Mulhouse - National Auto Museum

(Local Name: Musée Nationale de l'Automobile) The most unusual of the museums is the Musée Nationale de l'Automobile in the Avenue de Colmar. It contains around 450 vintage and veteran cars from many different countries, including 122 Bugattis as well as Rolls-Royces and Panhards.

This is the personal collection of two brothers, Hans and Fritz Schlumpf, originally Swiss textile mill owners. The collection was formed in private during the 1950s and 60s and became public knowledge only when a strike at the textile mill forced the Schlumpf brothers to retreat to Switzerland. As the workers were destroying their factory, they broke down a wall and discovered this collection of highly valuable cars. The collection was subsequently opened to the public under the auspices of the French government and the textile workers union. It is described as the third most frequently visited site in France.

From a car interest, it is the largest collection of Bugattis in the world, with some 400-500 vehicles on display.

Other points of interest are the shrine to the two brothers' mother and the lights in the museum that are replicas of those found on the Pont-Neuf in Paris.