{"id":99296,"date":"2018-01-16T09:54:30","date_gmt":"2018-01-16T14:54:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/velocetoday.com\/?p=99296"},"modified":"2018-01-16T09:54:30","modified_gmt":"2018-01-16T14:54:30","slug":"mullin-automotive-museum-celebrates-citroen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/velocetoday.com\/mullin-automotive-museum-celebrates-citroen\/","title":{"rendered":"Mullin Automotive Museum Celebrates Citro\u00ebn"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Story by Brandes Elitch
\nPhotos courtesy the Mullin Automotive Museum<\/strong><\/p>\n

About six months ago I got a call from an old friend who is part of a members-only group at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Knowing that I have a Citro\u00ebn DS and an SM, he announced that his group had a special invitation to attend the opening of a new exhibit at the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, devoted entirely to the history of Citro\u00ebn. It didn\u2019t take me long to decide to make the trip, although it is a full day\u2019s drive for me from Sonoma County, 2 hours north of San Francisco. He enticed me further by saying we would drive up there from L.A. in his 1962 Maserati 3500 coupe, which is a pretty brave undertaking considering the traffic there. <\/p>\n

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A portion of the main floor of the Mullin \u2013 all the grandes routieres have been replaced by Citroens!<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

The Mullin opened in April, 2010, and shortly thereafter I was able to attend a private invitation for the members of the Classic Car Club of America, so I had some familiarity with it and its predecessor, the Otis Chandler Museum. There is a lot of history here, so let\u2019s start at the beginning.<\/p>\n

Otis Chandler was a larger than life figure who published the Los Angeles Times from 1960 to 1980, and turned a provincial newspaper into a prestigious national one. He had a 45k square foot building purpose built in Oxnard as a museum for cars, motorcycles, fine art, wildlife and game, and even an 1894 Baldwin steam locomotive. He founded the museum in 1987. When he died in 2006, everything was auctioned off (42 motorcycles and 48 cars) setting at that time a record for a single day sale of one collection: $36 million. <\/p>\n

Peter Mullin is a philanthropist who has given so much of his time and money to so many charities and foundations and universities that space limitations preclude me mentioning them all, except for a couple that will be of particular interest to our readers here. In 2013 he donated $15 million to fund a building on the south campus of the world-famous Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He has also played a leading role as Board Chairman of Petersen Museum in the 2015 $125 million renovation of the Petersen, including a real-time studio staffed by Art Center students! The Petersen was founded in 1994 by the owners of Petersen Publications (Motor Trend, Hot Rod<\/em>, etc.) as a gift to the City of Los Angeles. Financial management ineptitude by the city caused the Petersens to subsequently donate another $100 million in 2011 to stabilize it financially!<\/p>\n

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An overview of some of the 2CV and Ami models on display, with an extraordinary Chapron bodied DS sedan on the display stand.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Mullin is also President of the American Bugatti Club (he acquired a dozen cars from the Schlumpf collection in Mulhouse, which is a pretty good start). When I saw the collection the first time, it was focused on Bugattis of course, and also other French grandes routieres of the 1920\u2019s and 1930\u2019s, including as you would expect Delahaye, Delage, Voisin, Talbot Lago, and Hispano. Most surprising was the collection of 50-75 pieces of furniture by Carlo Bugatti , and sculpture by Rembrandt Bugatti, and even some of the personal art collection owned by Ettore and Jean Bugatti. At that time, about 50 or 60 cars were displayed on two floors, about half the collection, I believe. Mullin\u2019s favorite is apparently a Talbot Lago \u201cgoutte d\u2019eau\u201d coupe, but to me the most astonishing was the 1937 Delahaye Type 145 V-12 GP car, famous as the \u201cMillion Franc Car.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mullin has stated in various interviews over the years that he considers French cars of the twenties and thirties to be the apex of sculpture, design, engineering, and performance. He collects all types of art from the Art Deco period, including cars, and says that \u201cI don\u2019t think it ever got any better than that.\u201d I\u2019m sure that many of our readers would agree with that, and why not? Mullin has also stated that he believes that Oxnard is one of the last undiscovered beach cities on the scenic drive up the Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Barbara and that is one of the reasons he acquired the museum building. Oxnard is sixty miles west of downtown L.A., and while it is one of the wealthiest areas in the country, it is one of the nation\u2019s leading strawberry producers, and fields of strawberries are adjacent to the museum.<\/p>\n

Although I have attended the 50th anniversary of the DS in Paris and seen the Citro\u00ebn company private collection, as well as numerous French museums, I must say I was astonished at the depth and breadth and quality of this exhibition. All the grandes routieres have been temporarily banished from the main floor. There are fully 46 cars on display, from the earliest 1919 Type A, to the 5 cv, Traction Avant, DS, SM, 2 cv, up to a 2007 C6 and a 2009 Pluriel. There is a very well curated and comprehensive display of artwork and advertising materials that Citro\u00ebn is famous for. I feel confident in stating that there will not likely be a more comprehensive display of Citro\u00ebn history in the U.S. for many years, if ever, so if you are a Citro\u00ebniste, attendance is required. <\/p>\n

