News from France newsletter reports:

On July 10 a new wing of Mulhouse's Automobile Museum was opened. The original building was constructed in stages between 1880 and 1930 and in 2007 the older part of the museum will be renovated.

Mulhouses' car museum, the newsletter says, "is recognized as having the world's largest collection of cars."

"It began as the private museum of Fritz Schlumpf, who used his fortune to buy numerous collector cars and housed them in this mill that became today's museum."

"Visitors can admire the finest creations of Rolls Royce, Mercedes, Hispano-Suiza and the famous Bugatti Royales."

Good of you to post this. This really is an extraordinary collection of automotive history - - worthwhile even if you think you won't be interested, and extra special if you know you would be interested.

It deserved better quarters. Although not a distraction, there were large aeras of the museum (translation: near football-field-sized rooms) with a gravelly floor surface on which the cars sit (separated by aisles of more foot/shoe-friendly walkways).

So many reasons to like Alsace, and the Schlumpf adds variety to the unique Franco-German character of the area.

Best wishes,

Rex

This is a fine auto museum, with the worlds largest collection of Bugattis. I'm not sure about the worlds largest of cars, unless there were many many more in storage when we were there about 15 years ago. It was even better than we had hoped for. Now, with the extension, I can only imagine... It is well worth a detour or day trip to Mullhouse.

Hans and Fritz Schlump may have collected these cars at the expense of their employees, but they did a magnificant job of finding and maintaining them.


Too bad their greed got the best of them and the government (taxes) stepped in and took over, causing them to flee to Switzerland.

If you are in the area or are interested in vintage autos, by all means see the Schlump collection.

It's odd that the article made no mention of Fritz's brother and equal partner in crime, Hans. They fled before the museum was opened, and possibly they never did have any intention of letting the world in on their secret. Everyone was totally surprised when their abandoned mill workers marched to the warehouse and found the vast collection inside.

Thanks for the info, it will definitely be part of a future trip.

France has some fabulous automobile museums.

Nina

oooops, left the f out of Schlumpf. If you are interested in their collection, the history of the brothers and their collection makes interesting reading.

As Rex said, the museum was user friendly, and the lights, street light type, went on ever half hour to make it easier to take great pictures. I hope that they don't modernize it too much, it was wonderful just the way it was.

Did I forget to mention that I hate progress


Nina

We loved that museum -- and have visited dozens of major car museums around the world. Rex, it's funny how differently we think on this one. I LOVED the way the cars were displayed on gravel -- seemed much more "natural" than on the usual tile floors or carpet -- and thought the overall display with various signs, road markers, etc. made it all wonderful.

You Luddite! Nina. You and Rex have made me put this into my future Want List - when i read the article i said OK that's nice but had no idea how exception it is as you both detail. Thanks for your tantalizing descriptions.

A fantastic collection of Bugattis. I don't know how many Royales they have but the entire production of Royales, over all the years is less than eight.

I'm not sure how many Royales they have, but I _think_ they have 238 Bugattis, including a little battery operated one made for a Shieks' son or grandson. They bought entire collections at a time.

One of the Schlumpf brothers, took the hood ornament from one of the Royales before he fled, probably the only momento of their collection that they made off with. They dedicated the museum to their mother - so they couldn't have been all bad

I totally agree with Patrick, I wouldn't change a thing about the way the cars were displayed. I loved the classical music in their cafe overlooking the cars.

Palenque - thanks for the compliment. I just looked up Luddite. We have four cars - all driven regularly - combined ages .. 107 years, so we practice what we preach

Another fabulous French auto museum is the Henri Mailflore, I forgot the his exact last name, but if anyone is interested, I can check our books tomorrow. It is about 1/2 hour from Lyon. The cars are displayed in a beautiful chateau overlooking a river, plus a huge barn filled with all sorts of goodies. The Royale on display belonged to Hitler.

True story - while at Pere Lachaise cemetary, I happened upon the Bugatti family above ground tomb/crypt (?) whatever it is called. I blurted out to DH, 'look, this is where the Bugattis are parked'.

Nina

www.collection-Schlumpf.com

Mulhouse has also been on my hit list for years because of its National Rail Museum, or transportation museum, a different entity than the Schlump. But i don't know much about it though it's considered one of the world's finest such museums. Anyone been there?

What about Mulhouse as a town - i did ride my bike thru there years ago but didn't even stop - so only hazy memories. I think Mulhouse may be pronounced weird for English speakers - kind of like "mew-uss" - a terrible attempt i know - how would experts pronounce it?

Thanks