Cayman Motor Museum
The Cayman Islands – known for its white sand beaches, crystal clear water and rich marine live – now has on public display one of the most extraordinary and valuable collections of motor cars and bikes in the world. This fascinating exhibition of automobile memorabilia at the Cayman Motor Museum may not be what most visitors would expect from a Caribbean island but it is well worth a visit to see some of the world’s most eye-catching and interesting cars and motorbikes dating back over three centuries. The museum contains 80 vehicles and offers a historical retrospect of motoring from across the globe.
Highlights from the private collection include the original Batmobile and Batbike from the 1960s live action movie Batman, a replica of the first automobile ever manufactured – a 1886 Benz, Queen Elizabeth II’s 1956 Daimler DK400 limousine and a model of the first automobile to be driven in the Cayman Islands – a treasured 1905 Cadillac. Most of the gleaming exhibits have accompanying memorabilia such as original photography and models that bring their remarkable stories to life.
There is also an impressive selection of Rolls Royce (including a 1930’s phantom) Bentley’s (Sir Elton John’s 1963 classic), the Yellow Rolls Royce featured in the 1964 Ingrid Bergman film (with photographs of the actress with the car), nearly a dozen Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Alfas, a Sinclair C5 and the last Mini to roll off the production line before it was bought by BMW.
This extraordinary museum, which is located in the sleepy West Bay region of Grand Cayman, is the ‘hobby’ of local resident, Norwegian shipping businessman Andreas Ugland. It has been 10 years in the making and currently just a portion of his entire collection is on show.
The building itself is nothing short of an architectural feat. Externally it has been designed to reflect a traditional Caymanian building, while also incorporating a number of whimsical features into the building façades such as the red “steering wheel” in each gable, the red “hub caps” at the top of each column and the steering wheel door handles on the entrance gates to the exhibition hall. The building is in fact a reinforced concrete box with the ground floor slab at 22 feet above sea level with no expense spared in its build to protect the precious collection of classic motorcars and motorbikes, collectively worth many millions, from potential ocean storm surge and hurricane force winds. The shiny colourful interior has, as well as the collection of cars, bikes and memorabilia, features such as a 1950s diner, huge wall murals, and life size models of Batman and Robin.
The Cayman Motor museum is 0pen to the Public: 9:00am – 5:00pm Monday through Saturday and entrance is US$15 for adults and US$7.50 for children under 12.
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