JDHT Museum / Browns Lane nun geschlossen :-(

[V-Mann]

Moin @all,

es stand ja schon lange fest, was die Sache nicht unbedingt einfacher macht.
Doch am Freitag war es so weit und die letzten Stücke automobiler Jaguargeschichte wurden abtransportiert.

"Unser" Rob (XJ-Forum des JEC) war am letzten Tag dort und konnte aus erster Hand berichten:

Friday 24th August 2012 , will go down in the history books as the day the doors closed at Jaguar Heritage, Browns Lane Coventry for the last time, thus bringing to an end the link of Jaguar to its spiritual home of Browns lane, Alleslley, Coventry

I was there on the day at 10.00 am when they opened, sadly I could not be there at the end of the day closing, this is a sad sad day for all Jaguar Enthusiasts worldwide, ex Browns Lane people who worked at "The Jaguar" and anyone who had been involved in any way over the years, my Dad of couse who is not well was one of these as you know, felt that he could not face the final demise and declined to be there

The atmoshpere was awful, the last remnants of the cars were still there, stock was being cleared, I picked up a few XJ40 publicity shots, if any wants I'll do a seperate post. the archive was in boxes and in removal trucks, surplus stuff was being skipped a total and UTTER waste

I found a box of experimental department design photos, pre production stuff, looked like S3, but was not allowed to have it, HISTORY, peoples handiwork, their lives, chucked in a skip for no good reason, DISGRACEFUL

Some of the well known JH volunteers, have left, or been told to go, I also hear Anders will be leaving, Julia having already been "retired" last year, these guys are Jaguar to their very core, yes there were tears yesterday

so what a good job we got all the Insignia, Majestic, XJR stuff out when we did, we are now the custodians of this valuable(to us) information, so publically thank you to those that helped, Andy Stodart, Chris Dixon, Tom Fordham, Steve John and all the JH staff who gave us the access to the documents we needed, when we needed them, and access to all the Jaguar systems to build up our records

...

The news for the future is not good I fear, a few cars are in the Coventry Museum, a few, circa 10, are in a dedicated space at Gaydon and the archive that is left is to be "stored" at Whitley, what bloody use is that, an archive is there to be accessed and used for the benefit of those involved and looking for historical information, I am reliably informed by those "in the know" despite Tata stating a new museum will be built, it will not happen, the collection has already thinned out over the years, 28 cars being sold in 2009, the odd one being sold off quietly to a chosen few, and of course the whole of the Formula 1 race history went last year to a private buyer, there was a 1992 DS420 Limo on Friday looking like it was being handed over to a new owner


sad, so very very sad

...

the problem is that in 3/5 years time, the car collection is broken up, sold off, generally dispersed, the problem will be reconnecting it all, the people who put it all together are now gone, add to this the archive, which is the complete history of the company, everything right back to SS days including hand written board meeting minutes, has been packed up and put away never to be seen again

how many of you knew that the board room at the JH building upstairs, is the original Willaim Lyons board room, not a replica, the real thing removed and rebuilt when the musuem opened, Steve John, Tom Fordham and I were lucky enough to be allowed to work here for a day, just the onec, using the boardroom table as our desk with the ghosts of the past watching us from the portraits on the walls , this sort of thing WILL NOT happen again, EVER

some stuff has been sold, the cutaways, engines, gearboxes, rear axles, all the stuff that was on display and had been lovingly crafted by the skilled men in whichever department was responsible, all gone, this will never be under one roof again

                    
Mir fehlen die Worte...

Gruß
Florian

[Peter-XJS]

Sehr schade, das wollte ich mir eigentlich auch noch mal ansehen. Aber im Urlaub in irgendeiner Oldie-Zeitung hatte ich davon bereits gelesen.

Peter

[Dietrich]

WIE ? WAS ? Kein Ersatz-Standort Autos verhökert ? Unterlagen weg ??

[V-Mann]

WIE ? WAS ? Kein Ersatz-Standort Autos verhökert ? Unterlagen weg ??

Jep 

Es gab im Frühjahr einen Verkauf diverser Unterlagen, Fotos und Automobilia um schon Platz zu schaffen.
Leider hatte ich das zu spät mitbekommen, sonst wäre ich wohl hingedonnert.

Aber das nun viele einzigartige Sachen einfach weggeworfen wurden ist schon abartig!

Einige Fahrzeuge werden eingelagert und ein ganz paar auf andere Standorte verteilt.
Niemand weiß wie es weitergeht, denn ein neuer Standort ist NICHT in Planung.

Dieses kleine Museum passt wohl nicht mehr in die strategische Ausrichtung 

Gut das wir im Juni noch dort gewesen waren ...

Gruß
Florian

[Dietrich]

Moin gents,

da gehen die Chinesen mit Volvo (noch) besser um, als die Inder mit Jaguar.

kind regards
Dietrich

[burkhard]

hallo

Häää?

ich dachte sie zihen dann dort in der Stadt in das Transportmuseum mit ein?   

kriegen da wenigstens ein etage oder so, aber nix? 

so geht das aber nicht!!

nur gut, dass wir da im Juni auch noch waren !!

aber stimmt, auch da fuhren schon einige Fahrzeuge weg!??

schoene gruesse aus dem Spreewald

Burkhard

[V-Mann]

Die ehemalige Sammlung:

[tom4711]

Hallo Zusammen,
habe heute DIESEN LINK per e-mail bekommen - der virutelle Rundgang im Museum ist auf jeden Fall nett anzusehen 
Grüße
Tom

[X-Man]

Moin,

sehr interessant

Gruß
Ingmar

[tom4711]

Die Perspektive aus dem XJ13 finde ich klasse  -  vor allem der Blick nach hinten 

Mahlzeit
Tom