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It’s National Beatles Day! 🎸🚙
We’re celebrating today with one of our favorite pieces of history from the collection. The one-and-only 1956 S-1 Saloon Bentley, originally belonging to Joe “Dandie” Crittle and an extraordinary piece of artistic history
decked out in kaleidoscopic colors inspired by Crittle’s iconic Dandie Fashions shop in the Chelsea District of London.
Crittle was a designer and clothing supplier for Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, The Who, The Rolling Stones, and of course, The Beatles. The Beatles became good friends with “Dandie” and a deal was struck between The Beatles’ Apple Corporation and Crittle’s fashion shop. The result? The fashion store was acquired along with this 1956 Bentley S1 Saloon “party car” designed for cruising from homes to clubs and the shop.
DID YOU KNOW!? 222 APL (as seen on the car tag) was the address of the fashion store where it was parked, owned by Apple Records, which was The Beatles’ record label at the time. 🤔
Come see it for yourself at the Barber Museum!
Jun 25
It’s National Beatles Day! 🎸🚙
We’re celebrating today with one of our favorite pieces of history from the collection. The one-and-only 1956 S-1 Saloon Bentley, originally belonging to Joe “Dandie” Crittle and an extraordinary piece of artistic history
decked out in kaleidoscopic colors inspired by Crittle’s iconic Dandie Fashions shop in the Chelsea District of London.
Crittle was a designer and clothing supplier for Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, The Who, The Rolling Stones, and of course, The Beatles. The Beatles became good friends with “Dandie” and a deal was struck between The Beatles’ Apple Corporation and Crittle’s fashion shop. The result? The fashion store was acquired along with this 1956 Bentley S1 Saloon “party car” designed for cruising from homes to clubs and the shop.
DID YOU KNOW!? 222 APL (as seen on the car tag) was the address of the fashion store where it was parked, owned by Apple Records, which was The Beatles’ record label at the time. 🤔
Come see it for yourself at the Barber Museum!
Did you know four of the first five motorcycles that George Barber purchased for what would in time become the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum were Hondas? Three of those were V-fours: a 1986 VF1000R, an ’86 VFR750F, and an ’86 VF500F. The fourth Honda was an ’88 Hurricane 1000, which, of course, was powered by an inline-four.
Introduced to the U.S. market in 1985, the swoopy, tricolor VF1000R bore more than a passing resemblance to European endurance road racers. That open-class machine was notable because it was the first Honda street bike with gear-driven camshafts, the advantages being reduced friction and more precise valve timing.
Cycle World magazine called the VF500F “a backroad dancer with a 12,000-rpm heart of gold.” About the VFR750F, which won three-consecutive AMA Superbike titles, editors wrote, “The VFR handles as effortlessly as it accelerates, with that much-sought-after combination of quickness and stability that puts a rider at ease.”
The fifth motorcycle purchased by Barber, the Hurricane 1000, was known overseas as the CBR1000F. Similar to its popular middleweight sibling of the same period, the Hurricane was completely encapsulated in plastic bodywork. Even the fork legs and mufflers didn’t escape the molded treatment.
And the fourth motorcycle purchased by Barber? Like the VFR750F, VF500F, and Hurricane 1000, it was a Cycle World “Ten Best” winner, a 1988 Kawasaki ZX-10R. But that’s a story for another day.
Photos by Joe Avila
#BarberMuseum #BarberMotorsportsPark #Honda #motorcycle
Jun 23
Did you know four of the first five motorcycles that George Barber purchased for what would in time become the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum were Hondas? Three of those were V-fours: a 1986 VF1000R, an ’86 VFR750F, and an ’86 VF500F. The fourth Honda was an ’88 Hurricane 1000, which, of course, was powered by an inline-four.
Introduced to the U.S. market in 1985, the swoopy, tricolor VF1000R bore more than a passing resemblance to European endurance road racers. That open-class machine was notable because it was the first Honda street bike with gear-driven camshafts, the advantages being reduced friction and more precise valve timing.
Cycle World magazine called the VF500F “a backroad dancer with a 12,000-rpm heart of gold.” About the VFR750F, which won three-consecutive AMA Superbike titles, editors wrote, “The VFR handles as effortlessly as it accelerates, with that much-sought-after combination of quickness and stability that puts a rider at ease.”
The fifth motorcycle purchased by Barber, the Hurricane 1000, was known overseas as the CBR1000F. Similar to its popular middleweight sibling of the same period, the Hurricane was completely encapsulated in plastic bodywork. Even the fork legs and mufflers didn’t escape the molded treatment.
