Irish Original Registration & Assembled Cars – Kilgarvan Motor Museum | Season 3 – Episode 39
Wheels Jun 16, 2023
The Mitchell family started their motor museum just outside Kilgarvan Co Kerry in 1984. The very first car in their collection was a 1946 Armstrong Siddeley Lancaster, which they still have to this day and it is in full running order.
John Mitchell opened a car repair garage in Kilgarvan village in 1968 and worked on the Armstrong in his spare time. When customers came to the garage and saw the Armstrong it often sparked a conversation as to where John might find a similar car tucked away in a garage in the area. Before long John was buying a large number of post-war cars, for very little money as at the time people did not place much value on these sort of cars.
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On Sunday 18/6/2023 our feature story, only available to view on the ‘Ireland Made’ page on www.patreon.com recounts what were arguably the world’s first Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) the Daimler-Guinness “Boilers” that first saw service in 1916, during the Easter rising.
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When we asked John Mitchell, founder of Kilgarvan Motor Museum what makes his Irish car collection unique.
And his answer?
Most of his extensive collection are Irish registered cars and as John says. “better than that are Irish assembled cars.”
The Kilgarvan Motor Museum is now a Mitchell family affair with John, his wife and their two sons involved.
The majority of the 35 cars in the museum collection were bought in poor condition and fully restored by John and his sons and kept in full working order. The earliest cars in the collection are two Cork-built Ford Model Ts, one built in 1923 and the other in 1926.
On a visit to Kilgarvan it is not just Ireland’s motoring heritage to see, there is also a large collection of auto memorabilia, motorcycles, motorised bicycles, forest walks to explore, extensive gardens with many exotic plants in full bloom, picnic areas and a lovely Café.
For a great family day out Kilgarvan Motor Museum is open Tuesday to Saturday all summer, (by appointment on Sundays and Mondays) come and see the vehicles from our recent photographic competition.
We look forward to seeing you this summer at Kilgarvan Motor Museum.
