The Mullin Automotive Museum Reopens to the Public This Week

To celebrate, we take a closer look at the collection’s 1935 Voisin Type C25 Aerodyne.

byMáté Petrány|
The Mullin Automotive Museum Reopens to the Public This Week
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Since 2010, Peter W. Mullin's astonishing car collection has been open to the public under the roof of The Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, California. Earlier this year, this excellent establishment was also forced to close down due to the pandemic, which led to its crew switching to streaming online tours in order to keep in touch with the audience. The good news is that starting from Nov. 6, the Mullin will be open once again.

Tickets must be purchased in advance via Mullin's refreshed website, after which visitors will be able to check out Concours “Best of Show” winners such as the 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic, 1938 Hispano-Suiza Dubonnet H6B "Xenia" and the 1937 Talbot-Lago T150-C-SS Goutte d’Eau, as well modern icons such as the 1994 Bugatti EB 110 Supersport, which is parked close to the world’s most extensive collection of Bugatti artwork, sculpture, and furniture. Bugatti chairs, people!

As you would expect, the museum will follow the health and safety guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), State of California, and County of Ventura. Staff members, docents, and visitors will have their temperature taken prior to entry and must wear protective face coverings at all times. Personal items such as purses, bags, or backpacks will stay outside the exhibition area. Hand sanitizer stations will be placed throughout the facility, and at least a six feet distance will be maintained between unrelated groups. 

With health and safety taken care of, the real reason why all car, engineering, and design fans should make the pilgrimage is Mullin's unmatched display of pre-war European luxury cars. Looking past Bugattis for just a moment, just take the French aviation company Aéroplanes Voisin as a prime example. The Mullin Automotive Museum is home to 12 models from Voisin's two decades in the car business, and you won't find such a fleet elsewhere.

Lightweight luxury., Mullin Automotive Museum / Michael Furman

The list of Voisins includes this Figoni-bodied two-seater C27 from 1934, as well as 2011's Best of Show at Pebble Beach, the famous Voisin C-25 Aerodyne. This car also features a Knight-design, all-aluminum sleeve-valve six-cylinder engine famous for its quiet operation and Wankel-shaming oil consumption, a dashboard that seems to have come straight from one of the Voisin-engined airplanes, a sliding roof, and the wildest Art Deco upholstery 1934's weaving technology could create.

The four-door Voisin C-25 Aerodyne features enough interesting details to fill up a fairly thick coffee table book with beautifully printed macro shots. Yet luckily for us, Mullin docents Rick Eberst and Dave Buchko are here to give us more than just a taste of this exciting French vision of the future. Within five years after the Aerodyne was presented, Germany decided to alter Europe's vision, along with Frenchman Gabriel Voisin's.

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