With what will seem painful irony, an institution designed to celebrate the joys of motoring finds itself encircled by road works just as its doors are reopened to eager visitors.

Making my way to the launch of the new-look British Motor Museum on February 12, I found cones blocking the exit from the M40 to Gaydon – the home to what was previously known as the Heritage Motor Centre.

Having been given no warning of this earlier, I was obliged to drive a further five miles north, before I was able to turn off and make my way back on minor roads.

Happily, I had time in hand, so missed none of the opening speeches, including that of Gavin Williamson, the Tory MP for South Staffordshire and Parliamentary Private Secretary to David Cameron.

A car enthusiast since childhood – which to judge by appearances was not very long ago – Mr Williamson was hugely enthusiastic about the museum’s £1.1m refurbishment and the new Collections Centre beside it.

The latter gives public access for the first time to an additional 250 cars from the reserve collections of the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust and the Jaguar Heritage Trust.

The Jags include the fastest ever built, a 2008 XFR V8 which was wound up by US racing driver Paul Gentilozzi to a speed of 225mph on the Bonneville salt flats.

The history of the motor industry as it developed in Oxford naturally plays an important part in the displays.

The Heritage Trust started life in 1983, in fact, from the collection of historical vehicles owned by British Leyland which looked to be at risk of disposal in the industrial upheavals of the time.

The work of William Morris is celebrated not only in the parade of his cars but also in a special section where visitors can see his Cowley office carefully reassembled in all its detail.

Iconic cars on display include Morris Minor No 1, the first and last Mini and MG Old No 1.

While certainly no petrolhead, I nonetheless take a nostalgic delight in seeing again many of the cars associated with my childhood.

I get the same pleasure, as my dotage looms, from watching episodes of ITV’s Heartbeat police series where models like the Humber Sceptre, the Ford Corsair and the Riley Elf regularly appear.

The police cars of Heartbeat are Ford Anglias and a Rover 2000. At Gaydon my memories of a rather earlier period are stirred in the display of sleek black Wolseley of the sort favoured by forces across the country. You’ll catch glimpses of these in any British crime film or telly programme from the 1950s.

An MG Magnette in a similar style – based, I suppose, on the Morris Oxford – is another fine sight.

An MG of a rather earlier period is the gleaming maroon and black SA four-door saloon of 1936 whose lovely lines cannot fail to delight. The car looks especially handsome from the rear, with the spoked wheels and gently rising running boards suggestive of powerful performance.

Memories of my own early days as a driver were stirred by the sight of a Hillman Imp, a rear-engined model that supplied my first experience behind the wheel. I hardly proved to have a natural talent during my lessons, for it was only on the third attempt that I succeeded in passing the driving test.

After an unsatisfactory six months with a clapped out Ford Anglia, whose air-driven windscreen wipers packed up whenever one reached a hill, I bought a Morris Minor, one of the popular Travellers, many of which still grace the roads today.

As I mentioned, the very first of Alec Issigonis’s design can be seen at Gaydon. This beautiful polished vehicle in platinum grey dates back to 1948 and first saw use as part of the press fleet. Morris got it back, as it were, in 1961 when it was exchanged for a ‘Minor Million’ built to mark the production of the millionth Morris Minor.

By then, new cars appeared with a sticker in the back window proclaiming: “Another quality tested Morris.”

Years later I learned from a mate who worked at the factory what this quality testing had been. “They were taken up Horspath hill. If they could reach the top in fourth gear, they passed.”