It was great while it lasted.
The Mullin Automotive Museum, a bastion of great French cars of the 1930s, as well as art, furniture and even fashion of the Art Deco movement, will close its doors for good on Feb. 10.
The museum was founded by Peter Mullin and his wife Merle as a place to gather their unsurpassed collection of Bugattis, Delages, Delahayes, Voisins and other sculptured French cars, as well as furniture and objets d’art from a time that many have seen as the epitome of the very best in car design and artistic expression.
“Peter and Merle Mullin founded the Oxnard-based museum in 2010 to educate guests about 20th-century French automotive styling and design by showcasing the finest vehicles, sculptures and artifacts from the most-esteemed French master coachbuilders,” read a statement from the museum released today.
Peter Mullin passed away Sept. 20, 2023 after a long illness. Merle continued to show cars from the collection at gatherings such as Pebble Beach, Villa d’Est and Amelia Island, often winning Best of Show honors. The Mullins won Best of Show at Pebble Beach in 2011 for their uniquely inspiring 1934 Voisin C-25 Aerodyne, and took top honors at Amelia as well as awards at Chantilly and Villa d’Est, among many other shows.
Mullin rose from humble beginnings in Southern California to found a financial empire that allowed him to pursue his artistic enthusiasms, particularly with French cars. Mullin started out in college at UC Santa Barbara as an art major but came to a realization early on that made him change his major to economics.
“A friend and I were working for an artist, a man of considerable talent, but there came a point where he couldn’t afford to pay us,” Mullin once told Autoweek. “I realized that something was wrong, here was this guy who had all this artistic talent, but who couldn’t make a living at it. So I went into business instead.”
He founded Mullin Consulting in Los Angeles when he was just 28 and cofounded M Financial Group 10 years later. His businesses were successful enough to allow him to pursue his first passion, French cars of the 1930s.
The Mullins supported many charities throughout the years, from the Music Center of Los Angeles, St. John’s Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica, Occidental College in Eagle Rock, to the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Most recently, the Mullins made a $15 million donation to fund the Art Center's South Campus.
The Mullin Museum in Oxnard, Calif., has nearly 47,000 square feet of exhibit space, with a main floor filled with cars surrounded by galleries above that showcase the furniture and other Art Deco items. The museum includes a rooftop garden, theater, gift shop and archival storage.
