We all know those one of those guys, the ones who buys up obscure cars that most people are scrapping, who end up with a shed full of them.  The Schulmpf brothers are those guys,.. except with Bugattis and a bit of civil unrest thrown in.

All cars go through a period of being pretty much worthless, or at least relatively worthless compared to their original value, you can see all sorts of cars changing hands for less than a grand right now that were a whole lot more expensive to buy when new.  Maybe their values will bounce back, maybe they won’t, the real enthusiast doesn't care, for the value of the car means nothing, the car itself is the point.  In the 1950's pre-world war two cars were getting thrown on the scrapheap by customers wanting the newest and greatest European sports cars.  The Schlumpf Brothers were there to pick them up, and boy did they pick some interesting things up.



The Schlumpf brothers in question were Hans and Fritz, two Italian born Swiss who had moved to Mulhouse in France with their widowed mother.  Their source of income was spun woollen products they opened their mill before world war two, and with an aggressive growth after the war they ended up very wealthy indeed, putting them in a position to engage their obsession.  Whilst their predominant focus was Bugatti, the brothers collected some of the most desirable pre-war cars they could find, having gained a reputation for this kind of purchase put them in position that dealers sought out the brothers if something interesting came up.  The activity was a one way street, cars went in and were not sold on.



In the mid 1960's the woollen industry started to downturn somewhat, so the brothers moved their collection into disused areas of the Mulhouse mill.  They employed a team of people to work on and restore their car collection, at this point numbering nearly 400 cars.  The people working on the cars were to keep details of the collection secret.  This work carried on as the Woollen industry in Europe gradually fell away.  The brothers planned to open the Mulhouse mill as a car museum, they had everything ready, reception rooms, displays, tickets, the lot but in 1977 they had other things on their mind and their two world collided.



Having had to close a number of factories due to the economic climate, hundreds of current and ex-employees blocked the brothers in their villa as part of industrial action to protest the loss of jobs, the French authorities move the brothers to Switzerland and the striking workforce occupy the mill.  Once inside they discovered for the first time the extent of the car collection.  The workers destroy an unrestored Austin 7, but limit their destruction there, realising that if the textile industry is doomed, then the collection of cars has value as museum.  The workers set to operating the museum, however the brother’s debts continue to rise and the collection comes under threat from creditors.  The French authorities step in at this point to ensure that the collection isn't sold by classifying it as a French historic monument.

The building is closed in 1979 as the brothers are declared bankrupt.  From 1981 to 1999 the French National Automobile Museum Association runs the museum, but it struggles to keep it all in good order.  In 1999 Culturespaces were contracted to take over the museum and renovate it, in March 2000 the museum reopened as the largest automobile museum in the world : Cité de l’Automobile.

According to Wikipedia the current collection includes "over 520 vehicles, with 400 displayed".  The collection contains 123 Bugattis in the 400 on display, including three Bugatti Royales.

Next time you find yourself fancying a long weekend away, you could do a lot worse than heading to the Schlumpf Collection.

More information on this amazing story can be found here.

Most photos taken from this collection.

Posted on: July 3, 2009 04:05

 

I was familiar with the name of Denis Jenkinson but didn’t really know anything about him or what he did, other than his navigation role for Stirling Moss in the 1955 Mille Miglia.  Hunting through the bargain section in the local Borders I came across a book titled “Jenks: A Passion for Motorsport” and for the price on the label I felt the need for further investigation.  

It quickly became clear that he was an exceptional (and eccentric!) enthusiast for all things automotive and fast.  As a teenager before WW2 he would ride his bicycle to various racing venues to watch the racing.  Post war he started competing himself on two wheels and as a “passenger” for sidecar racing.    He also soon became a roving reported for Motorsport magazine covering many European races and driving to them initially in a 1939 Lancia Aprilia, then in a Porsche 356 and later in E-types.  In the days before the major road networks had been built these journeys were clearly an adventure of their own.

The book comprises mostly of tales of racing, road trips or other musings originally written by Jenkinson for the British Racing Drivers’ Club journal.  Also included are a few period texts written for Motorsport in the mid ‘50s detailing the preparation and experiences of the Mille Miglia races of which he was a part.  Moss won the thousand mile sprint in 1955, in part thanks to Jenks navigation and their prepared notes and sign language, at an average speed of almost 98mph.  Top speed of the Mercedes 300SLR was approximately 170mph and this was regularly reached on the straighter sections.  Bear in mind this was on 1950s (closed) public roads.  Testing had been done in the months previously in a gullwing 300SL when the roads were of course open and so Moss kept below speeds of 150mph….



