Rare electric car sold to the Louwman Museum

| 14 Mar 2013

A 1940s Breguet electric car that was found in a French chateau garage has just been sold to the Louwman Museum in The Netherlands.

The fascinating streamliner was produced by Louis Charles Breguet as a way to keep his workforce, which usually made aircraft parts, employed during the German occupation. Breguet saw his creation as the perfect way to get around wartime fuel rationing.  

Discovered by classic car broker Duncan Hamilton & Co (see C&SC October 2012), the vehicle will be displayed in untouched condition, with its original interior, motor and spare batteries.

Duncan Hamilton’s sales manager Nick Maton said: “The Breguet is an extremely rare car with origins steeped in history. Adrian [son of the company’s founder] stumbled across the car whilst at Le Mans in 2012 and because of its heritage we chose to leave it in the condition that it was found.

“The Louwman Museum has a wonderful variety of vintage and historic automobiles and we feel the Breguet will fit well in this impressive and established collection.”

Visit the museum’s website for more information.