Preserving heritage vehicles

Restoring and maintaining more than 300 vehicles of all types (motor cars, motorcycles, public transport vehicles and bicycles) which the collection houses is vital to the preservation of this living heritage. This crucial task for the museum is carried out by a team of two mechanics who are specialists in vintage car engineering.

Most of the vehicles in the museum are in working order, and consequently the maintenance of engines, bodywork and upholstery is a daily task for the workshop. Dynamic testing is regularly carried out in the Museum Park to check that the vehicles are still functioning correctly. 

It is also an intangible heritage which the mechanics are keeping alive: the art of maintaining and driving vintage vehicles while respecting their distinctive characteristics.

Less frequently, major restoration projects are undertaken: taking a damaged or even wrecked vehicle, the workshop restores it to what it would have been like when first leaving the factory, respecting the materials and techniques in place when the vehicle was first made. Many motor cars have been entirely restored in this way.

The head of the workshop, Alain Dumont, is a recognised expert who has a detailed mechanical knowledge of the 150 motor cars in the collection which he has cared for on a daily basis since 1980. He assesses, repairs and drives them, always respecting the history and authenticity of these vintage vehicles.