Peter Mullin’s vision for an automotive museum showcasing his favorite era of motoring has passed the 12-month mark. The Mullin Automotive Museum is located in Oxnard, California, and it’s home to a stunning collection of French Art Deco jaw droppers. Over the past year, the museum has expanded its collection by adding a few new residents.

-The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance award-winning 1939 Bugatti Type 57C Atalante
-1924 Bucciali B6-C24 Grand Prix Reconstruction
-1910 Charron Type TC Convertible
-The 1951 Paris Auto Salon 1951 Talbot T26 Gran Sport Convertible
-1928 Lorraine Dietrich B3-6 Sports Roadster
-1923 Voisin C6 Laboratoire Replica
-1934 Voisin C27 Aerosport
-The Grand Prix de Tourisme Winning 1922 Voisin C3 S Grand Prix
-1919 Voisin C3 Berline

Not just home to cars, though that’s certainly the primary focus, the Mullin Automotive Museum has also acquired a handful of art pieces that sit alongside the vehicles. Statues, bowls and over 15 crystal radiator mascots that were created by Rene Lalique. We’re willing to bet that those Lalique radiator mascots are worth a bit more than the Nissan badge that was stolen off our 300ZX back in college. Feel free to check out the full press release after the break.

Happy first birthday, Mullin Automotive Museum!

Continue reading Happy Birthday: Mullin Automotive Museum turns one

Happy Birthday: Mullin Automotive Museum turns one originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 19 May 2011 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It seems appropriate while we celebrate the last vestiges of summer on this Labor Day weekend that we also acknowledge the 100th anniversary of the recreational vehicle, also known as the RV. The summer season and RVs go hand in hand, and people have motored across America in mobile homes since 1910. RV historians say that year was when just a few companies began building the precursors to what we now know as recreational vehicles, thus marking the birth of the RV industry. Those companies include Pierce-Arrow from New York (above, 1910 Touring Landau), the Los Angeles Trailer Works and Michigan’s own Auto-Kamp Trailers of Saginaw.

The RV industry has survived wars, tough economic times and oil crises and still come out no worse for wear. Credit the American spirit of adventure, our love of travel or maybe just the unique freedom one experiences while traveling without a tether to your permanent residence.

If I’m waxing too poetic about what some consider to be just ill-constructed boxes of balsa wood on wheels, know that I am an RV owner myself (right, 2011 Forest River Sunseeker) and have known the joys of sitting around a campfire in the forest roasting s’mores one minute and playing Rock Band in an air-conditioned living room the next. It may sound like sacrilege to hard-core outdoorsmen who like sleeping on the ground, but it makes perfect sense to an RV enthusiast.

So, in honor of the RV’s 100th birthday, we’ve assembled r a gallery chronicling its history courtesy of the RV industry’s centennial website. Enjoy the trip through time.

[Source: NY Times, RVcentennial.org]

Happy 100th birthday to the RV originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 06 Sep 2010 12:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve already shown you that Jaguar was honored at the 2010 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance with a dozen XK-SS roadsters showing up for the party, but there were other Jaguars on hand as well – lots and lots of remarkable Jags.

The history of Jaguar actually began almost 90 years ago when two young men hell-bent on motorcycle glory set up a small company to produce sidecars under the Swallow name in 1922. The younger of the two was William Lyons, who later became Sir William Lyons, mainly because Jaguar went on to bring Britain so much motoring glory. The sidecar business eventually turned into an automobile coachworks, with custom bodies on a bespoke Standard brand chassis that became know as the S.S.I. and S.S.II.

For the follow-up to those early S.S. models – Standard Swallow some think – Lyons had commissioned a new overhead-valve six-cylinder engine that was about 50 percent more powerful than the old side-valve engines they had been using. They put the new engine in a new chassis, enclosed it in the company’s first four-door sedan body and Lyons personally chose what he thought was the most appropriate name from a list of choices given to him by his advertising people – Jaguar. On September 23, 1935, the company unveiled the SS Jaguar to London’s assembled press. That car led to the short-wheelbase SS Jaguar 100 sports car that helped establish Jaguar’s reputation for performance with its early racing success.

After World War II, the company decided to change its name to simply ‘Jaguar,’ dropping the newly infamous “S.S.” label. The automaker also started focusing less on inexpensive sportscars for the homeland market, and more on luxurious models aimed at capturing rich American buyers. One way to do that was with new product and Lyons and his crew were cooking up a duesie – a new sportscar featuring a double overhead cam engine just like the race cars of the era. The goal was 160 horsepower from the engine’s 3.4-liter capacity and a 120 mph top speed. That car was the iconic XK120 – “XK” for the engine and “120″ for the car’s top speed. That begat the XK140 and 150 and a whole slew of other legendary vehicles that bore the Jaguar name.

Some of the finest examples of Jaguar’s pedigree were on hand at Pebble Beach on Sunday. Take a look in our high-res gallery below.

1935 S.S. 90
1935 S.S.I. Drophead Coupe
1938 Jaguar SS100 Roadster
1952 Jaguar C-type
1953 Jaguar XK120 SE Roadster
1955 Jaguar D-Type
1961 Jaguar E-Type Fixed Head Coupe
1966 Jaguar XJ13 Prototype

Photos Copyright (C)2010 Drew Phillips / AOL

Monterey 2010: Jaguar’s 75th birthday party at Pebble Beach originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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