1936 Alfa 2.9A Coupe, S/N 412004 began life with a ‘botticello’ body (meaning cask or barrel-like), and won the 1936 Mille Miglia. In 1939 it was rebodied as a striking convertible by Pininfarina, and after the war converted into a coupe by a coachbuilder named Martin.
Photos by Lorenzo Marchesini
Text and captions by Staff
With the little Fiat 500L, our Editor at Large Lorenzo Marchesini traveled to the The Schlumpf Collection at the National Motor Museum. (Read Introduction to the Schlumpf) With the permission of Director Monsieur Emmanuel Bacquet, Marchesini wandered the museum and took enough photos for us to separate the visit into Italian, French and Bugattis at the Schlumpf. Here is a tiny portion of the Italian cars at the Museum. We encourage you to visit and see the rest.
It is always nice to drive your car to a major museum and to find a similar model on display. The plaque reads “The Fiat 500 is surely the most important commercial success of the marque. It became the smallest mass produced car in the world. This 500 was a gift of the Fiat 500 Club Friuli.” Friuli is a region just north of Venice.
Not forgotten were the sedans, this one a 1900 Alfa of the early 1950s. It was the first Alfa to feature unit frame construction. Looking similar to many other large sedans of the early 1950s, it was powered by Alfa’s DOHC four with a four speed transmission.
8C 2300 Alfa Romeo. According to Simon Moore, this is chassis 2311226, and aside from a Monza cowl, it is very original. Body is by Touring. Touring and Zagato bodies of the era were very hard to tell apart.
One of the original Disco Volantes, this is a C52 with “fianchi stretti” or straight sides. One of three 2000 cc Disco Volantes built, it is the only one to see any competition. These preceded the later 6C 300CMs, often also referred to as “Disco Volantes”. Read more about Disco Volantes.
1948 D46 Cisitalia in remarkable, original condition. In January of 2007, VeloceToday helped in the discovery of the last missing D46, hidden in Virginia for decades. (Read The Lost D46)
Ferrari 156/63 S/N 0004 sits in a line up of the 1.5 liter Grand Prix cars. Unfortunately, this Ferrari V-6 was unable to keep Jim Clark from winning seven F1 events in the new Lotus 25 in 1963.
Ferrari 250LM, S/N 5975, one of about 32 built between 1963 and 1965. A web source claims that this car was purchased new by Helge Pehrsson of Sweden, who raced it a couple of times before selling it to the Schlumpfs in 1967 with only 2000 kilometers on the odometer! Note the chrome trim.
Not a 250GT Ferrari but chassis 0450AM which began life as a 375 MM Spider, later converted into this coupe by Scaglietti for Emperor Bao Dai of Viet Nam. Dai bought a Casino in Lyon, France and moved there in the mid-1950s.
1970 Ferrari 312B1, S/N 002 is one of the last Schlumpf acquisitions. According to Alan Henry, the first 002 was destroyed. The replacement chassis took the S/N and went on to win the South African GP in 1971 driven by Andretti. This car was also driven by Clay Regazzoni and Ignazio Giunti in 1970. It was Mauro Forghieri’s masterpiece.
1930 Maserati 8C 2000/2500 which was amazingly still being driven daily as a road car in 1960. Ironic, because the Maserati brothers did not like making road cars. (Read History of Maserati).
Pete –
Can you suggest some books on the French National Motor Museum in Mulhouse? I’d love to have something with really good lithography. Incidentally, I went to high school wth Clare Reuter. That was an excellent article. Clare was really into Etceterini when no one else was. Thanks much for all you do. Neal Conley
Nice pictures, but am I the only one who is increasingly of the oppinion that car museums are like looking at the stuffed animal diaramas in the museum of natural history?
Something doesn’t seem right. The cars seem so dead.
Maybe that is why vintage racing is popular – the cars arent dead.
WOI is trying to do a similar thing for car shows. And there is vintage tours.
Someone needs to reanimate these cars and set them free!
An older book on the museum is ‘The Schlumpf Obession…inside a legendary treasure house.’ by Denis Jenkinson & Peter Verstappen published 1977 Heron House Publishing London. It has a thorough history of the collection and the Schlumpf brothers. Lots of photos both Black and white and color.
Hi Neal,
there is the best book with large format photographs published by Bartlhemy and still available (for the original price).
Here is the link.
http://www.librairie-spe.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_25_124&products_id=165
Have a look !! Best regards Michael
Could be the cars look “dead” ecause they’re perfectly restored, or, one might say, embalmed. Let’s have more unrestored cars in museums–or a museum just for unrestored cars. I highly recommend the motorcycle museum on the Isle of Man: it’s like walking from one old guy’s garage to another, oiled dirt floors, cruddy spokes, grimy exhaust–everything just the way it should be after a fine day’s ride.
I owned the book ‘The Schlumpf Obsession’ for years but only made the pilgrimage to the museum a couple of years ago. Believe me – it’s an absolute must for anyone interested in older cars. The exhibits are endless, many unique and all presented in those majestic halls.
And no, the cars aren’t over-restored like some you see. They all seemed to ooze character and I was in awe the full time I was there – just half a day, but I feel the urge to go back.
I’m a VSCC member so a great fan of getting old cars into action as I believe some of these sometimes are. But somehow this museum works as it is – a record of some of the greatest cars ever which you will just never see anywhere else. If it hadn’t been for the Schlumpfs many of these would undoubtedly have disappeared forever.
Now whether the brothers were right to milk their company’s resources to fund all this is another matter. The fact is they did and the results are still there to be seen and I recommend you to go whilst it lasts.
I went there with a couple of pals on a short break from the UK. It’s in an interesting area with nice hotels, great food and lovely beer and wine. In fact, I might just book it up again whilst I’m thinking about it.
PS I have no business connections with either the museum or the local Tourist Board. I’m just an enthusiast
To Michael Catsch,
Since the link above no longer leads to the ‘best large format book on the schlumpf collection’, could you please provide the title and author’s name so that we can look for it elsewhere?
Thanks