Beyond the ‘50s he stayed an avid fan of motor racing and Formula One, wrote reports for Motorsport for over 40 years and knew the teams and drivers well.  Impressions of certain up and coming drivers and technologies are recalled and are most enlightening, the identity of any driver in question only being revealed at the end of the story.  Here he can be seen talking to Colin Chapman and Patrick Head in front of Mansells Lotus at Zandvort in 1981 (from this small gallery of snaps of that years Dutch GP)



This book had been in the making when Jenkinson’s health deteriorated in the mid nineties and he died in November 1996 following a series of strokes.  As a result, instead of the book being in part a celebration of his 75th year it became a celebration of his life and there are additional chapters written by friends and colleagues such as the racing historian Doug Nye.  This photo records Jenks last public outing at the 1995 Goodwood Festival of Speed, once again sitting next to Moss in the same 300 SLR 40 years after their win.  For more fantastic motorsport photographs check out this flickr colllection.



This is when I now tell you to search out a copy of the book for yourself.  It was only when writing this that I thought to have a look in the usual places and it appears that I did indeed get an exceptional bargain as prices quoted are, err, quite considerably more than I paid!  I can heartily recommend it however and it may well also be worth picking up some older copies of Motorsport to read Jenks’ writing as it was first published.

 

If you really fancy this excellent book Amazon can supply it for you.

Have these videos as a bit of a taster for the life of Jenks

1955 Mille Miglia 300 SLR footage

 

 

 

Posted on: July 1, 2009 03:08

After taking a year off last year our favourite Japanese domestic model car show returned in 2009.  It seems my curse for making it rain at events I attend has now extended to events I would like to attend, as most of the photos from the event show a fair amount of dampness.

We've kind of built up the status of the NHOA meet (as it is known) probably more than any other Japanese car show.  The reason for this is that it is in every way a great reflection of what is going on in the Japanese modified domestic model car scene, it is a relatively small outdoor event, placed in a location that attracts people from both Tokyo and from towns, villages and cities that are further out.  The car quality is top notch as well and covers the broad range of modifying styles in Japan, although bosozoku and granchan styles are discouraged.

It is still pretty soon after the event for large galleries to have made their way online, the Japanese car scene doesn't seem to have embraced Flickr yet.  So I've had a whip through Minkara Carview to see what we can find:

There are a nice selection of photos on this blog entry

This photo gallery has a cool selection of pictures too, use the arrows >> at the bottom of the selection of images to move to the next page.  Click on the images to get bigger ones.

There is also another gallery of images here



We'll attempt to bring you some more images from the event later in the week if we can track some down.  Al has got a bunch of pictures here

 

 

Posted on: June 29, 2009 03:32

Hectic week here at RSM towers, so rather than leave you in the lurch, have a Very Cool selection of videos from the 1986 Swedish rally :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Back next week at full power hopefully!  May even slip another post in over the weekend.

Posted on: June 26, 2009 06:28

When we were thinking of things to cover last week one of the ideas that came up was to cover some British cars that had made it big in the USA.  Perhaps as a natural result of this we found some unusual cars that made it to American shores that we weren't expecting.

Probably my favourite from the overseas oddities were those that made it into the Trans-Am racing series.  The Trans American Sedan Championship ran from 1966 till the present day and consisted of two classes, Under 2 litre (U-2) and Over 2 litre (O-2).  The O-2 class was the domain of the big American muscle cars.  The U-2 class was mainly European marques, including a handful of British cars.



Ford, Austin, Sunbeam, British Leyland and Triumph all fielded cars.  The 1966 season was won by Alfa Romeo with it's GTA, the Europeans didn't get a look in again until 1973 when Porsche won two years in a row, after that the championship regularly changed hands between European and American companies, with the 1977 and 78 class wins by Jaguar being the high point for the British contingent.  That is until recently when the Jaguar XKR has dominated the championship.  For us though the golden era is throughout the late sixties and seventies.

