The Mullin Automotive Museum to exhibit “Cars and Carriages”

A 1910 Renault Landaulette. Photos by Michael Furman, courtesy the Mullin Museum.

La Belle Époque, or "The Beautiful Period," is generally used to describe a time in Western Europe that stretched from the end of the Franco-Prussian war in 1871 to the 1914 onset of World War I. Marked by peace and prosperity (for some, anyway), the era also saw a marked growth in technology, including the transition from horse-drawn carriages to automobiles. Next month, the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, California, will debut Cars and Carriages, a new exhibit that looks at the age's marriage of craftsmanship and evolving transportation technology.

Early automobiles weren't marketed to the masses, but instead were aimed at upper-class buyers familiar with the luxuries of hand-built horse-drawn coaches and carriages. Some carriage builders, such as France's Labourdette, took advantage of this by designing custom bodies for high-end automobiles. Conversely, automakers like Bugatti also dabbled in the design and construction of horse-drawn vehicles, perhaps as a way of ensuring a path forward should the automobile prove to be short-lived. It's no coincidence that many early automobiles, such as the early Renault landaulette pictured above, bore a striking resemblance to the carriages that had preceded them.

1922 Hispano-Suiza H6B, wearing a Labourdette skiff torpedo body.

Even in the years after World War I, former carriage makers prospered as coachbuilders. The 1922 Hispano-Suiza Type H6B to be featured in the exhibit wears a skiff torpedo body designed and built by Jean-Henri Labourdette. Inspired by then-current trends in boat design, Labourdette's skiff bodies typically featured blunt front ends and rounded or tapered tails, with a low body open to the elements. Crafted from wood, Labourdette even followed the same "triple tack" construction technique used by boat builders, where two layers of wood strips, at opposing 45-degree angles, are topped by a third horizontal row, held in place with copper rivets.

Such construction techniques were labor-intensive, but produced light and strong bodies in line with the rest of the H6B's no-expense-spared construction. Its 6.6-liter, 135 horsepower inline six-cylinder engine was cast from aluminum to save weight, but equipped with steel cylinder liners and enameled water passages. Brakes were servo-assisted, an industry first later licensed to Rolls-Royce, and brake drums were of light alloy to reduce unsprung weight. While the Laboudette-bodied H6B to be shown was built with luxury touring in mind, other H6 models enjoyed reasonable racing success.

In addition to the 1922 Hispano-Suiza Type H6B, the exhibit will feature automobiles from manufacturers like Bugatti, Peugeot, Renault, Panhard and Levassor, and Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq. Horse-drawn carriages and buggies from L'Renault, Kellner, Labourdette and Bugatti will also be on display, including a carriage designed by Ettore Bugatti that remained in Bugatti family until 1983. Other artifacts shown in the exhibit are expected to include period Louis Vuitton luggage, antique tools, leather driving apparel, catalogs, and literature.

A Kellner buggy. Carrosserie Kellner built its first automobile body in 1903.

Of the Belle Époque period (stretched to 1929 for the purposes of the exhibit) and the upcoming Cars and Carriages display, Peter Mullin, founder of the Mullin Automotive Museum, said,

We are excited to offer our guests the opportunity to see these wonderful hand-built pieces of rolling sculpture in person. This unique period saw the final – and many say most beautiful – examples of horse-drawn transportation and the rise of the brass car era. These vehicles are really sculptural art, and we are proud to exhibit some of the jewels of that wonderful era.

Cars and Carriages will open to the public on Saturday, April 9. For additional information, visit MullinAutomotiveMuseum.com.

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