ONE of Hampshire's biggest attractions is drawing up plans to celebrate its 50th anniversary later this year.
The award-winning National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, has been pulling huge crowds since it was opened by the Duke of Kent in 1972.
An exhibition called The Story of Motoring in 50 Objects will be launched at the museum on July 3 to mark its golden jubilee.
The exhibits will be chosen from more than 1.7 million items in the care of the National Motor Museum Trust, which has compiled a shortlist of 150.
The display will feature the most important vehicles, artefacts, images, books and documents from its archives.
Jon Murden, the Trust's chief executive, said: "The history of motoring has had many twists and turns, but the mobility it provides has been central to our lives for over a century.
"Our final selection of 50 objects will tell this vitally important story in all its diversity.
“From illustrating motoring’s technology and progress, its achievement and endeavour, to transforming leisure activities and inspiring art, our final selection will be an exciting and important one to make.”
Visitors will be able to use the Smartify app to scan the objects in the exhibition and uncover additional content and stories from the museum’s collections.
Classic cars have been displayed at Beaulieu since Palace House, ancestral home of the Montagu family, opened to the public in 1952.
A small collection of vehicles in the entrance hall was replaced by the Montagu Motor Museum a few years later, but the current facility did not open until 1972.
Trumpeters from the Royal Horse Artillery heralded the entrance of the Duke of Kent, whose great-grandfather, King Edward VII, had been introduced to motoring by John Montagu in the 1890s.
The royal visitor was presented with a miniature car - based on a 1924 Sunbeam Cub - for his children.
Historic cars and their owners gathered outside the new building before taking part in a cavalcade through the grounds of the attraction.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary owners are being invited to join a display of vehicles from the 1970s at Beaulieu on July 3.
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