The spectacle of Mini Coopers and Lotus Cortinas cut it up among the larger American cars must have been a sight to behold.  The car that first drew our attention to this selection of British racing cars is the Triumph Vitesse that was run by British Leyland in the 1971 season which we spotted on the excellent BringATrailer.com.  The car has been for sale a few times before but seems to have finally sold, lets hope it is to someone that will bring it out for some historic events in the USA.



Outside of the world of racing it can be surprising to see what has made it to US shores, the best place to keep an eye on these things is the previously mentioned BringATrailer with it's handy British category.  Whilst there are a fair few small sporty convertibles, how about these two Peerless or a nice Triumph Dolomite Sprint, they must really stand out on US roads.

Have you seen any odd driving around the states?  Or even better are you driving something unusual on US roads?  Drop us a comment.




Posted on: June 23, 2009 03:54

Age: 31

Occupation: Welder

Past rides: Rally spec Chevette, slammed and 1700 powered Mk1 Cortina, turbocharged germanlook Beetle, hotted up Mk1 Mini etc etc

Belong to any clubs?: Nope

Favourite crisp flavour: Cheesey

What's in your dream garage?: Everything....

Choose one...speed or style: Style

Posted on: June 18, 2009 18:31

I set myself a challenge, 'chose one car that sums up the great things about the UK scene', it was pretty difficult to be honest, the Uk has turned out all sorts of great cars in the field of hot rods, racers, street machines, VW, Ford, you get the idea... But if there is one car that to me sums up what is great about the UK for modified cars, then that car is Billabug.

Let me set the stage, it is 1989, the UK is enjoying the second summer of love, pastel shades are the palette, rave music the sound track.  The UK VW scene is enjoying a lot of activity, many fantastic cars and characters are making their way through it, the big event to be at in the UK is Bug Jam, now in its third year and really hitting it's stride.  Over at the workshops of Thump Thump they are hatching a legend, not that they knew this at the time, particularly as it was only just over seven weeks till the show, and they had no car.

Thump Thump had recently started up as a workshop, the joint venture of Jay Townsend and Gary Constable, so showing something great at Bug Jam was a must.  Rumour has it Billabug is the result of a bet, but that will forever remain rumour we suspect.  What we do know is that it took five weeks to make and it really was a statement of intent from the Thump Thump guys as to the quality and innovation they would produce.

A quick run down of the modifications; Body work has been deseamed and swage lines smoothed, the engine cover has been similarly smoothed.  The B pillar has been removed making a pillarless Beetle.  To go with the smooth look the handles have all been removed (the suicide doors in one of these photos are a later addition).  The interior is decked out in Billabong pattern fabric, the dashboard is smoothed and steering wheel colour coded to the body and wheels.  Wheels are painted standard steels.  The engine has smoothed tinware and just about everything hidden, carb, coil, fuel pump, the lot, it looks like it is running on magic alone.

Beyond the headline modifications the car has a great attention to detail that makes sure the theme and style is carried through to every part.



So why is it my car that sums up great things about the UK scene?

Firstly the innovation, the car is mind blowing, even now if we'd not seen the likes of Billabug and it rolled into a show fresh, it would turn heads and create a stir, we in the UK can still do this, we have a spirit that stops us boxing ourselves in, a willingness to try something different.

Secondly the speed of turnaround of these ideas, a five week build shows the dedication of the people behind it and the mastery of craft that allows this to happen, the UK has a great engineering heritage and a determination to produce cool cars.

Thirdly, the quality, whilst a lot of cars from that time have fallen apart as it become obvious they were stuck together with chicken wire and plaster, Billabug has survived the abuse it has received and made it back out onto the show ground, we like to build cars that last here.

Finally it shows that truly great cars are more than just slapping some wheels on and chopping some springs, they possess all the traits that Billabug has, they are hard work, they are high quality, they are innovative, and for a small country the UK has turned out more than its fair share of them.  Something we will continue to do with our thriving Retro Scene.

 

You can read more about Thump Thump and their other cars on the Thump Thump website.  It is also worth checking out B289 website for some more period cars from the VW scene.

Posted on: June 18, 2009 06:21

Recently I took the chance to look back through over a year of entries in this blog, it was a most pleasant experience and I recommend you do the same when you have a spare hour or two (or three).  One thing I noticed was that we are very global in our focus, cars and events have been featured from all over the world.  Considering we are a blog based in Britain I thought it time to highlight some cars a bit more local, so as we stated yesterday this week is going to be considered 'British Week'.

