Classic shrine: Musée Maurice Dufresne

By James Mann

| 24 Feb 2023

Classic & Sports Car – Classic shrine: Musée Maurice Dufresne

Set in the heart of the Centre-Val de Loire region, south of Tours, the Musée Maurice Dufresne is an extraordinary assembly of mechanical engineering, from tanks, tractors and traction engines to a diverse mixture of mainly French classic cars dating from the period between 1850 and 1950.

The collection is that of blacksmith and scrap dealer Maurice Dufresne, who, using his metalworking skills, moved on from shoeing horses to building trailers and repairing tractors, often recycling parts from one vehicle to build another.

Clockwise from top: 1927 Renault Type NN was found under a haystack, where it had been hidden in WW2; the 1926 Chenard et Walcker needed a full restoration; Traction Avant-powered 1939 Georges Irat OLC3 is one of just 200 such roadsters built

As times and technology changed, Dufresne started to save the old machinery that came his way, wishing to safeguard the heritage of both the machines and the lifestyles they once represented.

After accruing the mechanical collection in various locations, Dufresne realised he needed to display the collection on one site. In 1983 he bought a derelict paper mill on the banks of the Indre river at Marnay, near Azay-le-Rideau.

Dufresne and his supporters then spent the ensuing nine years restoring both building and exhibits before opening the museum in 1992.

Musée Maurice Dufresne is a fine tribute to French engineering

Entry is via an avenue flanked by heavy machinery, from an American Obusier M8 tank, via tractors and cranes to locomotives and even a mobile still.

And don’t miss the 1911 Delahaye lorry converted into a mobile home, complete with shuttered windows.

Inside, the museum is spread out across a number of large, tall rooms, with cars, motorcycles and even aircraft on display.

Each hall is a snapshot of the mechanisation of rural France in the 19th and 20th centuries, with more than 3000 items reflecting the evolution of all types of transport and industry.

A handsome 1922 Panhard et Levassor X39 tourer on display (left); 1924 Citroën Type C 5CV

Tucked away in a corner is a Georges Irat OLC3 front-wheel-drive roadster, built just before WW2.

It features a 1911cc Citroën Traction Avant engine and four-wheel independent suspension under a handsome sporting body, and at one point competed at Le Mans. Just 200 were built before war stopped production.

The company managed to carry on during the occupation, making electric cars until supplies dwindled, before rebooting in 1945 to make a Jeep-style vehicle, then ending production altogether in 1953.

A miniature Citroën DS leads the pedal-car selection

One of the earliest cars in the collection is a 1912 Le Zèbre. It features a 603cc single-cylinder engine with a two-speed gearbox and proved both reliable and inexpensive to produce.

It was well received by the buying public and attracted investment in the company, allowing the launch of new models.

A more familiar name is represented by the 1927 Renault NN Berline discovered by Dufresne buried under a haystack in a barn, where it had been hidden during WW2.

An American-built 1906 Titan 45hp traction engine

Type NN used a 951cc four-cylinder engine and could reach a heady 43mph. Despite its unusual front end, which lacked any kind of grille, it sold more than 150,000 units.

A convertible version of the Type NN appeared in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, raising the profile of the model.

Nearby is a pretty yellow 1924 Citroën Type C, a French equivalent of the Austin Seven marketed particularly towards women drivers and designed by André Citroën and Edmond Moyet, who had worked on the Le Zèbre.

The little 5CV model accounted for more than half of Citroën’s sales in 1924.

This Citroën C4F Faux-Cabriolet was found near Versailles

The exhibits appear scattered throughout the halls with no particular rhyme or reason, and although an attempt is made to caption each one, the information is limited and oddities abound.

It is no surprise to find a mobile guillotine next to a horse-powered threshing machine and a handsome 1926 Chenard et Walcker limousine.

The Light Six was built at the height of the firm’s fame, having won the inaugural Le Mans endurance race in 1923, and was acquired in poor condition from a doctor in Orléans before undergoing a sympathetic restoration.

A charming 1948 Charles Mochet two-stroke tourer is one of the cyclecars on display

Many of the cars have intriguing WW2 histories, none more so than the one-off Renault reputed to have been made specially for the meeting between Adolf Hitler and Marshal Philippe Pétain in 1940.

The infamous handshake that signalled the start of the collaboration between Germany and Vichy France took place in a railway carriage at Montoire-sur-le-Loire, just to the north of the museum.

Cyclecars or voiturettes feature heavily in the collection. They were built around the war years in times of deprivation and fuel shortage, and two such vehicles on display in the museum are the small, two-stroke-engined Rolux and Charles Mochet convertibles, both cars built in 1948 and on display here alongside an electric Peugeot manufactured in 1940.

‘King of Recycling’ Maurice Dufresne opened the museum in 1992, his daughter, Monique, now looks after the exhibits

As you approach the final hall you hear the paper mill’s restored water-wheel sloshing and the hiss of hydraulic machinery, and there is a Blériot monoplane of a type that was the first to fly across the Channel.

Of automobile interest here is a special-bodied 1919 Buick by carrossier Bernin et Fils, a coachbuilder based nearby in Tours. This car is another used by the leader of Vichy France, Marshal Pétain.

A self-styled ‘King of Recycling’, Maurice Dufresne passed away in 2008, but the museum and its six-acre site are now carefully looked after by his daughter, Monique.

This one-off Renault dhc was reputedly made for Marshal Pétain

If you are used to visiting automotive museums that just feature cars, it can be a little frustrating to track down all the automobiles among the Jacquard looms, clog-making lathes and vintage road sweepers.

But as a nostalgic journey back into French rural life – and some light relief from visiting yet another château – it’s hard to beat.

Images: James Mann