurtured the Museum’s birth. 

Both Colin and Jackson are Brisbane locals, who have enjoyed many years of Road Boss Rallies. Campaigning one car in particular, that brings a smile to many faces when they see it pass by. Nicknamed “the Daimover”. The Daimover is a conglomeration of Range Rover chassis and running gear coupled with a Daimler DS420 limo body. The engine is a whopping 6.2 litre LS3 which adds to overall experience in every way. Will this be on display sometime at the Brisbane Motor Museum? You bet!

It’s worth noting that the Brisbane Motor Museum is open to invited vehicles of all marques. The Museum’s themes will rotate every three to four months, as the Museum promises to always have something new and exciting to see throughout the year.

The Museum's Curator Mark Buchanan pulls over twenty years of motoring journalism, photography and design experience together. With inspiration from International exhibits such as the Petersen, Mercedes-Benz and Alfa Romeo museums. Colin, Jackson and Mark aim to show exhibited vehicles using their best angles, with quality lighting, positioning and memorabilia. “This is not a shed jammed with rows of vehicles” says Mark, “we want to provide an experience that will impress casual and extreme motoring enthusiasts”.

The Museum is located in a specifically designed 1700 square metre building, on more than 2600 square metres of land. The Museum’s exhibit space is over 900 square metre and has a car lift with the ability to move some of the longest vehicles ever made. With dark sound absorbent roofing, gallery quality track lighting, bespoke cobble stone like tile floors and Tasmanian oak panelled walls. The exhibit space is just one of the Museum’s marvels.

The exhibit space and its vehicles are the primary reason to come to Brisbane’s only dedicated Motor Museum. However, they are not the only thing to experience. The first place you will come across in the Museum is the foyer. 

Free for anyone to see, the foyer is the artistic space. The Foyer presents featured motoring photographers, art works, models, memorabilia and a vehicle or two. Giving a taste of what you will see on level two.

The stairwell is adorned with one of the largest trophy cabinets of any display. Showing a selection of exhibit vehicles’ awards as well as clubs’ and groups’ various achievements. Patrons of the Museum will be catered to by our very own cafe, dining area and lounge. Again featuring high quality furnishings, Tasmanian Oak panelled walls, memorabilia and artworks.

The Brisbane Motor Museum offers another role to the community, with the lounge and cafe area being able to be transformed after hours into function areas serving enthusiast groups and clubs as well as other hirers.

On the 16th June 2023 the Brisbane Motor Museum will open its doors for the first time to the public, with the very first exhibit named “The Cars We Grew Up With”. 

This first exhibit is a blend of many marques, from brands such as Holden, Ford, BMW and Alfa Romeo just to name a few. Tickets are on sale via the Museum’s website brisbanemotormuseum.com.au, which tells you everything from ticket prices, current as well as future exhibit themes, how to get there, and where to park. 

The Museum is open to all comers Friday to Sunday and available for group bookings on Wednesday and Thursday. 

For further information, head over to www.brisbanemotormuseum.com.au