CALIFORNIA CAR CULTURE
Credit: mullinautomotivemuseum
Unfortunately Covid-19 is still with us and many cherished summer music festivals and performing arts events in California have been cancelled such as Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Stern Grove Festival in San Francisco and Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz. Perhaps it’s a good time to explore California’s car culture, especially when museums start to open up again.
Way before the Model T began its mass production Swiss, French and Belgian inventors around 1769 began experimenting with engines using steam or hydrogen. A big breakthrough occurred in 1885/1886 when Carl Benz developed what is considered the first automobile, known as the Benz Patent Motorwagen. Only 25 were made that year but let’s give a shout out to his wife Bertha as well who not only helped finance the venture but two years later took a 112 mile “vehicle powered by gas engine” ride through Germany with their two sons to promote the horseless carriage. I speculate she would have also loved zipping down the Autobahn in a namesake 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing roadster.
Since that time automobiles have undergone dramatic changes in technology and design aesthetics which include Elon Musk’s Tesla creations that 19th-century electric vehicle inventors could have only dreamed about. There are a number of films devoted to race car driving such as sentimental favorites like Le Mans and Grand Prix and the more recent Ford vs. Ferrari. Even the Beach Boys glorified the road in lyrics that tout, “And she’ll have fun, fun, fun ‘till her Daddy takes the T-bird away.” Too bad Ford stopped producing the updated Thunderbird two-seater in 2005.
It’s widely known that famed German conductor Herbert von Karajan loved his Porsche 911’s but Californians seem to have especially embraced the mystique of driving historic and concept cars. Luminaries like violinist Jascha Heifetz had a 1967 Renault converted into an electric car and Rachmaninoff, who also lived in Los Angeles apparently bought a new set of wheels every year. And for those who like to play and drive molto presto, Peugeot’s Design Labs has created the Pleyel Piano – Chopin’s favorite keyboard maker.
Many entertainers, actors, upmarket brand ambassadors, sports stars and folks like Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno are classic car enthusiasts – of which the former Tonight Show television host has over 280 models housed at his The Big Dog Garage near Hollywood Burbank airport in addition to a CNBC television show, Jay Leno’s Garage where he chats about everything automotive.
California’s sprawling landscape of freeways and roads like Highway 1 that hugs the coast coupled with lots of sunshine seems the ideal place to hold events like the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, La Jolla Concours d’Elegance, Acura Long Beach Grand Prix, CSRG Charity Challenge Vintage Car Races (Sonoma Raceway) and offer automotive museums such as the Petersen (Los Angeles), Blackhawk (Danville), Marconi (Tustin), California Route 66 (Victorville) and the Nethercutt Museum and Collection in Sylmar, which also has a Music Room filled with electric music instruments like music boxes, orchestrations, grand pianos and a Wurlitzer Theater Pipe Organ.
Sure, there is a lot going on nowadays but the first half of the 20th century also provided a whirlwind of news and creativity in terms of equality (it’s the 100 anniversary of women’s suffrage in America), this country’s Roaring Twenties and Jazz Age, movies with sound – and the Arts Decoratifs movement of 1925 which initiated in Paris and exerted an enormous influence on items like furniture, clocks and trends in fashion (Coco Chanel), art, architecture (New York’s Chrysler Building and Radio City Music Hall), car design and manufacturing.
An ideal way to experience Art Deco on wheels is at Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, a coastal town also known for its agriculture, beaches and panorama of the Channel Islands. Philanthropist and perceptive financier Peter Mullin is Founder and the guiding force for the museum’s exquisite collection of over 140 French marques and even some carriages from the 1800’s. The treasure trove is housed in a building remodeled by California’s eco-inspired architect David Hertz, of which the location was once owned by Otis Chandler, former Los Angeles Times publisher and car buff.
Celebrating its 10th anniversary year, the Mullin Museum’s exhibitions of all things artistic and automotive contain a breathtaking array of furniture and artifacts made by the Bugatti family including Lalique crystal hood ornaments and a once submerged so-called “Lady of the Lake” 1925 Bugatti Brescia Roadster - not related to Rossini’s opera La Donna del lago. French automobiles of the 1920’s and 1930’s seem to radiate a sense of ritzy opulence and elegant simplicity as evidenced in Mullin Museum’s exhibition L’Epoque des Carrossieres - The Art and Times of the French Coachbuilders - which offers an Art Deco infused tribute to factories, provenance and especially design visionaries like Ettore Bugatti and son Jean, Giuseppe Figoni, Georges Paulin, Henri Chapron, Jacques Saoutchik, Gangloff and Gabriel Voisin.
The exhibition is arranged by curator Brittanie Kinch, whose credits include The Porsche Effect at Petersen Automotive Museum. In our conversation, she says that the Art Deco movement’s aesthetic impact on cars “is truly what the whole exhibit is about. Like other consumer objects, automobile coachwork design absorbed much of this artistic and cultural trend which lasted from the early 20th century to the outbreak of World War ll. Manufacturers and coachbuilders adapted the themes of the period in different ways. Some, such as Citroen elected to build efficient cars for working people while coachbuilders such as Figoni and Saoutchik sought to amplify the aesthetic qualities of aerodynamics.”
This collection’s stunning assortment includes a 1938 Dubonnet Hispano-Suiza H6B “Xenia” by Saoutchik and commissioned by Andre Dubonnet (of aperitif renown), 1937 Talbot-Lago Type 150 C-SS “Teardrop” by Figoni and Falaschi of which only thirteen exist and a 1936 Bugatti Type 57 SC “Altantic” by Jean Bugatti. This car is centered in the photo at top of page. Kinch comments that the historical relevance of this era was far reaching. “The philosophies and aesthetics of the Art Deco period originated primarily in France before spreading throughout the globe, notably to the United States where we can see various architectural examples of this period in most major cities. French art objects from this era are primary examples of these influential principles that are still being referenced in contemporary design and architecture today.”
Also housed in the Mullin museum is a 1953 Voisin Type C31 Biscooter which looks like the forerunner to a Club Car Villager 2x2 LSV and reminds us how innovative and forward looking Art Deco marques and their designers were. And that California’s automotive museums are truly crème de la crème.