In a country that worships the automobile, the information did not go unnoticed. Several titles in the American press report that the Mullin Automotive Museum will close its doors on February 10, 2024. Located in Oxnard (200,000 inhabitants) in California, this private museum houses one of the largest collections of Bugattis in the world and above all a of the richest collections of pre-war French cars.
This decision follows the death of its founder Peter Mullin in September 2023. Passionate about French cars, the American billionaire had started a collection focused on models from the 20s and 30s. He opened it to the public in 2010, inaugurating the Mullin Automotive Museum in a 4,300 m² building (which had housed the Chandler Vintage Museum).
The Mullin Automotive Museum is one of the ten largest rare collector automobile museums in the world. More than a hundred models are on display there, including Renault, Hispano-Suiza, Voisin and Talbot Lago. The collection also includes numerous Bugatti models – most purchased from the Schlumpf brothers – including one of the most expensive cars in the world, the 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic, estimated at more than $30 million. The museum also exhibits several art objects, furniture and fashion from the Art Deco movement.
After the museum closes, four vehicles from the collection will join the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles: a Talbot-Lago T150 CS ” Water drop “ from 1937, a Hispano-Suiza H6B Dubonnet Xenia from 1938, a Delahaye 165 from 1939 and a Delahaye 145 from 1938. The rest of the collection is expected to be sold at auction.
