The creation of the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BL) in 1968 saw the bringing together of multiple motor vehicle companies and marques (Austin, Jaguar, Morris, MG, Riley, Rover, Standard Triumph, and Wolseley).

[2] The collection, some of which was located at Syon Park, London, and the remainder being kept at Studley Castle, Warwickshire,[3][2] continued to grow, and the BMIHT decided that a new building was required to house it all.

[1] With financial assistance from the Rover Group, and other benefactors, a large new facility was built, set in 65 acres (260,000 m2) of grounds, on the Rover Group's Gaydon site in Warwickshire (the former RAF Gaydon airfield), and opened as the Heritage Motor Centre in 1993.

The Archive houses authentic historical records by many of the major car manufacturers, including a range of original factory ledgers which record the details of individual vehicles as they came off the production line.

This can include such details as a list of the options the car was ordered with, the original paint colour and any identification numbers that may be missing.