Motoring collection expected to sell for over £1m

Robin Barnard has spent more than four decades putting together a collection of motoring items that he saved from rubbish dumps and other locations. He spent years resorting these pieces and now at the sale of his exclusive collection he is expected to make over a million pounds. Items in his collection of 800 pieces include enamel signs, classic petrol pumps, motorbikes, and petrol globe.

Earlier in his life Barnard used to own a Grade II listed filling station in Devon where he placed many of the items that he collected on display to give it a twenties them. However, eventually he grew to have so many items that he opened a small museum in a next door building in order to properly host his motoring memorial.

Now that it has gotten later in his life Barnard has decided to auction his collection which is expected to earn as much as £1m once it goes under the gavel. His filling station will not be up for auction, but it is iconic as well given the fact that it was used for filming Miss Marple, Top Gear, and Lawrence of Arabia.

Barnard explained that his collection started in the seventies when he purchased an old worn out Ferguson tractor for just £5 and that started him collecting other items that were just getting tossed. He explained that when he opened his filling station he tossed the tractors, but start to build a motoring collection and eventually word got around and people would just give him stuff.

He said that he did always want some of the stuff that he was offered but hated the idea of it getting tossed and that has led to his very unique and now pricey collection of motoring goods.