Museums in France

As its name suggets Michel Bernard's private collection comprises of old fuel pumps, and a lot of those are on display.

Philippe Charbonneaux, a respected automotive designer set up this collection in the enclosure of a former metallic workshop factory, with a surface of more than 4000 square metre in the 1980s. Following the death of Mr Charbonneaux, the S.C.A.R. association took over the museum, which now houses over 200 cars.

Robert Keyaerts, a late Belgian industrialist amassed the biggest collection of Cadillac cars outside North America. There are also Bentley and Rolls-Royce cars housed in an old castle. The Planchoury estate was, between 1989 and 2006, the first European museum of the American automobile brand Cadillac, bringing together more than seventy exceptional vehicles, now a private collection.

Safran aerospace museum shows the history of Safran propulsion for planes and rockets from 1905 to the present. It features a collection of over 400 engines and also a complete collection of Gnome & Rhone motorcycles.

There are a few motoring museums in this nice castle, including a motorcycle collection of 250 bikes from 1902-1960 and an important selection of Abarth cars.

Standard 216 – Histo Bus Grenoblois is an association of around sixty members whose aim is to preserve and present the history of public transport in the Grenoble region in a museological space. Since its creation in 1989, it has saved around thirty buses, trolleybuses and coaches, and has amassed a rich archive fund.

Station 70 is the official museum of National 13 highway recalling mobility in France during the 1950s and 1960s.  It comprises an exhibition area with over 70 vehicles (cars, motorcycles, motorised cycles, bicycles), 10,000 miniatures and 150 enamelled advertising panels dating from 1920 to the 1980s. Reproduction of a 1950s garage. With its small old-fashioned bistro, a timeless and convivial site where you can enjoy a drink or even a meal (bookings required for groups).
 

Raymond Lemoine's La Grange à Bécanes is a motorcycle museum, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2023.

"On the initiative of Paul Leon, who was the director of Fine Arts, the museum was created at the Compiegne Castle. And it was through the efforts of Leo Auscher, who was the vice president of the Touring Club of France, that the National Museum of the car and Tourism was inaugurated in 1927 by Edouard Herriot, the Minister of Public Education and Fine Arts.

In this 150 m² space, the passion of a lifetime is displayed. That of Gérard Veignal, a former coachbuilder from La Ferté-Saint-Aubin who was infected by the virus of old vehicles when he was very young. By no means stingy with anecdotes, he leads the visit with undisguised pleasure. Every car, every bicycle, every motorcycle,
awakens in him memories that he is quick to share with his audience.