[Jeroen]

I was just going through some of my old photographs and I came across these. Several years ago my good friend Peter and me took our two Alfa Romeo Spiders on trip into France and Italy. One of the places we visited was Mulhouse in France. You will find the so called Schlumpf collection, which also happens to be the largest Bugatti collection in the world.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cité_de_l'Automobile

The history of this museum came about is a remarkable story in itself. Read the wikipedia story. There is different stories about the two brothers during the war (some not very positive) and certainly after the war the remarkable story continues.

Anyway, whatever the story and or history of the family that put this collection together, today it is still a truly remarkable collection of (vintage) cars. You'll find many different brands, models and makes. But you will also find many different Bugatti's.

If you ever find yourself near Mulhouse I highly recommend visiting this unique place. Nearby is also a very nice (steam) train museum. It's been a while since our visit, but in those days, if you would visit the museum in a classic car you would get free parking at special parking places near the entrance of the museum.

The entrance to the museum is quite spectacular!
Enjoy the piccies

Jeroen

[predatorwheelz]

Fascinating history of the museum. A section wise narrative would have made for easier reading, rather than a colllage of pics. Also this thread deserves to be in the "Beyond Borders" section in Vintage cars. Requested mods to do the needful.

[ajmat]

What I heard was that the Schlumpf brothers ran a few factories which went bust. They had been collecting these cars but no one knew about it. when they got locked out and unpaid, the workers broke open the warehouses looking for assets and found these cars

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by ajmat

What I heard was that the Schlumpf brothers ran a few factories which went bust. They had been collecting these cars but no one knew about it. when they got locked out and unpaid, the workers broke open the warehouses looking for assets and found these cars

I think everyone knew that they had cars locked up. The attention to cars was always greater than to staff and factories - which naturally led to them going bust. The workers then forcibly took possession after the brothers fleed. Either ways, the stuff of dreams.

[KPS]

The pride of the collection is the Bugatti Royale. Initially Bugatti planned to make 25 cars. In the end they made only 6, of which 3 were sold, as they were too expensive.

The Bugatti Type 41, better known as the Royale, is a large luxury car with a 4.3 m (169.3 in) wheelbase and 6.4 m (21 ft) overall length. It weighs approximately 3175 kg (7000 lb) and uses a 12.7 L (12763 cc/778 in³) straight-8 engine. For comparison, against the modern Rolls-Royce Phantom (produced from 2003 onward), the Royale is about 20% longer, and more than 25% heavier. This makes the Royale one of the largest cars in the world.

Source

You can gauge the size here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFzKHBNNh0s

Here is a close up of the car

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14qH8bP8hlc

Cheers

KPS

[srinand]

Hi,

I happen to have a book about the Schlumpf collection, quite a nice book with lovely photographs.

Regards,

Srinand.

[soulreaper_20]

Hello Everyone! I just came across this thread while searching for the Schlumpf Collection. I was at the Museum last year and I made a short video about its story and also about some of the cars in there.

https://youtu.be/9V0vMdQ3hCU

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by soulreaper_20

Hello Everyone! I just came across this thread while searching for the Schlumpf Collection. I was at the Museum last year and I made a short video about its story and also about some of the cars in there.

https://Youtu.be/9V0vMdQ3hCU

Thanks for sharing, brings back memories!

Jeroen