Ian Hope's nephew, Mark Hope, says the family is excited to have found a buyer for the Haumoana British Car Museum property. Photo / Warren Buckland
Ian Hope's nephew, Mark Hope, says the family is excited to have found a buyer for the Haumoana British Car Museum property. Photo / Warren Buckland
The site of Haumoana's iconic British Car Museum has passed into new hands after a Hawke's Bay family made the decision to buy.
The Seymour family, through their company Seymour Ratanui Limited, reached an agreement with the family of the late Ian Hope to purchase the property.
Dave Seymour, representingSeymour Ratanui Limited, said they will be selling more of the cars on the property that they didn't want to keep long term, but they hope to keep a part of the car collection to display while leasing out part of the building.
"The [Hope] family trust want to keep some form of museum going and we're looking at trying to incorporate that if we can and then lease out a part of the building as well."
Mark Hope, Ian Hope's nephew, said it was fantastic to finally make the sale.
The 1923 Dennis Fire engine was used in the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake. It is now looking for a permanent home in the region. Photo / Warren Buckland
"We're all very excited, it has been a long road to get here. It has taken just over a year to sell the museum, but I think we've found the right buyer who has got the right intentions which is fantastic," Hope said.
"It means the beneficiaries have some certainty for the future. It has been a hard road, but it has been a bit of fun on the way too.
"We're hoping we can remember Ian in some way with the new buyer opening up a small part of the museum."
He said the family was still looking for a local home to put Ian's historic 1923 Dennis Fire Engine used during the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake on display.
"Hopefully, we can find a new home for the Dennis locally so we can have a bit of a plaque on that in memory of Ian as well."
The 1923 Dennis Fire Engine in its heyday serving the Hastings Fire Board. Photo / Hastings District Council
The fire engine was purchased by the Hastings Fire Board in 1923 and served Hastings until 1953.
It was later used by the Hastings council at the time as a weed-spraying machine and passed through the hands of a private collector before Ian Hope purchased it in 2001.
The fire engine is drivable and has a functioning siren and manual hand-crank siren.
The sale of the museum property is an unconditional offer with settlement in 12 months' time.
Mark Hope said he still has a lot of work to do in that time.
"I've still got a lot work to do. I've got another 12 months of work to take care of a lot of the stuff that the new buyer isn't keeping."