One of the most telling things about looking outside of your local area for inspiration is that everyone is at it.  Japanese people influenced by US hot rod culture, US guys building JDM style cars, Scandinavians building Pro-Touring style domestic models, Russians building Californian look cars.  What is it about the exotic that tempts us more than what is right round the corner?  The first thought is that the more local cars and scenes are so ubiquitous in our world that they just become the background in which we spend our time.  The third or fourth time you've seen the same car in a couple of months of show season it becomes a bit more ordinary.  We become a little jaded by familiarity, I’m sure there is a pithy phrase we could use for this, but I don’t think it is accurate to say “familiarity breeds contempt” in this instance, more a level of normalness.

What we're doing is taking our local scene for granted.  Local doesn't just mean within a ten mile radius, but out countries 'local' scene.  If you look around the web for particular countries you'll get presented with the best of what that country has to offer usually.  If there are thousands of modified cars in a country and only the thirty or so best cars are often seen on the net, you'll be left with the impression that those thirty cars represent everything from that country, which is probably not entirely accurate.  In the UK we tend to laud particular builders quite a bit, deservedly so, people like the Beardmore Bros., Andy Saunders and Dave Rothwell have made it into our pages before.  There are however literally hundreds of great UK builders working in everything from plush workshops to sheds, or even out on the street.  They are your local heroes, there to inspire, help and inform the rest of us striving for our own bit of this whole thing.



So next time you fancy heading off to Minkara Car View, or Garaget, take some time to browse some UK forums like Retro Rides Readers Rides, Turbo Sport or Rods and Sods for starters.  It is also always worth checking out what Burnham autos are up to on their monthly news updates.  We’ve got a lot to be proud of in the UK, we’ve turned out some world beating modified cars, it would be great if we can produce even more.

 

 

Posted on: June 16, 2009 03:28

This week we've decided to have a 'British' theme, to celebrate the quality and culture of our home grown scene.  What better way to start than with a show and a local meet.

First up we have our annual trip to the Bromley Pageant Of Motoring, a hugely diverse mix of cars, hot rods, modified and stock cars.  It shows the melting pot that UK events are, perhaps it is because we're such a small country that we all end up rubbing shoulders and influencing each other.



Check out our photo set for the Bromley Pageant here.

At the other end of the spectrum we have our smaller local meets, the heart beat of our community, the place where you hook up with those friends that help you create your dreams.  Or finally get to meet that guy you've always seen driving around but never got the chance to chat to.

Once again the DevilTorque crew put on a cool local meet, again showing the diversity and cross influence of what we all do here in the UK.



Check out our photo set for the 15th June DevilTorque meet here.

Keep with us for the rest of the week as we dive into all things British.




Posted on: June 15, 2009 07:33

It is about time we hit you all up with another Linklog, so here it is.

Let us start off with some "Atlanta, Shenanigans, automotives, and old schoolery" from Puregroove.org.  These folks are out there enjoying their rides and turning up some cool ones whilst they do it.  Expect a bunch of photographs of work in progress, interesting stuff they find on the next and some just plain cool posts.  Their leanings are certainly towards all things Japanese, but spread through the blog is a selection of fine automotives and photographs of all sorts, well worth adding to your bookmarks.

Keeping it on the other side of the pond we've got the home of Mike Burroughs, whose BMW we've featured before, the excellent StanceWorks site has a range of more modern, but well stanced (obviously) cars on it, some outstanding photography and event reports as well as a newly opened forum.  Plenty of inspiration to be found amoung the pages contained within.

We found this next website whilst tracking down information for our entry on Troy Trepanier's new car, and it was quite a find.  V8TVShow.com has a great mix of videos, from car features to technical how to's the side offers a lot to keep you interested and educated.  Particularly if you like cars with a V8 in them.  There are also some great project videos where you can really see a car come together and then get out on the strip, track or street.

Seeing as we seem to be spending our entire time this linklog on American based sites, I'll add this one in too.  TMCarPhoto is, as the name would imply, a car photography site, mainly dealing with Goodguy's Columbus, Detroit Autorama and Auburn shows the photography is very nicely done and there is a lot of it to look through, so it should keep you busy for a while.

To round things off in a traditional way we need a video, so we'll have a slice of life in San Jose, California, some very cool Bombs






Posted on: June 12, 2009 04:08