KittyKatSmack
30-08-2003, 09:22 PM
Speaking of which, did anybody else see the extraordinary article in today's Melbourne Herald-Sun Cars Guide on (or did you already otherwise know of) the Schlumpf Auto Museum?
It's a dead bizarre story -- seems Hans and Fritz Schlumpf, a couple of Italian-born brothers who ran textile factories, filled one of their abandoned factories (in Mulhouse, in Alsace-Lorraine, of all places, a town that should be revered by all Pug enthusiasts) with a collection of exotic European cars. Their textile business folded, and they closed all their factories in 1976, and sacked more than 2000 workers ... who (strongly unionized) found out about this "hobby" and occupied the factory in question (among others) for a couple of years. In the former spinning mill in Mulhouse, they found over 500 of the most fantastic European cars ever made that the brothers had been secretly buying and restoring since 1957 -- Ferraris, Mercedes, Porsches, Maseratis, Rollers, and more than 100 Bugattis, including a stretch 1929 Royale Coupe Type 41 with a 12.8 litre straight-8 engine originally owned by Ettore Bugatti and said to be alone worth up to $30 million ("There are six left in the world, and Schlumpf bought two.").
[Think I'm beginning to see how they went broke ...]
Long and short of the story is that the French government acquired the collection in 1987 in the interests of preserving it in one piece, and today it's run by a private company.
Although the widow of one of the brothers was awarded $10 million compensation for the loss in 1996, the article ends by saying, "The entire collection was valued at $400 million years ago, but car buffs say it is priceless."
You'll probably agree if you check out:
http://www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com/schlumpf/
http://www.ot.ville-mulhouse.fr/auto_e.htm
http://www.curbsite.com/autoshow/museums/schlumpf.html
It's a dead bizarre story -- seems Hans and Fritz Schlumpf, a couple of Italian-born brothers who ran textile factories, filled one of their abandoned factories (in Mulhouse, in Alsace-Lorraine, of all places, a town that should be revered by all Pug enthusiasts) with a collection of exotic European cars. Their textile business folded, and they closed all their factories in 1976, and sacked more than 2000 workers ... who (strongly unionized) found out about this "hobby" and occupied the factory in question (among others) for a couple of years. In the former spinning mill in Mulhouse, they found over 500 of the most fantastic European cars ever made that the brothers had been secretly buying and restoring since 1957 -- Ferraris, Mercedes, Porsches, Maseratis, Rollers, and more than 100 Bugattis, including a stretch 1929 Royale Coupe Type 41 with a 12.8 litre straight-8 engine originally owned by Ettore Bugatti and said to be alone worth up to $30 million ("There are six left in the world, and Schlumpf bought two.").
[Think I'm beginning to see how they went broke ...]
Long and short of the story is that the French government acquired the collection in 1987 in the interests of preserving it in one piece, and today it's run by a private company.
Although the widow of one of the brothers was awarded $10 million compensation for the loss in 1996, the article ends by saying, "The entire collection was valued at $400 million years ago, but car buffs say it is priceless."
You'll probably agree if you check out:
http://www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com/schlumpf/
http://www.ot.ville-mulhouse.fr/auto_e.htm
http://www.curbsite.com/autoshow/museums/schlumpf.html