And the fourth motorcycle purchased by Barber? Like the VFR750F, VF500F, and Hurricane 1000, it was a Cycle World “Ten Best” winner, a 1988 Kawasaki ZX-10R. But that’s a story for another day.
Photos by Joe Avila
#BarberMuseum #BarberMotorsportsPark #Honda #motorcycle
In-depth chat with an American GP champ: Before pulling on his signature helmet and racing leathers to lap the Barber Motorsports Park road course on the Honda-powered Team Roberts KR211V, 2000 FIM 500cc Grand Prix World Champion Kenny Roberts Jr. sat for a members-exclusive Q&A session in the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum with MotoAmerica Content Manager Sean Bice.
Loaded with behind-the-scenes insights, the lengthy interview took place during the April 4-6 MotoAmerica Superbikes at Barber race weekend and is now online. Follow this link to watch the entire conversation between Roberts Jr. and Bice (with a special guest appearance by Chuck Huneycutt, the museum restoration expert who prepped the one-off MotoGP machine) on MotoAmerica’s YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/14hmbAsPzRY?si=Q6U7wnaetA56m0cm
#BarberMuseum #BarberMotorsportsPark #KennyRoberts #Honda #MotoGP #MotoAmerica
Jun 17
In-depth chat with an American GP champ: Before pulling on his signature helmet and racing leathers to lap the Barber Motorsports Park road course on the Honda-powered Team Roberts KR211V, 2000 FIM 500cc Grand Prix World Champion Kenny Roberts Jr. sat for a members-exclusive Q&A session in the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum with MotoAmerica Content Manager Sean Bice.
Loaded with behind-the-scenes insights, the lengthy interview took place during the April 4-6 MotoAmerica Superbikes at Barber race weekend and is now online. Follow this link to watch the entire conversation between Roberts Jr. and Bice (with a special guest appearance by Chuck Huneycutt, the museum restoration expert who prepped the one-off MotoGP machine) on MotoAmerica’s YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/14hmbAsPzRY?si=Q6U7wnaetA56m0cm
#BarberMuseum #BarberMotorsportsPark #KennyRoberts #Honda #MotoGP #MotoAmerica
In celebration of 75 years of Formula One competition, the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum has embarked on its most ambitious automotive project to date, the meticulous recreation of Lotus Type 49 chassis No. 1.
One of the most important racing machines of all time, the Type 49/R1 was an extraordinary collaboration between four of the greatest minds in F1 history: Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe of Team Lotus, and Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth of Cosworth.
Barber has commissioned Classic Team Lotus, headed by Chapman’s son, Clive, to recreate the Type 49/R1 using the original design drawings and incorporating period components for a fitting 60th-anniversary celebration of this visionary machine.
“This isn’t a restoration, it’s a resurrection of one of the greatest racing machines ever built, guided by the very hands that carry on Colin Chapman’s legacy,” said George Barber, founder of the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum.
#BarberMuseum #BarberMotorsportsPark #Lotus #ColinChapman #FormulaOne
Jun 12
In celebration of 75 years of Formula One competition, the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum has embarked on its most ambitious automotive project to date, the meticulous recreation of Lotus Type 49 chassis No. 1.
One of the most important racing machines of all time, the Type 49/R1 was an extraordinary collaboration between four of the greatest minds in F1 history: Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe of Team Lotus, and Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth of Cosworth.
Barber has commissioned Classic Team Lotus, headed by Chapman’s son, Clive, to recreate the Type 49/R1 using the original design drawings and incorporating period components for a fitting 60th-anniversary celebration of this visionary machine.
“This isn’t a restoration, it’s a resurrection of one of the greatest racing machines ever built, guided by the very hands that carry on Colin Chapman’s legacy,” said George Barber, founder of the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum.
#BarberMuseum #BarberMotorsportsPark #Lotus #ColinChapman #FormulaOne
Hey, we’re on TV! The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum is featured prominently in the debut episode of “Generation Speed: MotoAmerica’s Road To MotoGP,” a 10-part documentary produced by the Wayne Rainey-led national road-racing championship.
According to MotoAmerica, the series will take viewers behind the scenes as up-and-coming Talent Cup racers embark on a path to greatness. Team Roberts entry Kody Kopp and his father, Joe, are interviewed at the museum, as is team principal Kenny Roberts.
Three-time 500cc GP world champ Rainey sat for the camera in the Barber Advanced Design Center. “We thought there was a real lack of young racers coming up into the MotoGP category,” he says, recalling a decade-old conversation with his partners.