Upon arrival at the museum, which is located in an industrial complex just west of the freeway, we were greeted in the parking lot by Tessa Crane, who is one of the docents. She mentioned that I might know her father who is pretty well known in automotive circles. He turned out to be Larry Crane, and by a stroke of luck, he turned out to be our guide for the tour. Larry was editor of Auto Afficianado <\/em>magazine, and before that, had a long history in automotive publishing, including tours at Road & Track, Motor Trend, Automobile Magazine<\/em>, and Vintage Racer<\/em>. He wrote a series of columns published right here in VeloceToday <\/em> called \u201cA Car Life, With Larry Crane,\u201d that you will want to read. (Pete, you should ask Larry to write more columns!). Larry was particularly helpful in explaining the furniture and artwork in the Mullin collection, which is worthy of a visit itself. <\/p>\n

Now for those of you who are not familiar with the history of the marque, where to begin? I doubt if another marque would have such a glorious history of consistent technical innovation for such a long period of time, except for Lancia perhaps. It would take many columns to properly explain this, so here is some background material.<\/p>\n

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A real life copy of the famous period ad with Gina Lollobrigida with all the suitcases which will fit in the DS!<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Most Americans, if they had any familiarity at all, would recognize a DS, although the last one was sold here in 1972. In 2005, it was voted \u201cthe most beautiful car ever built\u201d by a panel of world-renowned designers including Giorgetto Giugiaro and Paul Braq. In 1999, the Global Automotive Elections Foundation ranked the DS as the third most influential automobile design in history, and it was also ranked by the British magazine Classic and Sportscar <\/em>as the most beautiful car of all time. French writer Roland Barthes called it, upon its debut in 1955, \u201ca new Nautilus.\u201d Many of the themes of the DS were carried over to the SM, a 140 m.p.h. rocket ship powered by a 4-cam Maserati V6 with 3 two barrel Webers, and the subsequent CX. <\/p>\n

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A CX, the successor to the DS, and a GS Birotor with Wankel motor that survived the factory effort to buy back and destroy the entire production.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

The firm was started by Andre Citro\u00ebn in 1919, after illustrious wartime service. Always a big admirer of the U.S., he quickly adopted modern American methods for large-scale, high-volume industrial production, coupled with a brilliant approach to publicity, advertising, and mass merchandising to create a brand with strong consumer appeal. He manufactured highly detailed model cars so that a French baby\u2019s first three words would be, \u201cMaman, Papa, Citro\u00ebn.\u201d By the early 1930\u2019s, he was the fourth largest manufacturer in the world. The great Gabriel Voisin called him \u201cthat astonishing man.\u201d Citro\u00ebn, \u201cthe Jew of Javel,\u201d as the malevolent Louis Renault called him, surrounded himself with three great figures: Voisin, Lefebvre, and Boulanger, who were not just talented engineers but also knowledgeable about art and architecture, which was imparted into the company\u2019s DNA from the beginning. It became the home of exotic engineering and advanced aerodynamics <\/p>\n

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The 2007 C-6, a worthy successor to the DS.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Citro\u00ebn died much too early but by his death he had begun production of the Traction Avant, and the firm was subsequently well managed by the Michelin family for decades until its eventual merger with Peugeot following the Arab oil crisis. Today, the French say that Citro\u00ebn is \u201cthe most famous unknown man of our century.\u201d Although the factory records were destroyed entirely during 1939-45, an enormous amount of material has been created subsequently and there is much readily available reference material for you to study if you are so inclined. In the meantime, the Mullin display is open through April, which gives you a few months to get down there to see it in person. If you are seriously interested in automotive design, this might be considered a pilgrimage, particularly if Larry Crane is your host.<\/p>\n

The website, www.mullinautomotivemuseum.com <\/a> lists tickets available for semi-private tours on Tuesday and Thursday, which appear to be limited to 100 tickets for the day, and for the second and fourth Saturdays, where there appear to be 225 tickets available. It might be best to call first (805.385.5400). The Citro\u00ebn Exhibit open through Spring of 2018.<\/p>\n

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A comprehensive display of the DS, including a few Chapron bodied coupes. Chapron built DS variants from 1958-74. He died in 1978. Chapron made 389 DS convertibles and also coupes and sedans. The factory made 1365 convertibles of their own.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

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A 5 CV, kind of the French Model T.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

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The revolutionary Traction Avant, in production from 1934-1955.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

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A 2 CV, aka the tin snail, in production from 1948-1990, with 3.8 million produced, and an additional 1.2 million 2 CV vans.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

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A lineup of the Ami models, basically a 2 CV drivetrain with a more conventional body, if you could call it that \u2013 1.8 million Amis were produced along with 1.4 million Dyanes.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

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A convertible Traction Avant. This is an extremely rare model. It was also produced in England in the Slough factory with RHD.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

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The model C4, with a decidedly American influence.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Story by Brandes Elitch Photos courtesy the Mullin Automotive Museum About six months ago I got a call from an old friend who is part of a members-only group at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Knowing that I have a Citro\u00ebn DS and an SM, he announced that his group had a special […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[530,7430,7752,1264,7753,1610],"class_list":{"0":"post-99296","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-citroen-french","7":"tag-automobile-museums","8":"tag-citroen-andre","9":"tag-citroen-at-mullin","10":"tag-citroen-collectors","11":"tag-citroen-mullin","12":"tag-pete-mullin","13":"pmpro-has-access","14":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/velocetoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/velocetoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/velocetoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/velocetoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/velocetoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99296"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/velocetoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99308,"href":"https:\/\/velocetoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99296\/revisions\/99308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/velocetoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/velocetoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/velocetoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}