Wheels and Waves brings surf culture to Coventry Transport Museum

Exhibition: Wheels and Waves at Coventry Transport Museum until March 18 2012.

The long dark days of winter may have set in leaving sunny days on the beach a distant memory but a new free exhibition at Coventry Transport Museum aims to bring the fun and vibrancy of summer surf culture to the Midlands this winter.

Wheels and Waves brings together a collection of vehicles used by British surfers from the 1950s to the present day and runs until spring.

On show is a range of VW Campers dating from 1962 onwards alongside a Beach Buggy, a two-tone 1970s VW Beetle and a number of ‘Woody’ Morris Minors and hot rods.

They are all displayed on special ‘beach’ sets complete with sandcastles and a collection of classic surfboards and memorabilia from the Museum of British Surfing allowing visitors to fully immerse themselves in the colourful surfing vibe.

Also on show is the work of Coventry artist Paul Jordan whose bright Pop Art style paintings depict a variety of surf vehicles.

Peter Robinson from the Museum of British Surfing says the exhibition is “actually genius”, because he says surfers have been turning to novel forms of transport since at least the 1930s. It's all part of what he describes as “that desperate quest to get themselves and their surfboards to the beach”.

“Anything from a modified pram, a skateboard, an old hearse or the ubiquitous VW camper - the vehicle often defines the surfer and has become an essential and vibrant part of beach culture - almost a cult within a cult, and so the Wheels & Waves exhibition is a great way of celebrating surfing here in Britain.”

All of the vehicles are imaginatively displayed on specially constructed ‘beach’ sets within the museum which itself boasts one of the finest collections of road transport vehicles in Europe.

Winner of 22 Grand Prix, Damon Hill, has driven some of the fastest cars on the planet but he is also a surfer and a fan of his VW Golf which he has managed to get his 9’4” long board into.

The self-titled “Racing Surfer” says: “Surfers are a little like motorcyclists. They are just outside the mainstream of society. No shirts and ties allowed. And you need to be able to go when the surf arrives. At the drop of a hat.  Surfers’ cars and vans express this ‘free spirit’."

• The Museum of British Surfing is currently working to open permanently for the first time in a sustainable exhibition and event venue in Braunton on the North Devon coast in Spring 2012. www.museumofbritishsurfing.org.uk

More pictures from the exhibition: