Musée Auto Moto Vélo

The Musée auto moto vélo is situated at Châtellerault between Poitiers and Tours on the main route from Paris to Spain. It occupies some of the buildings of a former state armaments factory founded in 1818 that first made swords and then the Lebel rifle, the French infantryman’s standard weapon in the First World War. The factory closed in 1968. The museum displays more than 150 vehicles including cars, motor cycles, bicycles and scooters, as well as items relating to motor vehicles, including accessories, tools and petrol pumps. Some model layouts show vehicles in context. Vehicles are juxtaposed with other artefacts of their particular periods, including iceboxes of the 1920s and Remington Rand typewriters. Displays show the liberating influence of motor vehicles and its effects on people’s patterns of work and recreation.