It was John Haynes’ love of motoring and business which formed the essence of the hugely successful Haynes Publishing Group.

A collector of cars and most things related to them, John’s ambition to create his own Museum was perhaps inevitable. With limited storage of his own, and beginning to lose track of where they all were, he soon began to seek out a suitable building to house his cars.

The new home for John’s ever-increasing collection was, of all places, the remains of a Second World War American munitions dump in Sparkford, Somerset. The site was ideal; not only would the collection be available to the public in one place but, by gaining the status of a UK independent charitable trust, its future would be also protected.