The best known auto museum in Belgium (maybe the only current such museum?) is the Autoworld, which can be found in the parc du Cinquantenaire, which is to the east of the city centre. Like the rest of Brussels, road signs are somewhat random,  so finding it by car proved surprisingly tricky, especially as I have been to this museum a couple of times before. Granted that was a long time ago, as a further errand I had for my visit to this capital city was to try to exchange my residual Belgian Francs into Euros (you can still do that, by going to the Banque Nationale de Belgique, though they do not take the coins any more). Once I did finally find the park, I knew what to expect, though I was a bit surprised to find the courtyard outside packed with cars and buses, as on previous visits, I’d had the place more or less to myself. When I got inside, I found out why it was so busy. A corporate event had been taking place in part of the upstairs gallery, which meant that some of the exhibits were pushed to the other end of the upstairs area, rather more crammed in than usual. Nonetheless, this makes a great setting to display cars, as the buildings are particularly light and airy, as evidenced by the fact that I hardly needed to use the flash on what was, admittedly, a cloudless sunny day. Although the cars are cordoned off, there is ample space around most of them, so you can appreciate them from all sides. What follows is now a set of photos of most of the exhibits, generally with some explanation as to what the cars are. This is the one thing that the museum has done a little sparingly, with little more information than a year and model type on the plaques by each car.

1929 Minerva Type AE1906 La Croix DeLaville1954 Sunbeam Alpine1907 Cadillac Model K1904 Oldsmobile “Curved Dash”1908 Renault Grand Prix1909 Renault1901 de Dion Bouton1906 de Dion Bouton1905 Peugeot1913 Peugeot “Bebe”1911 Le Zebre1931 Austin Seven Swallow 1928 Dixi1928 Opel1929 Graham 6211931 Fiat 514 MM1933 Lancia Astura  V81927 Ford Model T Speedster1933 Mercedes 370 1925 FN 1300 Sport – not a well known marque, but as this was “home produce”, there were several other FN cars in the collection 1928 Bugatti Type 441928 Cadillac 3411929 Voisin C-141926 Rolls-Royce Phantom I1930 Minerva AL1930 Bugatti Type 491933 Plymouth Type PC1934 Citroen Traction Avant 7A1938 Delahaye 135M 1937 Cord 810Rolls Royce 1932 Packard Super Eight   1934 Belga Rise1940 BMW 3261935 Chrysler1928 Cadillac1935 Oldsmobile1938 Adler Trumpf1939 Mercedes 170V1938 Ford 81A V81939 Horch 930V1930s Talbot (there was no plaque, so I am going by the badge!)1935 Hispano-Suiza K61928 Bentley 3 litre1922 Daimler TS6301920 Delage Type CO1924 Renault 18CV1924 Talbot1922 Bugatti Type 23 Brescia1925 Chrysler Six1925 Hanomag – a 1 cylinder economy car, that was something of a joke even when new1921 Renault IG1924 Ford Model T1918 Franklin1924 Ford Model TT Camper1916 Detroit Electric1915 Wanderer1923 Studebaker1915 Benz 16/401911 Opel 8/20. By this time, Opel was one of the most successful cars on the German market. These white tyres were original and standard equipment

1911 Rocket Schneider1911 Darracq1914 Panhard et Levassor1911 Hansa1911 Franklin1913 Alva1910 Sizaire et Nantin1910 Minerva Type WT1906 Fondu1948 Imperia TA-81934 FN1934 Minerva1925 Minerva1932 Imperia1930 FN1948 Alfa Romeo 2500 SS1951 Tatra Tatraplan1923 Dennis1937 Hotchkiss1937 Panhard1915 Peugeot1913 Clement Bayard1913 Darracq1924 Fiat1924 Renault1928 Packard Eight1910 Delage1911 Lorraine Dietrich1907 Swift1912 de Dion Bouton1929 Omega Six1930 FN1935 Plymouth PJ1970 Ford Taunus – very similar to the Mark 3 Cortina, but we never had this coupe version 1972 Plymouth1976 Ford Thunderbird1953 Simca ArondeA Jeepney, so typical of some far Eastern countriesHotchkiss GregoireDelage1927 Packard 343 8 cylinder1924 Citroen 5CV1916 Zebre1914 Minerva 18HP1934 Oldsmobile1952 Bugatti Type 57, with a rare special and one-off body 1972 Citroen DS23 1957 Jaguar XK140 1957 Ferrari 250 GT1959 Jaguar Mark 2Alfa Romeo Spider 1967 Porsche 911 1966 Chevrolet Corvette
A wooden mock up for an Audi Concept carA prototype for the car that became the Audi A2. This one dates from 1996. First generation Toyota PriusBMW 3.0 CSi1965 Auto Union 1000 SP – definitely styled to look like a mini Thunderbird1975 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible1985 Sinclair C5Matra M530 Citroen SM1961 Studebaker Golden Hawk1960 Borgward Isabella CoupePeugeot 404Bentley Mark VI1957 Lincoln Continental1978 MiniVolvo “Amazon”A reminder of roadside rescue services from the early 1960s 1952 Mercedes 300S CabrioMesserschmit Kabinenroller1973 Seat 600 – the car that put Spain “on wheels” 1950 Rovin – one of a series of micro cars from the 1950s, few of which were successful, but a surprising number of which have survived.1951 Moskvitch – based heavily on the pre-war Opel KadettCitroen 2CVRenault 4CV1967 Honda S800 And finally, a 1959 Renault Dauphine. Once popular, these cars are now quite rare, as they were made from paper thin metal, and most of them have long since rusted away.

Definitely worth a visit if you are in the area. If you can find it, of course………2009-11-08 09:12:55