Zamek Topacz motor museum, Ślęza

Had the opportunity to visit the motor museum in Zamek Topacz, in Ślęza, a village just south of Wrocław. A beautifully restored castle complex, now turned into a hotel with spa, it boasts a fascinating museum with a worthy collection of cars and motorbikes. Owned by the people behind ATM Studio, a collection such as this makes sense as historical productions need cars to lend period feel.

Below: pride of place - a 1959 Buick Electra, tail fins reaching an apogee in General Motors' line-up that model year.

Below: just look at the length of that: 225 inches - that's nearly 19 feet or 5.7 metres of end-to-end chrome. Magnificent...

Oozing glamour...

Meanwhile, in the Polish People's Republic, this Nysa N59 van (below) was doing the rounds. Topacz has a comprehensive collection of Polish post-war vehicles.

And on two wheels, Poland's largest post-war motorbike, the SFM Junak M10 (below, early '60s model with headlamp integrated into the front forks, in the manner of the 1960 Triumph T100 Tiger.

Four wheels you want, towarzyszu? Here's your dream auto - the Mikrus MR-300. A product of Poland's aviation industry, this undersized, underpowered and overpriced car never entered mass production, a mere 1,713 were produced between 1957 and 1960.

Pull over - it's the highway patrol! Below: a Polish milicja East German-made MZ TS250 motorbike. Note the white truncheon fixed to the rear pannier, and the kickstarter.

Below: a collection of WW2-era motorbikes. In the middle, a Harley-Davidson WLA...

Below: the WLA's 'office'. Note the speedometer, which goes up to 120 miles per hour - in practice, WLA owners say they can barely squeeze 60mph out of the bike in standard trim.

Below: pre-war Poland's answer to the Harley-Davidson - the Sokoł 1000, which like the American bike was powered by a large air-cooled v-twin engine. A shame that only 3,400 were built.

Below: a trio of pre-war Rolls-Royces; the one in the middle is a 20/25 sedan.

Below: no automotive collection would be complete without an E-Type Jaguar, said by Enzo Ferrari to be the most beautiful car ever built

Below: one corner of the museum. Second car from the front is a...? My first guess was a Facel Vega, but that's not the right answer.

Below: what's the word? Thunderbird. A second-generation (1958-60) model, with added rear seats and more than two feet longer than the original, sportier, T-bird that first appeared in 1955. Standing behind the Ford is a Soviet GAZ-14 Chaika...

Below: driver's seat of the GAZ-14, produced between 1977 and 1988, replacing the 1950s-styled GAZ-13 Chaika. One up from the GAZ-14 was the ZIL limousine, even bigger, for the very highest in the Soviet hierarchy - the widest car ever built.

Below: sit back and wonder whether the driver has orders to take you to the Kremlin or to the Lubyanka.

The museum is definitely worth a visit, although the exhibits are a bit cramped together, a bit more space around them would allow for better viewing and photography. Still, it's great to see so many vehicles (over 130 in total) from Poland, America, Germany, Italy, Britain and the USSR covering most of the 20th century.

This time three years ago:
Curry comes to Jeziorki
[didn't stay long - but then not a good one]

This time four years ago:
Why we should all try to use less gas

This time five years ago:
Polish supermarket chain advertises on London buses

This time ten years ago:
Well-shot pheasants