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Peugeot museum celebrating 30th anniversary

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It was in July 1988 that L’Aventure Peugeot, the French company’s in-house museum, opened the doors to its collection of automobiles, cycles, tools and household goods produced by the brand since its founding in 1810. 

According to the company, then president Pierre Peugeot set out in 1982 to establish a museum to showcase the company’s products. That museum, located near the huge Peugeot assembly plant in Sochaux in eastern France, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. The official anniversary celebration began July 4 and runs through July 8.

Though still relatively young in years, the museum has had to expand its footprint twice — in 2000 and again in 2010 — to provide room to display its car collections and to provide room for temporary exhibitions.

Peugeot first produced a variety of products, including laminated articles, saw blades, busks for corsets, coffee grinders and sewing machines. It built its first bicycle in 1882 and its first motorcar in 1891, and soon added commercial and emergency-service vehicles to its mix.

The museum also has a restoration shop and provides out-of-stock parts for those restoring vintage Peugeot vehicles. The museum hosts its third annual Classic spare parts market on September 16.

Riverside to be revisited during museum event

‘Riverside Revisited’ at Driving Museum

“Riverside Revisited” is the title of a special event scheduled for September 8 at the Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, California, just south of LAX airport. 

The museum, the Vintage Automobile Racing Association and Autobooks-Aerobooks will sponsor an event celebrating the history of Riverside International Raceway, which in 32 years was the scene of a variety of major motorsports competition.

Tickets to the dinner and various presentations are available at a special website.

Archivists Charlotte Gallang and Mollie Horne examine part of the British Leyland collection | Museum photo

British museum will showcase archives

Grants from The National Archives and three trusts will enable the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust, housed at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon, to fund “The Art of Selling,” an electronic catalog of its collection of sales and media material from British Leyland.

“The electronic catalogue will be put online making information about this Collection widely available for the first time,” the museum said in its announcement. 

“The British Leyland Collection is a fine example of an esoteric body of material which should not have survived,” said Gillian Bardsley, the motor trust archivist, “and yet its preservation opens up a rich vein of social and industrial history which has wide appeal. This funding will enable us to… sort and re-package the Collection, opening it up to all who wish to use it.”

1952 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL racer | Museum photo

Special events this weekend

“Silver Arrows 1934-1939” is the title of an exhibit to run from July 7 to September 2 at the Louwman Museum in the Netherlands. The exhibit will feature seven of the famed Mercedes-Benz racing cars.

The British Motor Museum will enter two unique Austin Sevens at the Chateau Impney Hill Climb scheduled for July 7-8. The museum plans to run its 1935 Austin Seven side-valve and 1936 Austin Seven twin-cam single-seat racing cars in the run up the historic hill.

The Owls Head Transportation Museum in Maine hosts American, Muscle & Custom Cruise-Ins Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. each day. The Ford Thunderbird is the featured marque. On Saturday, author and YouTube star Tom Cotter will visit the show. Both days the National Street Rod Association will offer vehicle safety inspections. For details, visit the museum website.

National Corvette Museum curator Derek Moore will lead a special Museum in Motion tour from July 8-12 with a theme “Ford vs. Chevrolet.” The trip, says the museum, will be “a fascinating expedition through American automotive history. In this tour we will see for ourselves the way that innovators, inventors, and entrepreneurs used the automobile as a vehicle to change our world forever.” Visits include The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, and the GM Global Propulsion Center. For details, visit the museum website.

On July 8, the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, UK, stages its Simply Jaguar car show.

The Mercedes-Benz Museum in Germany offers a children’s and family day on Sunday, July 8, with various free shows and a multi-brand Cars & Coffee car show. 

Mark your calendar

The Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia offers its first Race Car Summer Camp for ages 10-16 from July 9 to 13, and has just added a second session for July 30-August 3. The camp will use motorsports to explore STEM subjects, and each camper will design and race a CO2-powered car. For information and registration, visit the museum website.

The Seal Cove Auto Museum in Maine has been involved in the Mount Desert Strawberry Festival for more than 40 years; the next one is July 10 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Somesville Fire Station.

On July 13, and again on the 27th and 29th, the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park offers a “Corvette Experience,” that includes driving instruction and laps at speed at the wheel of a 2017 Stingray Z51 at the NCM Motorsports Park and a VIP tour of the museum. On July 28, Corvette owners will have a special opportunity to exercise their own vehicles on the Motorsports Park circuit.

