COVENTRY, England — Coventry in the English Midlands is famous for at least two things: It was the stage for Lady Godiva’s notorious naked ride on a horse, and in the 1960s it established itself as “U.K.’s Motor City,” the Detroit of Great Britain.

When Lady Godiva took to these streets in the 11th century to protest unfair taxes, there was no car industry. The bicycles, the motorcycles, the roadsters and the taxis would come some 900 years later, as would thousands of engineers and designers drawn to Coventry, about 100 miles north of London.

Today, for motoring enthusiasts, or anyone interested in the 20th-century culture of Britain, Coventry makes it easy to absorb and celebrate its history. In the heart of the city, the Coventry Transport Museum is a tribute to men and machines — there are lots of machines to ogle — but more than that, it’s a history lesson on the effects of two world wars on a city’s civilization.

“So many companies — bicycle makers, the motorcycle industry, automobile makers — started out their production life here that we are uniquely placed not just to tell the story of the industries, but how they shaped the local area,” Elisabeth Chard-Cooper, the museum’s curator, said. “It is the motor city U.K.”