How legendary Brit racing driver came to own HUNDREDS of vintage sports cars – he insisted on them being the same colour

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A LEGENDARY Brit racing driver built up a quite incredible collection of hundreds of vintage sports cars before he died five years ago.

The late John Haynes OBE founded the Haynes International Motor Museum in Sparkford, Somerset, in 1985 and filled it with his fleet of 30 cars at the time.

Getty Images – GettyJohn Haynes founded the Haynes International Motor Museum and Haynes Publishing Group[/caption]

GettyOne of the museums most famous exhibitions is the Red Room[/caption]

GettyAll 30 of the cars are red so visitors can focus on the shape and model of the sports cars[/caption]

Since his death in 2019, the “Museum in Motion” has come to hold 400 vehicles – some of which John insisted on being all red.

One of its most famous exhibitions is “The Red Room” where all the sports cars express the “passionate and dynamic” colour.

John decided the motors had to be the same shade so visitors could focus on the shape and style of each car rather than the paintwork.

Museum curator Chris Marsh said: “The Red Room exhibition began when museum founder John Haynes realised the growing collection of sports cars in the museum were primarily in red, a colour he felt expressed the passion, dynamics and soul of a sporting vehicle.

“What began as an instinctive selection process became a key gallery within the museum.”

As well as the museum, John also founded Haynes Publishing Group.

The ex-RAF officer, who died aged 80,  had a passion for cars from an early age.

Originally born in Sri Lanka, John came over to the UK to attend boarding school.

While he was a student, he converted an Austin 7 into a lightweight sporty Austin 7 Special.

Due to interest in the car when he put it up for sale, he published a booklet entitled, Building A 750 Special.

The first print run of 250 copies sold out in 10 days and the rest was history.

After leaving school he joined the RAF to complete his national service and, while posted to Aden in 1965, he created the first Haynes Manual.

An RAF colleague had bought an Austin-Healey Frogeye Sprite in poor condition, and asked Mr Haynes to help him rebuild it.

Mr Haynes quickly realised the official factory manual was not designed to help the average car owner.

He bought a camera and captured the process of dismantling and rebuilding the engine.

The use of step-by-step photo sequences linked to exploded diagrams became the trusted hallmark of Haynes Manuals.

The first Haynes Manual, for the Austin Healey Sprite, was published in 1966, and the first print run of 3,000 sold out in less than three months.

More than 200 million Haynes Manuals have been sold around the world in 15 different languages.

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