Detour Pit Stop #96: Barn Find Museum, Montjalin, France

This quirky French motor museum celebrates the romance of rust with cars unearthed in local barns in varying states of decay.

They say variety is the spice of life, but it seems that whoever ‘they’ are, they forgot to tell car museums.  Because let’s face it, as great as these places are, they often seem to follow the same formula. Rows of classic cars, each representing the best of their kind, all polished to within an inch of their life and displayed in a manner designed to show them in their best light. Now don’t get me wrong, I love wandering rarefied collections of exotic metal as much as the next car enthusiast. But sometimes, after gazing covetously upon the fifth unobtainable Ferrari of the day, a bit of variety is just what’s needed.

That’s where la Musée Automobile de Montjalin comes in. Where in other museums you’ll find polish and provenance, here you’ll find dust and rust.  Where others seek the best examples of each model for their collections, here, at the ‘Barn Find Museum’, you’ll arguably find the worst, with most of the vehicles on display being shown frozen in time in their original, unrestored state. Just how they looked when they were rediscovered and dragged out of their respective barns, in fact. 

Naturally, a large part of the collection consists of French metal, but there are plenty of other nations represented, with everything from MGs to Mercedes, and Bentleys to Buicks on display. And it’s not only the barn finds which fill out the museum – there’s a whole heap of other esoteric things to take in, ranging from displays dedicated to President Roosevelt – including one of his cars, naturally – to a presentation on Concorde, running on loop. 

The museum is located in the former coach houses of the Chateau de Montjalin and as an additional bonus, if the chateau’s eccentric owner is home, your entry fee will also allow you to tour the stately building’s classical interior. So, dusty old classics, oddball displays, a medium-sized chateau and a shrine to Concorde – it all adds up to one of those quirky experiences which you’ll either love or hate.

The museum is located in the rolling farmland near the picture-perfect village of Avallon, and can easily be reached by following the A6 Autoroute del Sol south from Paris. Entry is EUR 8 per person, or EUR 15 for a couple, and its open daily from 0900 to 1900hrs. While the collection is small in terms of sheer size – containing around 30-40 cars – what it lacks in size it makes up for with its quirky uniqueness. 

So, next time you’re heading down the autoroute to the French Riviera, why not stop off for an hour or so and take in a unique, and definitely marmite, automotive experience.

Words & Photography Ben Coombs Twitter | Instagram

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ROADBOOK

CLASS: Car Museum

NAME: La Musée Automobile de Montjalin

ROUTE: Château de Montjalin, 89200 Sauvigny-le-Bois

COUNTRY: France

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