Established | 1979 |
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Type | Car museum |
Founder | Len Southward |
Website | www |
The Southward Car Museum is an automobile museum and event centre in Otaihanga, New Zealand. It was established by Len Southward in the 1970s to house his collection of over 450 vehicles and several aircraft and is now run by a charitable trust.[1] The museum is just north of Paraparaumu on the Kāpiti Coast, about an hour's drive from Wellington and situated just east of the North Island Main Trunk railway and State Highway 1, on Otaihanga Road.
The purpose-built building includes a 6000 square metre exhibition hall, engineering workshop, gift shop and small cafe, all set in park-like grounds. The building also incorporates the 474-seat Southward Theatre, which features the 1929 Wurlitzer Unit Orchestra theatre organ that was originally installed in the Civic Theatre in Auckland.