Highlights from “Superbikes at Barber,” the second round of the Talent Cup held at Barber Motorsports Park, are sprinkled throughout the program, previewing the challenges this international field of riders, aged 14 to 21, will face this season.
Both Roberts and eldest son Kenny Jr. now call Birmingham home and often visit the museum, where their world-beating 500cc GP bikes, along with decades of priceless family racing memorabilia, are part of the permanent collection.
Photos by Joe Avila
https://youtu.be/Q5qN46PhY8M?si=wC0wavNere7nxoWV
#BarberMuseum #BarberMotorsportsPark #KennyRoberts #MotoAmerica
Jun 9
Hey, we’re on TV! The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum is featured prominently in the debut episode of “Generation Speed: MotoAmerica’s Road To MotoGP,” a 10-part documentary produced by the Wayne Rainey-led national road-racing championship.
According to MotoAmerica, the series will take viewers behind the scenes as up-and-coming Talent Cup racers embark on a path to greatness. Team Roberts entry Kody Kopp and his father, Joe, are interviewed at the museum, as is team principal Kenny Roberts.
Three-time 500cc GP world champ Rainey sat for the camera in the Barber Advanced Design Center. “We thought there was a real lack of young racers coming up into the MotoGP category,” he says, recalling a decade-old conversation with his partners.
Highlights from “Superbikes at Barber,” the second round of the Talent Cup held at Barber Motorsports Park, are sprinkled throughout the program, previewing the challenges this international field of riders, aged 14 to 21, will face this season.
Both Roberts and eldest son Kenny Jr. now call Birmingham home and often visit the museum, where their world-beating 500cc GP bikes, along with decades of priceless family racing memorabilia, are part of the permanent collection.
Photos by Joe Avila
https://youtu.be/Q5qN46PhY8M?si=wC0wavNere7nxoWV
#BarberMuseum #BarberMotorsportsPark #KennyRoberts #MotoAmerica
Come one, come all: Have you purchased tickets for the 2025 Barber Vintage Festival, October 3-5? Legendary racer, tuner, and team owner Eraldo Ferracci will serve as grand marshal for this year’s 20th anniversary event.
The genial octogenarian, whose many achievements under the “Fast by Ferracci” banner are well-represented in the museum, remains an integral member of the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati team competing in the MotoAmerica series.
Reminder: Children 15 years of age and under receive free entry to the Barber Vintage Festival when accompanied by a ticketed adult.
https://www.barbermuseum.org/barber-vintage-festival/
#BarberMuseum #BarberMotorsportsPark #EraldoFerracci #FastByFerracci #BarberVintageFestival
Jun 3
Come one, come all: Have you purchased tickets for the 2025 Barber Vintage Festival, October 3-5? Legendary racer, tuner, and team owner Eraldo Ferracci will serve as grand marshal for this year’s 20th anniversary event.
The genial octogenarian, whose many achievements under the “Fast by Ferracci” banner are well-represented in the museum, remains an integral member of the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati team competing in the MotoAmerica series.
Reminder: Children 15 years of age and under receive free entry to the Barber Vintage Festival when accompanied by a ticketed adult.
https://www.barbermuseum.org/barber-vintage-festival/
#BarberMuseum #BarberMotorsportsPark #EraldoFerracci #FastByFerracci #BarberVintageFestival
Membership: What’s in it for you? By supporting the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, you help continue our dedication to the exhibition, history, interpretation, and preservation of motorcycles, vintage vehicles, and motorsports.
Benefits include admission to the museum and discounts on additional admissions, access to seminars and the online video archive, discounts on merchandise in the gift store, and a digital copy of the quarterly Vintage Insider News.
Membership further affords discounted hospitality packages at specific ticketed events. Plus, up to four times per year, you will be able to purchase Porsche hot laps around the 17-turn, 2.38-mile Barber Motorsports Park road course.
#BarberMuseum #membership #motorcycle #Porsche
May 29
Membership: What’s in it for you? By supporting the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, you help continue our dedication to the exhibition, history, interpretation, and preservation of motorcycles, vintage vehicles, and motorsports.
Benefits include admission to the museum and discounts on additional admissions, access to seminars and the online video archive, discounts on merchandise in the gift store, and a digital copy of the quarterly Vintage Insider News.
Membership further affords discounted hospitality packages at specific ticketed events. Plus, up to four times per year, you will be able to purchase Porsche hot laps around the 17-turn, 2.38-mile Barber Motorsports Park road course.
#BarberMuseum #membership #motorcycle #Porsche