It has been stated the Schlumpf Collection is to the automobile what the Louvre is to art. The Schlumpf Collection is situated at Cite' de l'automobile at Mulhouse, a town in the south-east corner of France, just a 20 minute drive in a vintage Bugatti from the Swiss border. In lay terms this is the French International Automobile Museum. But this is no ordinary collection. It is simply mind-blowing.
The Louvre has the Mona Lisa, perhaps the world's most famous painting. It is in French terms a 'Petit' work of art. Small, refined and featuring the mysterious smile of a beautiful woman. Ettore Bugatti, whose cars are the core of the Schlumpf Collection - but by no means all there is on offer - headed his own company that turned cars into an art form. They are by no definition 'Petit'. Yet, there are similarities with the Mona Lisa. His designs invite inspection. You feel like looking inside the cabin, lifting the bonnet ... the lines inspire close inspection, to unlock the mystery Bugatti built into his machines. Yet, when in this massive museum - housed in the Schlumpf Brothers former textile factory - we find Ettore Bugatti also rode in one of his works of art. This is like an artist keeping his most famous painting.
His vehicle of choice was the Bugatti Royale, a monster of a car, that inspires awe on pure size alone. Just six were built. The Schlumpf collection is a story of obsession. Of dreams replacing practical thought. Of a secret collection of cars that would stun automobile purists and abhor those who worked for industrialist brothers Hans and Fritz Schlumpf born in 1904 and 1906 respectively. Their father Carl was Swiss and their mother Jeanne Becker was French, from the industrial town of Mulhouse. The family moved to Mulhouse in 1906 and by 1929 the brothers were in business. Hans had a post graduate Diploma in Business while Fritz finished school at 18 and entered the workforce.
In 1935 they went into the wool business, bought shares in a spinning mill and by 1940 were prospering and took over other companies, including the purchase of woollen mills. This was an important time also for Fritz who in 1939 purchased a Bugatti 35B and started taking part in rallies. If there was a starting point in the obsession, perhaps this was it. Fritz started buying vintage cars, but only on a small scale. If we jump ahead to 1957 the next significant step takes place with the brothers purchasing the massive KHD textile factory in Mulhouse. This purchase would link eventually with Fritz's passion for cars, particularly Bugatti.
In 1961 Fritz formed an association with at least 13 contacts in the automobile industry in Switzerland, France, Germany, England, Italy and even the US. Those contacts were well connected with people who knew the owners of classic cars: Bugatti, Mercedes-Benz, Panhard-Levassor, Rolls-Royce, Maserati, Lotus ... Europe's finest automobiles. It was a clandestine connection with 13 middle-men. One of these was Renault dealer, Antoine Raffaelli, a multi-Bugatti owner, who becomes Fritz's advisor when it came to purchasing the cream of European cars. The association lasted several years and in a short time Fritz amassed a collection par excellence. It took until 1965 for the size of the hidden collection to become public and then only in a local newspaper. The cars were kept in a warehouse and only Fritz's closest confidantes were given the privilege of a guided tour.
In 1966 Fritz started to prepare his collection for display. He renovated the Mulhouse warehouse over several years and all the internal walls were torn down to create an exhibition hall with a floor area of 17,000 square metres. There were three kilometres of wide streets which he hoped will carry thousands of visitors to view his collection. While the massive exhibition hall was being created he employed specialists to restore the cars: seven assistant mechanics, two tinsmiths, an assistant tinsmith, two saddlers and five painters.
By 1976 everything the Schlumpf brothers worked for was in turmoil. The workers in the income producing textile factory were on strike and the industrialist brothers were broke. They try to sell to factories for a single franc, but there were no offers. They resigned their positions and fled across the border into Switzerland abandoning one of the finest collections of classic cars ever assembled. Creditors lay claims against the Schlumpf brothers, including irate former staff owed wages. Unions representing the workers occupy the "Schlumpf Museum" and re-name it the "Workers Museum". The inference is clear ... the museum contains assets bought or maintained by money that was earned, but not paid to the workers. They demand their jobs back in return for vacating the museum. There is no fee to enter the museum under the union occupation, but visitors are asked on exit to donate to the museum for maintenance and to help the legal battle going against the Schlumpf brothers.
The mood of the workers was summed up by graffiti written across the radiator grille of one race car: "I was earning 1400 Francs a month, now see where the rest of it went to". By this time the affair had attracted the attention of the French Government. Jean Panhard lobbied the Government and the collection was listed as a "Heritage Monument", making it illegal for anyone to remove any part of the collection from France. In 1979 the Court of Appeal ruled the liquidation of the Schlumpf controlled assets should be extended to the personal property of the Schlumpfs - including the collection of classic cars restored using company funds. Within hours the union handed over the keys to the warehouse containing the collection.
In October 1980 the Court of Appeal gave approval for the collection to be sold and a consortium called the National Motor Museum Owners’ Association scraped together 44 million francs to buy the collection. That consortium includes the City of Mulhouse, the Department of the Upper Rhine, Region of Alsace, the Mulhouse Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Panhard Society and committee of the Salon de l’Automobile. It appears the collection was undervalued and 20 years later the Schlumpf brothers were successful in gaining a judgement in their favour to that effect.
Two years later the museum opened to the public and seven years later the Court of Appeal in Paris ruled the National Motor Museum was legally obliged to add ‘Collection Schlumpf’ to its name in all documents referring to any part of the collection. In 1999 the museum’s management was handed to Culturespaces and a year later following modernisation and renovation Culturespaces opened the world’s largest motor museum.
A visit to the museum is a must for anyone remotely interested in great cars. Being situated in Mulhouse it is not an easy destination. Believe me, the effort to get there will be rewarded by four to eight hours of automobile heaven. The cars are set in the period in which they were produced. It is an experience that will linger for years. Lit by 800 street lamps, the same as those on the Alexandre 111 bridge in Paris, the main hall places the cars according to the main eras of the automobile.
There are the ‘forerunners and pioneers’ - Panhard, Peugeot, De Dion and Benz - cars from 1895 to 1918. The second section is ‘classic cars’ the start of the second phase from 1918 - 1938, symbolised by the merger of Mercedes and Benz. Then there is the ‘modern’ group cars from 1945. There is also a motor racing collection including vehicles such as the Mercedes W125 from 1937 and Maserati 250F from 1957 and Lotus Type 33. And let’s not forget the famed Bugatti Type 32 from 1923. Then there are the ‘motorcar masterpieces’ including Rolls Royce, Panhard-Levassor, Isotta-Fraschini Model 8A. As ever though there is Bugatti as a centrepiece, the imposing Royales, including the Bugatti 41 Coupe Napoleon from 1930, owned by Ettore Bugatti. Fritz Schlumpf’s obsession caused distress and heartache to begin with. Out of that mire it now brings joy, happiness and awe to those fortunate enough to visit Mulhouse.
|
Print Article
Submit Feedback
Email This Article
