Bugatti Museum Schlumpf
The Schlumpf Collection National Automobile Museum.
Picture 1 6 Schlumpf Collection National Automobile Museum.
Imagine that you are a wealthy French industrialist The war is over and your textile factories humming at full speed These are the years 1950 and European car manufacturers have finally started producing exciting sports and racing cars again Everybody wants it again, leaving the used market in models -for flooded prewar Bugatti, Hispano Suiza, Delage and Mercedes-Benz you and your brother, indulge in fantasy, to start collecting cars it would an obsession and would ultimately be your downfall.
Photo 2 6 Schlumpf Collection National Automobile Museum.
Fritz Schlumpf Fritz Schlumpf as a youth dreamed of owning a Bugatti, he was able to do just before the war with the purchase of a type 35B Becoming with his older brother, Hans, a wealthy industrialist by the mid-fifties, Fritz tâté in motor racing until requested by the textile union to refrain from this competition which could endanger your life and deprive us of our esteemed director autocratic and severely disciplined, Fritz Schlumpf was nevertheless generous its workers, providing employee travel, installing an employee theater and driving expectant mothers to the hospital in his own car.
Photo 3 6 Schlumpf Collection National Automobile Museum.
The disinherited start of the race as an outlet for his passion for cars, Fritz and Hans turned to car collecting During the summer of 1960, they acquired ten Bugattis, including two types 57s and a type 46 model 5 l in addition, the pair found three Rolls -Royces two Hispano Suiza and Tatra at the end of the summer, they had bought a total of 40 cars.
Photo 4 6 Schlumpf Collection National Automobile Museum.
M. Raffaelli, a Renault dealer from Marseilles and the owner of several Bugattis, helped them in their search Raffaelli was surprised by the unique approach of mind of Fritz Schlumpf when he offered ten times the asking price to get a car he wanted the word went Fritz Schlumpf was buying and cars came available in England, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and the United States Fritz never sold, bought it, and only cars European pedigree and the best quality.
Photo 5 6 Schlumpf Collection National Automobile Museum.
Sometimes Fritz Schlumpf dealt directly with the Gordini manufacturers sold him ten old racing cars in a Ferrari sale sold him a car race sold spare cars Mercedes-Benz in its collection Racing driver Jo Siffert sold three race cars Lotus for a pittance Schlumpf sent a form letter to all Bugatti owners on the register of the club, offering to buy all their cars in 1962, bought nearly 50 Bugattis in spring 1963, he acquired 18 personal Car Ettore Bugatti later in 1963, an American collector named Shakespeare offered his collection of 30 Bugattis, and Fritz bought all in 1967, an inventory showed 105 Bugattis in the Fritz Schlumpf collection.
Photo 6 6 Schlumpf Collection National Automobile Museum.
Obsessed To keep all its cars and restoring many of them, Fritz Schlumpf decided in 1965 to transform one of its plants in a food store he visited the square foot boutique in Mulhouse 200,000 per day, the choice of colors and type of food each car would receive it demolished interior walls and put a red tiled walkway with gravel soils for cars to sit on but the Schlumpf brothers remained very discreet about their car collection , showing only rarely to some customers and the privileged guests of the plant.
Trouble in Paradise The money that fueled the buying spree came from textile mills Schlumpf brother But the 1960s, the textile company was moving to Asia, and profits began to fall in 1971, Fritz Schlumpf managed to buy the mills of one of its competitors besieged Almost immediately there were problems that the workers went on strike spread the word of a secret fabulous car collection, and the strikers have taken to assault old mill Schlumpf Several windows were broken, but police pushed some 400 demonstrators in 1976, the Schlumpf brothers were forced to abandon their newly acquired mill but their own business continued to suffer and March 7, 1977 textile union members staged a sit-in in Schlumpf office and secrecy Mulhouse museum workers were torn between the desire to plunder abuse man ifeste of power and misappropriation of corporate money in the collection represented and complete awe at the beauty of classic cars.
New owners The strike lasted almost two years, and the Schlumpf brothers were forced to declare bankruptcy and flee to their native Switzerland Strikers decided to open the collection to the public, and more than two years, more than 800,000 visitors were recorded in 1979, a bankruptcy liquidator ordered closed and sold the building and the collection to the combination of an owner which includes the city of Mulhouse, the Alsace region of the regional council, the Paris Salon organizers of Auto and Automobile club de France the museum is now safe, as it's listed by the French government as a national heritage and can not be exported or dispersed Fritz Schlumpf filed a complaint claiming that he is entitled to part of the proceeds of the sale, it never saw the result, as he died in 1992, but 1999, a French court found in his favor and the balance of compensation of 40 million francs was paid to the widow of Fritz Schlumpf collection in Switzerland fell gradually decline until a new company took over management in 1999, the museum was completely renovated and reopened in March 2000, largest automobile museum in the world.
The Collection Today Nothing can quite prepare you visited the Schlumpf Collection at the National Automobile Museum in Mulhouse There are 400 cars on display and another 120 from the reserves 20 other cars are loaned to other museums around the world Although Bugatti is always associated with the Schlumpf collection, and there are 123 cars of this brand sanctified on the screen, there are also many other famous car manufacturers represented, for example, there 31 Mercedes-Benz vehicles and eight Benz cars at the beginning of the Maserati collection Panhard- Levassor, Darracq, Clement DEDION, automotive Serpollet George and Richard share space with, Renaults, Peugeots Porsche and Ferrari.
The cars are arranged in rows on gravel pad placed between the alleys of red brick Fritz Schlumpf Each line represents about a different age of the automobile, since the first horseless carriages through European cars of the 50's and 60's There is a separate room for race cars where a magic grid type 35 Bugattis, Maseratis 250Fs and Mercedes-Benz W125 and great prewar Price W154 cars are ready to do battle with a nest egg of light blue Gordini Descriptions cars are available on audio receivers french, German or English, other language translations are planned Unfortunately, the director of Alain Schiede museum admits that only a small number of the cars are actually running but he also mentioned that the restoration workshop, long abandoned, is being reborn to start work again on the s Car Museum.
objects of desire above all, however, there Bugattis here, they were the true objects of obsession Fritz Schlumpf There Bugattis at the beginning and end Bugattis He opened it and Bugattis Bugattis Completed Bugattis are breathtaking and some that are inconceivably ugly There are two six monstrous 12 type 7 liters 41 Royales ever built There are many 35s light blue type and 37 race cars that established Bugatti atop the world of motorsport It is spectacularly failed 1955 Type 251 grand Prix car, a last effort was abandoned in 1956 Bugattis are not like other cars monomaniac They are the reflection of the individual vision of Ettore Bugatti sports cars and racing collection Fritz Schlumpf is the obsession of a man obsessed with another man.
Getting there Located in the Alsace region of France, the city of Mulhouse is easily accessible by French railway or flying in Basel nearby, Switzerland From the outside, the large textile factory transformed doesn t look like much, but the inside is the dream of the sky automotive enthusiast the museum had more than 200,000 visitors in 2000, and expectations are high that the number will increase dramatically now that he has been completely renovated a new restaurant and a gift shop worth drooling over are also on site.
The museum is open from 10 am to 6 pm, seven days a week and is only closed Christmas Day and New Year Adults pay 65 F for the very reasonable admission, while children receive in 29 F Schlumpf Collection at the National Motor Museum can be reached in the United States 33-3 89-33-23-23 or website.
The Schlumpf Collection of the National Museum of the European automotive Car Magazine, schlumpf, collection, national.
Haus Schlumpf
Storchenweg 45a, 27632 Wurster Nordseeküste, Германия