Classic shrine: Riverside Museum

We’d recommend the latter, because here the view is augmented by the 245ft Tall Ship Glenlee berthed alongside the museum, with the redundant shipyard cranes in the background.

This mighty, 150-tonne locomotive was repatriated from South Africa

Launched from the Anderson Rodger yard in 1896, the Glenlee has circumnavigated the world four times and is now the only large, Clyde-built sailing ship still afloat in the UK.

She was bought by the Clyde Maritime Trust in 1992 and refitted prior to her relocation to the museum in 2011, and can be visited for a small fee (£5 for an adult, with a child going free).

Enter the climate-controlled building from this side and you will come face to face with the collection’s largest exhibit, the 4m-high, 150-tonne locomotive 15F-3007 Bloemfontein, built in Glasgow in 1944 as part of an order of 60 for South African Railways.

In service hauling both passengers and freight across the country until 1988, it stands as a potent reminder of a terrible chapter in history: under apartheid, which began in 1948, black South Africans were barred from skilled jobs on the railways, such as train driver or engineer, and there were both separate carriages and separate platforms for black and white passengers.

This high-mileage Honda Insight was donated to Riverside Museum

Sitting in the huge locomotive’s shadow is a piece of Scottish automotive history: the first Hillman Imp to roll off the production line at Rootes’ newly minted Linwood works, just six miles away from the museum, along with a plaque that was unveiled by Prince Philip during the factory’s opening in 1963 and moved into the collection following its closure in 1981.

Nearby sits one of the last cars to leave the plant, a Hillman Avenger 1600 LS Estate, which was owned by local doctor Angus Dougall from new until he donated it to the collection in 2001.

This is just one example of the many personal stories that add to the historical details for each exhibit, as well as archive film, imagery and interactive touchscreens.

Another is the tale of Charles Collins, who commuted 600 miles a week from Perthshire to Glasgow in his 2000 Honda Insight before donating it in 2016.

The evocative street scene includes a subway station, plus a 1928 Austin ‘Big 12’ (right) and a locally built 1910 Albion A3 butcher’s van

And that isn’t even the newest car in the collection, with vehicles ranging in age from a c1875 horse-drawn hearse and an example of the world’s oldest pedal bicycle (1839) to a recent Tesla Model S.

In between you’ll find everything from an elegant 1934 Bentley 3½-litre Sedanca to a Back to the Future ‘time machine’ De Lorean DMC-12 in a Hill Valley diorama, from a crash-tested MINI Cooper to a Daihatsu Hijet painted in Karachi style by Pakistani artist Afshan Abid for Glasgow’s 1997 Salaam festival of Islamic culture, and even an ex-Strathclyde Police Ford Granada Mk2.

Perhaps the most evocative section of the museum is the Main Street display, a beautiful recreation of a Glasgow street from the 1890-1930 period. It makes a stark contrast to the Parametricism of the building into which it has been inserted.

The museum’s Daihatsu Hijet looks ready for the Karachi streets

Here you can wander along the cobbles, crossing the tramlines and passing period working vehicles going about their business, then pop into shops, pubs and a café that pays tribute to the city’s Italian community.

From there, the shape of the building sweeps you round to a steep ramp that commemorates the Rest and Be Thankful, the famous Scottish viewpoint on the A83 in Argyll and Bute.

At 803ft above sea level, it is accessed by a road that divides Glen Croe from Glen Kinglas and was reportedly so-named by weary travellers – and their equally weary early automobiles – who would pause at the peak of the steep climb to rest, grateful at making it to the top!

The Rest and Be Thankful hill rises above other exhibits, with a Sunbeam-Talbot at the top

There is an intriguing selection of vehicles tackling the museum’s cantilevered incline, from the 1938 Sunbeam-Talbot at the crest, via Renault 8, Rover P6 and MkI Ford Capri, to the 1935 Lagonda Rapide Open Tourer at the foot.

Beneath the ‘hill’ sits the luxurious caravan that was home to members of the Carter travelling fair family for more than 30 years.

Cultural touchpoints add to the factual snippets, such as a mannequin of a zebra to explain the wartime ship ‘Dazzle’ camouflage it inspired, or Audrey Hepburn’s Paco Rabanne ‘chainmail’ dress from Two for the Road alongside an early Mini.

Classic cars from Britain and France climb the wall of the Riverside Museum in Glasgow, Scotland

Throughout the building there is a focus on Scottish-built vehicles, with a fascinating comparison of a 1907 Argyll 10/12 tourer and a 1915 Ford Model T, revealing how manager Alex Govan prioritised luxury with the failed Argyll Motors – handbuilt in Alexandria, near Loch Lomond, from 1906-’08 – while Henry Ford’s mass-production methods succeeded.

A 1924 Galloway 10.9hp drophead coupé helps tell the story of pioneering engineer Dorothée Pullinger, ‘the only lady motor manufacturer in Scotland’, who trained and employed record numbers of female engineers and consciously promoted her products to women buyers.

Behind the Galloway is one of the museum’s star attractions, the Wall of Cars.

Here, an array of 31 varied vehicles – plus 21 more in the nearby Motorbike Wall – mates the mainstream (from Austin Seven to Porsche 911) with further local interest in the shape of a 1910 Albion A3 motor van produced by the Albion Motor Car Co of Scotstoun, Glasgow; a 1994 Haldane HD 300, an Austin-Healey replica kit made in East Kilbride; and an Isle of Arran postal van.

The 1935 Lagonda Rapide Open Tourer marks the start of the Rest and Be Thankful ascent

The remainder of the city’s transport history is not neglected, either.

Shipbuilding is celebrated with a remarkable selection of 159 scale models, some on a conveyor belt and the largest – miniatures of the Clyde’s most famous creations, the Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth and QE2, taking pride of place in the main halls.

There are further steam trains, including a tank engine bursting out of the upper-level balcony beside the bustling café, and several trams.

Among them is the 1898 tramcar 672, one of the earliest electric models to go into service in Glasgow.

The bespoke Argyll 10/12 (right) is compared to a mass-produced Ford Model T

Meanwhile, recreations of the city’s subway tunnels play host to evolutions of the carriages used in the third-oldest underground system in the world, which was cable-operated until being electrified in 1935.

A bicycle velodrome hangs from the ceiling, and there are buses, fire engines and more, with all vehicles feeling accessible and plenty of fun for young children in the interactive displays.

Many have also been created for those with sensory impairment, and subtitles in six languages add to the feeling that this very welcoming museum has been designed to make it easy for everyone to learn about the transport systems and industry that helped to shape Scotland’s second city.

Images: Alastair Clements

The knowledge

• Name Riverside Museum
• Address 100 Pointhouse Place, Glasgow G3 8RS 
• Where? Beside the Clyde, a short walk from Partick railway station and Partick/Govan subway stops; bus service 100
• How much? Free
• Opening hours 10am-5pm Mon-Thu/Sat; 11am-5pm Fri/Sun
• Tel 0141 287 2720
• Web glasgowlife.org.uk/museums

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Alastair Clements

Alastair is Editor in Chief of Classic & Sports Car and has been associated with the brand for more than 20 years

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