GreatGarages OF CYCLES & LOTUS: THE BARBER VINTAGE MOTORSPORTS MUSEUM
In the 1960s, Birmingham, Alabama’s George Barber won racing Porsches. Today his home-town Vintage Motorsports Museum is winning both car and motorcycle enthusiasts.
Documented in 2016 as the world’s largest motorcycle museum by Guinness World Records, the venue has 1,606 motorcycles, 118 cars (64 of these Lotus classics), although this changes daily, says Lee L. Woehle, the museum’s archivist. Last year, the museum and park hosted 368,000 visitors, including more than 3,000 from other countries.
After 63 first-place wins, Barber continued his success as a business executive. In 1989, he revived his motorsports passion by collecting and restoring classic cars.
Because great car collections had already been established, he listened to longtime friend Dave Hooper, a motorcycle enthusiast who ran Barber’s delivery fleet for 27
