The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts
Photos by Jonathan Sharp
From the VeloceToday Archives, May 2018
In 2016, Jonathan Sharp made an intensive visit to the Schlumpf Museum, and returned with thousands of photos. This week we’ve selected just a few of our favorites taken from the several articles showing the treasures of the Schlumpf. [Read more…] about Twenty Shots From the Schlumpf Collection
Schlumpf was fascinated by both Ettore and Jean Bugatti, as well as the cars they created. Here, a prewar picture showing Jean Bugatti with the Royale roadster he designed for Armand Esders gives a good idea of the elegance and the size this Type 41. Fin (Photo Collection Bugatti family).
Auto biographie – Pour l’amour de Fritz Broché – 10 avril 2009
de Arlette Schlumpf (Auteur), Bernard Reumaux (Collaborateur)
• Broché: 352 pages
• Editeur : La Nuée Bleue (10 avril 2009)
• Langue : Français
• ISBN-10: 2716507473
• ISBN-13: 978-2716507479
• Dimensions:24 x 2.6 x 15 cm
A summary and review by Gijsbert-Paul Berk
Part 2
The time of happiness
Soon after they started courting, Fritz began teaching Arlette to enjoy the thrills and pleasures of fast driving and to discover the ideal lines for taking – in the shortest possible time but with a minimum of risk – the many curves on the roads in the Vosges area. They often competed, each in a separate car, just for the fun of it.
[Read more…] about For the Love of Fritz Part 2
Auto biographie – Pour l’amour de Fritz Broché – 10 avril 2009
de Arlette Schlumpf (Auteur), Bernard Reumaux (Collaborateur)
• Broché: 352 pages
• Editeur : La Nuée Bleue (10 avril 2009)
• Langue : Français
• ISBN-10: 2716507473
• ISBN-13: 978-2716507479
• Dimensions:24 x 2.6 x 15 cm
• Find on Amazon.com
In 2009 the French publishing house La Nuée Bleue (The Blue Cloud) brought out a book with the title For the love of Fritz. It was the posthumous autobiography of Arlette Schlumpf, the lifelong companion and later widow of Fritz Schlumpf. Gijsbert-Paul Berk’s incisive three part article is the first time the book has been reviewed in English.
A summary and review by Gijsbert-Paul Berk
At the time of publication, Arlette Schlumpf’s book attracted little attention and it was never translated. A pity but understandable; by 2005 there were several excellent books in French, English and German about the collection. In addition, the Schlumpf ‘affair’ belonged to a previous century, while the fierce juridical battles with the French authorities over the ownership of the car collection and the museum at Mulhouse had ended in a compromise. It was old news. However, Arlette’s book sheds a great deal of light on the Schlumpf Obsession, which is perhaps the most fascinating car collecting story of the 20th century.
1928 Bugatti Type 35A; 8 cylinders, 1991cm, 95cv, 190 km/h. This car was equipped with mudguards and headlights as a two-seater sport version. It belonged to Elisabeth Junek who raced Bugattis in the Targa Florio.
Photos by Jonathan Sharp
Dear reader,
Last week we brought you Part 1 of cars at the Schlumpf (click here). Below we present just a few of the Bugatti and Gordini race cars at the National Museum at Mulhouse. We have not attempted to identify the Bugattis by chassis number; we have asked for a list of cars and chassis numbers from the Museum but no response yet. Even simple identification is often difficult; for example is the wire wheeled Bugatti below a T35 or T37? We are not sure.
Therefore Mr. Sharp has made use of the placards at the Museum, the official Museum booklet, and the Museum Internet site to try to verify that the identifications in the captions below are as correct as possible. Our staff also checked sources from a variety of Bugatti and Gordini books. In some cases, we are still not sure we are 100% correct. Perhaps readers could help. We would also like to know if readers have had similar experiences.
The situation was no better with the Gordinis. Placards were often incorrect. We used Christian Huet’s landmark book, “Gordini” as well as Roy Smith’s recent work “Amédée Gordini-a true racing legend” to identify the cars by chassis number and type – always a difficult matter at best as Smith will attest to. So enjoy; comments welcome as usual! [Read more…] about Bugatti and Gordini Racecars at the Schlumpf
This 1929 Bugatti T35B was Fritz Schlumpf’s personal car in which he regularly used to compete in various hill climbs.
Bugattis at the Schlumpf by Jonathan Sharp
I must have first become aware of the Schlumpf collection back in the late 1970s, when stories started to appear in the British daily newspapers following the discovery of a load of old cars that had been hidden in an old woolen mill in Eastern France. From that moment on I had vowed to visit it one day. A family motoring trip to Lido di Jesolo in Northern Italy had brought me to within 30 kms of Mulhouse back in 1984, but the call of the sun, sand and pasta proved to be more popular for the rest of the family than a visit to a dusty old car museum. It was not until October of last year that I was at last able to tick the “Visit the Schlumpf Collection” box on my bucket list.
[Read more…] about National Automobile Museum in Mulhouse (aka Schlumpf)