Warbirds and Wheels Museum facts for kids
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| Established | December 2011 |
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| Dissolved | September 2021 |
| Location | Wānaka Airport |
| Type | Aerospace museum, automotive museum |
Warbirds & Wheels was a cool museum in Wānaka, New Zealand. It showed off amazing military airplanes and really old, fancy cars and motorcycles from the early 1900s. The museum opened in December 2011 and was located at Wānaka Airport. It was open for about ten years.
The museum started because the Warbirds Over Wanaka Community Trust and three local business people wanted to create a new museum. It replaced an older one called the New Zealand Fighter Pilots Museum. Sadly, the museum closed in September 2021. This happened after one of its owners passed away and because fewer tourists visited due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Contents
What Was in the Collection?
The Warbirds & Wheels museum had many interesting things to see. It was known for its collection of both aircraft and classic vehicles.
Awesome Airplanes
The museum had several military planes that visitors could see up close. These planes were on display and did not fly while at the museum. Some of the cool aircraft included:
- A Douglas A-4 Skyhawk
- A BAC Strikemaster Mk 88
- A de Havilland Vampire FB5
- A Hawker Hurricane Mk IIA (this one could actually fly!)
- A copy of a Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a, which was a famous plane from World War I.
Cool Cars and Motorcycles
Over time, the museum started to focus more on classic and vintage cars and motorcycles. A group of private car collectors from Wānaka helped manage this part of the museum. They mostly showed vehicles from the 1930s to the 1950s.
Rare and Unique Vehicles
The car collection had some very special and rare vehicles. For example:
- A beautifully restored 1934 Duesenberg Model J. This was the only one of its kind in the entire Southern Hemisphere!
- A 1935 Auburn Speedster 851 SC.
- A very rare 1918 Packard semi-collapsible Landaulet Fleetwood model from New York. There were only two of these ever made.
- Some even older cars from before World War I, like a 1907 Ford Model K.
Most of the cars in the museum could still run and were legally registered to be driven on roads. Some of these cars were borrowed from their private owners. Sometimes, visitors could even get a ride in them! The museum also displayed old petrol pumps and signs from the past. These items helped tell the stories of the cars and the time periods they came from.
