The Motorcar experience

Displayed in this vast section of the museum are 200 classic cars, dating from the very first cars ever made, to those of the 1970s, with the exception of racing cars and "prestige" cars of the period between the great wars. 

The Forerunners

The motorcar did not spring from the imagination of a single inventor. It emerged from the mastery of all the arts and technologies.
The "forerunners" period extended from 1895 to 1918, which saw the first Panhard, Peugeot, De Dion and Benz,… all companies which made vital contributions to a genuine beginning of motorcar construction. 

The Classics

Despite the destruction brought about by the War, efforts of renewal and creation by French builders such as André Citroën would put the entire country on wheels.

In addition to the mass-production series that Peugeot, Renault and Mathis would opt for, this French renaissance extended to other car classes such as sports cars, racings cars, town and country cars and luxury vehicles.

As of 1935 other builders moved towards the sporty roadster type of car.

After the forced break of the second World War, builders took a radically new direction. They began designing light vehicles with a high potential for economical use.

France had both to maintain its technological lead through innovation, as with the Citroën DS 19, and undertake a vast programme of ultra-modern, decentralised factories. The big motor manufacturers such as Peugeot and Citroën began merging.

The French motor industry may well have lost its most picturesque side, but it successfully faced competition. Other times, other constructions, but the French car today remains worthy of its illustrious forebears.