Mullin Last Tour

The Peter Mullin Collection in Oxnard CA was closing and all the cars were being aucitoned off, so I was invited to see the museum one last time in April of 2024. #tomyangnet

[@jimurrata6785]

What a wonderful collection. My father very much enjoyed the early French automobiles at the Greenwich concours while he was able to attend. It kinda brings me back to the years i would push him around to see the stunning design and lines of very similar cars. He grew up blocks away from that show and we would always make a little pilgrimage while i had him there at the harbour. Thank you Tom for sharing this golden opportunity. He would have enjoyed it so much.

[@tomyangnet]

It was a bittersweet sharing of this video, but you're more than welcome. Thanks for watching.

[@karlfrench8538]

Great museum. Visited in 2018. Don't be sad. Now other collectors can enjoy those cars and objects. And perhaps the cars will be more visible. If you have one Bugatti as opposed to 40, you're probably more likely to show it off. I hope whoever buys the Bugatti truck restores it and shows/drives it. It was a unique opportunity to see so many Voisin all in one place. That's for sure.

[@tomyangnet]

You're right. I think I was saddened by all the work, love, and community that was going to be dispersed. I guess time moves on! I'm glad I had the chance to see it. Thanks for watching.

[@vizsla54]

Thanks for the glimpse. That docent was wonderful.

[@tomyangnet]

I'm sure the Bugatti in the Lake will show up somewhere else, but I was lucky to have seen it presented in this way after hearing about it years ago. Thanks for watching.

[@MrT_RainMan]

I fully agree with you on the sad part. I toured the museum with my wife and daughter back in 2018. Being a car guy, went to school at Art Center for car design I so love pre-war French cars. Plus living in Carmel and attending every year of Pebble Beach since 2003 and like you seeing many of the on the lawn. I just shake my head in sadness as you are right there will not be a group of cars like this in the USA ever again. Yes, can run to the Mulhouse museum in France but the way it is laid out and feel is so different. I am a lover of Delahaye and the amazing Avions Voisin! It is too bad a group could not have come together to find a way for keeping the museum open. Most likely the family who are not into car just see the money sitting there. No the museum was far for a cash cow but just a pure love project. I did hear Peter passed which at the time made me say, the family will likely close/sell all the museum. On my way back from Orange County end of last year I was planning to stop by but found the museum was already closed. I am short on words expressing my feelings of how much I loved that museum.

[@tomyangnet]

The collective sadness was palatable when I went that day, but I don't necessarily blame the family. At this level of charity, I've heard foundations and institutions that were promised by the patron are under contract to be met by the family regardless of death. Perhaps the easiest way to pay these "debts" by the surviving family was to sell the cars than spending the money of estate. Whatever the case, we were lucky to have seen it when we could. Thanks for watching.

[@MrT_RainMan]

@@tomyangnet Interesting about debts. Yes, I fully agree in how lucky we are to have seen such a wonderfully amazing collection. Still not sure why it affects me so much. Either way thank you for sharing your trip and bringing a warm smile as I got see the cars again.

[@who_stole_my_username]

Sad on one hand that the museum is closing and the cars dispersed, but on the other hand it means that other enthusiasts can own and enjoy them now, as long as they don't all end up in Petersen's vault.

[@tomyangnet]

I sometimes feel many of the new collectors that will buy these cars will treat them more like trophies than a collection of cars that Mullin wanted to share with the public. I hope I'm wrong, but we'll see. Thanks for watching.

[@MrJearley6]

Thank you for this video. I would see Peter Mullen since 2005 at least three or four times a year and he would definitely recognize me when he saw me then I met his brother at the Palos Verdes concourse and his brother is a very nice guy. I would definitely miss Peter Mullen because he was definitely a part of the Beverly Hills concourse. Palos Verdes concourse Orange County and everything here in California definitely Pebble Beach. And definitely from France. When he brought the Schlumpf brothers collection and don’t get mad at me. I don’t know how you spell the two brothers in France with the big Bugatti collection but I want to say thank you for this video. Thank you.

[@tomyangnet]

I have an extended version of this video without any narration that can be found here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eniTgoCAe9mSn9k It covers the Schlumpf cars and a few more. Thanks for watching!

[@nazdagg1945]

thank you for that. the man had taste.

[@robertbcope]

So sad I never made it out there, it's been on my list for a while. Gotta get to checking those lists off.

[@tomyangnet]

I often don't go to museums because they're too static. I prefer to meet the owners and hear the stories directly, but this collection was worth the trip!

[@robertbcope]

@@tomyangnet I agree! One good memory of mine was going early to Keels & Wheels, Houston's big concours show, and having a guy with an old Bugatti fire it up for me. So much more amazing to hear and smell it, see its throttle mechanism moving! I have a dream of a "moving car show".