In 1954 whilst still at boarding school a 16 year old John H Haynes bought a worn-out Austin Seven and set about building his own Austin ‘750 Special’.

During construction he made notes and sketches as the project grew. Eventually he had to sell his ‘750 special’ and was amazed how many enquiries he had.  He used those notes and sketches in 1956 to produce a 44 page stapled together booklet ‘Building a 750 Special’ and instantly sold 250 after placing a small lineage advert in Motor Sport magazine.  This was the beginning of the Haynes Manual you see today.

Approximately 75,000,000 manuals later John H Haynes OBE had established a publishing empire that allowed him to create this Museum in 1985. All based on a ubiquitous little car and its fantastic 750cc engine.

Today over thirty years later the Museum has become a multi-award winning world renowned collection, with to date over two million visitors.