George Barber, an AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer and founder of the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Birmingham, Alabama, home to the world’s largest collection of historic motorcycles, passed away at 85 years old.
Barber had a unique impact on the motorcycling community. Son of George H. Barber, founder of Barber Dairy and a pioneer of dairy pasteurization in the United States, the younger Barber’s love for motor vehicles began early in his life. In the 1960s, Barber raced and worked on his own Porsche racers with great success, amassing a significant record of wins behind the wheel.
Barber’s interest in motorcycles soon followed, leading him to open his own museum and hire skilled workers to restore vintage motorcycles to expand his collection. At the same time, Barber operated a vintage motorcycle racing team, which raced across the United States and Europe.
In 1994, Barber’s museum gained 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and was officially named the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum.
In 2002, Barber decided to close the original location of the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum and moved his collection to its current site in September 2003, which is an 830-acre complex that also features a 2.38-mile road circuit.
For his long-time preservation of motorcycle history, Barber was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2014. CN
