From: Pete Albrecht
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking
Subject: Re: Auto Museums (was:Rare Cars)
Date: 30 Sep 1998 04:37:17 GMT

>I'll start this list, feel free to add auto/motorcycle/train/interesting
>museums to visit to the list and put back up here:

San Diego Air & Space Museum
San Diego Automotive Museum
San Diego Model Railroad Museum
Fleet Space Theater
(all of the above in Balboa Park, my favorite park on the planet)

Deutsches Museum, Munich (mixed technology; lots of interesting cars and
aircraft, including rare WW2 stuff like Dornier 335 push-pull fighter, I think
a Me-262 jet, a postwar Dornier VTOL, etc).

Royal Air Force Museum and Battle of Britain Museum, Hendon (N of London, via
Tube/commuter rail)

HMS Belfast, moored in the Thames upstream from the Tower

Imperial War Museum, London

Greenwich Naval Museum, S of London

Tangmere RAF base, S of London

Beaulieu Collection, Beaulieu Castle (lots and lots of cars)

That's all I can think of for now...

Pete

Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking
From: russ@kepler-eng.com (Russ Kepler)
Subject: Re: Auto Museums (was:Rare Cars)
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 12:14:33 GMT

In article <19980930003717.17655.00000954@ng31.aol.com>,
PLAlbrecht <plalbrecht@aol.com> wrote:
>That's all I can think of for now...

I'll add:

British Science Museum, London, England

    A monster museum, in the same class as the Deutches Museum
    in Munich.  I believe that there's only 2 museums in that
    class.

Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia

    A very nice museum, a bit ecletic collection, but some marvelous
    "early technology" and steam.  Steam is all working with live
    steam piped throughout.

Maritime Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

    Likely the best maritime museum I've ever been to.

Boston Science & Technology (not sure of the real name), Boston, Mass

    I like this one better than Chicago.  Not sure why, might be
    because it's more accessable or more fun or less crowded.

Warsaw Military Museum (again, not sure of real name), Warsaw, Poland

    Nothin' like acres of military hardware to crawl over and into, then
    an indoor museum rivaled only by the Musee' de Armorie

Musee' de Armorie (sp) Paris, France

    Way cool for the military buff, and convenient to the stuff that
    your wife will want to see in Paris

Air & Space Museum, Washington, DC

    Can't beat this one with a stick.

Museum of American History, Washington, DC

    Great early industry display

Too many more to list.  Whenever I travel I look for museums to fill
my spare time - it's a bit better than drinking in hotels.

--
Russ Kepler                                              russ@kepler-eng.com

                      Please Don't Feed the Engineers

From: Pete Albrecht
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking
Subject: Re: Auto Museums (was:Rare Cars)
Date: 1 Oct 1998 01:28:24 GMT

>A monster museum, in the same class as the Deutches Museum
>    in Munich.  I believe that there's only 2 museums in that
>    class.


Three. Can't forget the Smithsonian.

> Nothin' like acres of military hardware to crawl over and into, then
>    an indoor museum rivaled only by the Musee' de Armorie
>
>Musee' de Armorie (sp) Paris, France


Oh, that reminds me, forgot the Royal Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset. The Auto
+ Technik Museum in Sinsheim, Germany (near Hockenheim autobahn intersection)
has a lot of military stuff.

Pete

From: Pete Albrecht
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking
Subject: Re: Auto Museums (was:Rare Cars)
Date: 1 Oct 1998 01:29:54 GMT

>Henry Ford Museum, Greenfield Village, Michigan


Duh. How could I have left that one out?

Pete

From: Pete Albrecht
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking
Subject: Re: Rare Cars [was: Re: Losing pieces of VW's (Was:  Re: Conclusion:  
	VW bus)]
Date: 29 Sep 1998 16:01:56 GMT

John Stevenson wrote

>Why don't you post a story on this museum.
>I have a book somewhere on the founding of this museum by the two brothers [
>name
>forgotten ] in secrecy and what they achieved.
>I was amazed by the story and so will a lot more on this group.



The Schlumpf brothers. (Oddly, "Schlumpf" is the name the Germans and French
give those blue cartoon characters, the Smurfs). A couple of odd ducks if ever
there were any. There are a couple of books on the museum, "The Schlumpf
Obsession" by the incomparable Denis Jenkinson and Jos. Verstappen, and a
catalog "The Schlumpf Automobile Collection." by several German guys.

I would write the history but it would take me all day. Besides it's been done
by Jenkinson. Nutshell history is that these two Swiss nutcases owned a textile
mill in Mulhouse, France, across the border from Basel. They took all the
profits and instead of reinvesting at least part of it to upgrade machines
etc., they squandered it all on Bugattis. They had secret buyers all over the
world, whenever a Bugatti came up for sale, they would have their cutouts
obtain it, cost no object, and ship it to Mulhouse. Only nobody knew this at
the time. They hid them all in a huge warehouse. About half a dozen people on
the planet ever saw the collection while the brothers still controlled it.
Eventually the workers got fed up with low pay, or no pay, whatever, and went
on strike, locking the brothers out. Somebody broke open the doors of the
mysterious warehouse (they knew there was something going on, but not the
details) and it was like opening King Tut's tomb. They even had two Bugatti
Royales, arguably the most over-the-top car in history, and enough parts to
make another (the "seventh Royale"). It was taken over by the government. There
is still a warrant out for the arrest of the surviving brother, who fled to his
native Switzerland.

The place is about the size of three football fields, all under one roof, and
as you come down the steps to the relatively narrow entrance in one corner of
the display area, you have no clue as to its size until the whole thing
suddenly spreads out before you, cars as far as the eye can see. Not just
Bugattis, of course, but lots of significant cars, including famous racers,
mostly French but also others.

When I was there, they were open every day except Tuesday. (Once I went on a
Tuesday, showed my press credentials, and had the place all to myself).

Oh. I see I've written a history of the Schlumpf Museum. Never mind...

Pete