On July 14, the Saratoga Automobile Auction in upstate New York will host an “Instant Consignment Day” with the Saratoga Auto Auction appraising, photographing and consigning vehicles for its fund-raising auction scheduled for September 21-22.

July 14 is Bastille Day Demo Day at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia, where the cars showcased and exercised in the parking lot will be a 1907 Renault that won the 1907 American 24-hour race, a 1936 Bugatti 57G Tank that won at Le Mans in 1936, a 1936/48 Delahaye that raced four times at Le Mans, and a 1938 Peugeot D’arl’mat Le Mans that did the famed French round-the-clock race in 1938.

The LeMay Collections at Marymount in Tacoma, Washington, stages Beer, Brats & Boogie! on July 14.

Dave and Linda Adler will autograph their new book, Extreme Panteras, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on July 14 at Autobooks-Aerobooks in Burbank, California.

The British Motor Museum hosts its 10th Old Ford Rally on July 15. The event, which is expected to feature 400 classic vehicles, including commercial vehicles and tractors, is the largest of its kind in England.

England’s Beaulieu offers, for the first time, woodworking courses at the Shipwrights’ Workshop at Buckler’s Hard led by expert sawyer Barbara Czoch. Courses are offered July 15, August 11-12 and September 15-16.

The Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, California, will stage an “Under the Hood Day” on July 17 with Larry Crane talking about French engine design at 10:15 a.m.

Col. H. Donald Capps, U.S. Army (ret.) will offer a photographic exploration of the Jeep’s role in World War II, from early development through the Allied victory in a program July 18 at 1:30 p.m. at the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Indiana.

The AACA Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania, offers Model T driving experience classes July 18, 21 and 28 and August 4 and 11, September 8 and 9 and October 20. 

The Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, offers a special tour of the Nissan Heritage Collection on July 20. For details, see the museum’s website.

America on Wheels in Allentown, Pennsylvania, stages Classics & Cruisers on Hamilton between 6th and 9th from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on July 21. 

It’s the new All-Years Corvette Show and Swap Meet at the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan, on July 22. The museum also hosts a collector car cruise-in every Wednesday evening throughout the summer months.

It’s “Supercar Saturday” on July 28 at the Brooklands Museum in England, where high-performance vehicles — vintage and modern — will take part in runs up the Brooklands Test Hill and on-track demonstrations. 

The Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, Michigan, welcomes its Class of 2018 at a gala ceremony July 19. Those being enshrined are Kiichiro Toyoda, founder of Toyota; Tom and Ray Magliozzi of Car Talk radio fame; Frank Stronach, founder of automotive supplier Magna International; and Mike Jackson, chairman of AutoNation dealerships.

The Kansas City Automotive Museum’s annual The Great Car Show is scheduled from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. on July 29 at the National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri. As many as 450 vehicles can be accommodated. 

It’s the inaugural “Pride of Our Rides” car show August 4 at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia where museum volunteers, those who help with Demo Days and other museum programs, will stage a show of their own cars. The show is scheduled to run from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m.

England’s Beaulieu Museum hosts its Simply Japanese car show on July 29.

The British Motor Museum offers its fifth annual Classic Van & Pick Up Show on August 5. 

Vintage Franklin car and advertising art | Museum photos

The Seal Cove Auto Museum in Maine presents a watercolor workshop with artist Judy Taylor on August 8-9. The workshop will feature vintage antique auto advertising and will use a 1931 Franklin as a “live” model. To register, visit the museum website.

August 9 is “It’s Not All About the Cars” day at the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, California, where tours of the museum’s art collection will be featured.

Ed Garten, vice president of the Society of Automotive Historians and dean emeritus and professor at the University of Dayton will present “The Volkswagen Beetle: From Hitler to Hippie to Icon”  at 1:30 p.m. on August 15 at the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Indiana.

The Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia has scheduled its 10th annual Motorcycle Exhibition for August 18-September 8 and promises a display of more than 40 historic bikes spanning 90 years. Themes this year include Indian Motorcycles 1902-1953 and Italian Motorcycles 1938-1988.

The LeMay Collections at Marymount in Tacoma, Washington, will stage its annual car show on August 25 with more than 1,500 vehicles available for viewing, along with antique dolls, pin cushions, radios and more.

Larry Edsall
Larry Edsall
A former daily newspaper sports editor, Larry Edsall spent a dozen years as an editor at AutoWeek magazine before making the transition to writing for the web and becoming the author of more than 15 automotive books. In addition to being founding editor at ClassicCars.com, Larry has written for The New York Times and The Detroit News and was an adjunct honors professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

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