National Holden Motor Museum in Echuca will close after 28 years

“When I started reading all the comments on social media, and there’s thousands of them, I got pretty emotional,” he said.

Mr Galea said being open seven days a week for all this time contributed to his decision to close the museum.

“We’re open seven days a week, all year round. We’ve got to be open because people expect us to be open, and it’s taken its toll on us,” he said.

“We do everything. We meet and greet the customers, we buy all the stock, talk to all the reps, clean all the cars. We do everything.

“We miss out on a lot of family life. My kids come up from Melbourne to visit, and I’m a grandad now. I want to enjoy that.”

Mr Galea said he tried to sell the business but was disappointed that no genuine offers were made.

The museum, which has been a part of Echuca since 1993, has been under the stewardship of Tony and Mark Galea for the past seven years.

Mr Galea said his passion for cars convinced him to move from Melbourne and buy the business.

“I’ve always been into Holden. I’ve got a collection of my own,” he said.

“I’m a collector of memorabilia and cars. I have quite a few.

“I’ve had cars in here over the years with the previous owners, so I used to come up here regularly.

“When the business was made available, the previous owner was happy to sell it to us. We enjoyed the sea change.”

Mr Galea said it was the visitors he would miss the most.

“We enjoyed meeting all the people that came in,” he said.

“We get so many walks of life coming here. People come here, they get to relive their childhood and what car they had back then.

“I enjoyed all the stories about what car they used to dream of having or about the cars that their parents had. People would bring their children in and show them this part of their childhood.”

The museum will close on April 14, with the display items either returning to their owners or up for auction on May 18.

Further details will be available at www.burnsandcoauction.com.au