Crossing the Blues

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Mullin Automotive Museum celebrates grand opening in style



Mullin Automotive Museum Grand Opening

The Mullin Automotive Museum celebrated its grand opening this last week with a black tie event for media and distinguished guests. Of course, museum founder Peter Mullin will tell you that his new museum isn't just about cars. The 50,000 square foot facility, located in Oxnard, CA, was built as a homage to the art deco period, and plenty of historic artwork and furniture can be found throughout the building.

The cars, however, are the main attraction. More than 100 French automobiles with names like Bugatti, Delahaye, Delage, Hispano-Suiza, Talbot-Lago and Voison can be found in the museum. Immaculate restorations are featured alongside original cars from the legendary Schlumpf Reserve Collection. A collection of race cars takes residence on the second floor in a display that mimics the Le Mans pre-WWII.

Specifically for the grand opening, Bugatti also loaned the museum a collection of prototypes that led to the development of the Veyron 16.4. including the 1998 EB118 Concept, the 1999 EB218 Concept and the 1999 18.3 Chiron Concept. A beautiful EB110 SS and a brand new Grand Sport were also outside to greet guests.

Perhaps our favorite car on display, though, was an incredible 1937 Delahaye Type 145 V12 Coupe. It seems like such a beautiful car would be confined to carrying around dignitaries and celebrities, but in reality the gorgeous coupe raced at Le Mans and the German Grand Prix. Since purchasing the car in 2002, Peter Mullin has taken the car to the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Pebble Beach Concours, and it has won Best in Class at both events.

The Mullin Museum is currently open to the public on Saturdays with a reservation only, so if you're interested in going, call them up and get a spot as quickly as you can. Can't make it out to the museum? You can see all of our photos from the event in the gallery below or hit the jump to read the press release for the grand opening.