A vast collection of 5,000 vintage photographs chronicling “the golden age of British motoring” has been added to the Motoring Picture Library’s website for public view and purchase.
The images from the National Motor Museum Trust’s Bill Brunell Photographic Collection are now available at www.motoringpicturelibrary.com. They include many striking images of motorsports competition from the 1920s and 1930s, and are among 24,000 images available for purchase online.
Brunell was a professional photographer who regularly competed in rallies and sports car events, and is best known for partnering with Hon. Victor Bruce in 1926 to become the first Englishmen to win the Monte Carlo Rally. Brunell’s daughter, Kitty, took part in many of the motoring events, including the Monte Carlo Rally of 1929 in a Talbot 14/45 for which she designed the body, and is featured in a number of the photographs.
“Brunell’s photography, shot mainly on glass plate in the 1920s and 1930s, is an evocative reminder of the golden age of British motoring, capturing perfectly the mood and spirit of the era,” said Jon Day, manager of the Motoring Picture Library Manager. “From street and social scenes to events, trials and rallies throughout Great Britain and Europe, Brunell’s images are an important historical record with artistic merit in their own right.”
The Beaulieu-based Motoring Picture Library contains an archive of over one million photographic images and is considered one of the most comprehensive sources of motoring photographs. The library supplies pictures to the enthusiast as well as commercially for publishing, broadcasting and advertising.
Let’s not actually mention that the Motoring Picture Library is a stock photography library whose only interest is licensing their content, and the pictures you get to see are tiny and covered with gigantic watermarks.