One of the perks of having 3 kids born in April is that April becomes a giant birthday month. Instead of parties, we create memories. And, this month to honor their birthdays, we decided to visit a museum that is home to the largest collection of vintage and contemporary motorcycles.
Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum has a collection of vintage and contemporary motorcycles so large that it’s featured in the Guinness World Record Book.
Visiting the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum
I am so excited to share our visit with you and answer any questions you may have about visiting Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum. If I forget to answer something, please be sure to ask in the comments below and I will do my best to answer it.
What is the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum?
The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum is a motorcycle and auto museum. With a collection of over 1,600 vintage and contemporary motorcycles, visitors from all over the world now come to visit the museum.
Who Owns the Motorcycle Collection at Barber Motorsports?
In 1988, owner George Barber started the motorcycle collection after being encouraged by his friend, Dave Hooper. Barber saw this as an opportunity to build the world’s largest and best motorcycle collection and in 1994, he established the museum as a 501(c)3 Tax Exempt Private Operating Foundation.
Today the museum sees over 300,000 visitors a year from all over the world.
Barber Motorsports Hours and Admission
The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum is open year-round and is closed for all major holidays. If you are looking to visit the museum, the hours are:
April 1–September 30
Monday–Saturday: 10 am–6 pm
Sunday: Noon–6 pm
October 1–March 31
Monday–Saturday: 10 am–5 pm
Sunday: Noon–5 pm
Admission to the museum is $18 for adults and $12 for children ages 4-12. While parking at the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum is free.
Where is the Barber Museum Located?
The Barber Museum is located approximately 20 minutes outside of Birmingham, Alabama in Leeds, Alabama.
To get to the museum, enter this address into your GPS:
- 6030 Barber Motorsports Pkwy, Leeds, AL 35094
Is Barber Vintage Motorsport Museum Kid-Friendly
Okay, this is a question that I feel needs to be addressed.
The museum does not in any way say it is not child friendly BUT if you have little ones, I feel I need to mention this. At the museum, you are free to look at the collection but you cannot touch it. For this fact alone, if you’re traveling with young toddlers or children who like to run around, this may not be the best museum to take them to.
Our Visit to Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum
Our visit to the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum took us just a little over 3 hours, as the museum is quite large. The museum has 5 floors of motorcycles and cars and requires a lot of walking. Don’t worry though, the museum also has plenty of seating areas spread throughout the museum. There’s even a theater room where you can sit back in cozy seats and watch a documentary on the history of the Barber Museum.
The museum itself was almost overwhelming to go through in just one day. There are just too many automobiles and motorcycles to look at, and it can get really tiring really fast.
In fact, I personally would not recommend trying to conquer this museum in just one day. Though it’s doable, you are going to find yourself skipping over a lot of bikes and cars just to try to finish it.
This collection is massive and even though 1,600 may not sound like that many – it is!
The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum has something for everyone to enjoy, even the ladies. I will be the first to admit, I thought this museum would be more for Michael and the boys, but it was exciting for all of us. The museum features so many different types of automobiles and motorcycles, that I found myself enjoying the vintage motorcycle collection.
The only disappointment we had about visiting the museum on the day we did, was the fact that we couldn’t access the basement level. We didn’t realize, the basement area is only open during private and/or special events.
Though we could still see some of the cars that were in the basement, it was the one spot inside the museum the boys really wanted to see.
Other than not being able to go down to the basement level, we loved our visit to the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum and if we are ever in the Birmingham area again, we would love to visit again.
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If you are ready to plan your visit to the museum, click here to learn more.
Many thanks to the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum for providing free tickets in exchange for this review, regardless, all opinions are my own.
Last Updated on 4 years ago by Crystal Carder