The Musée de la Gendarmerie Nationale (national gendarmerie museum) is responsible for conserving and promoting a fleet of more than 80 vintage vehicles owned by the Gendarmerie, hidden from public view. For the first time, a dozen of these mythical vehicles will be exhibited at the Rétromobile show, from 16 to 20 March 2022, Porte de Versailles.
An unprecedented exhibition
Over more than 400 sqm of exhibition space, 9 vehicles and machines will share the spotlight for the 5 days of the show, evidencing the diversity of the collection.
The public will therefore have the opportunity to discover the Alouette II deployed in 1959 when the Malpasset dam burst and a snowmobile used by the gendarmes during the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics.
The stars of the collection, the Rapid Response Vehicles, will also be on show, with the presentation of the Matra Jet V6 and the Subaru Impreza. Two-wheelers will also be represented by the BMW R 80 TIC and the R 50/2 but also the Norton 750 Atlas used to provide security during the Tour de France from 1966 onwards.
This high-profile event will also serve as a platform for the launch of the Musée de la Gendarmerie nationale endowment fund, to support the museum in the upkeep and expansion of its collection.
A diverse collection
Cars, motorbikes, armoured vehicles, trucks, buses, a helicopter, a boat and even a snowmobile: all of these are part of the mechanical legacy of the Musée de la Gendarmerie Nationale.
Withdrawn from the fleet to make way for newer replacements, these machines were selected by the museum for their particularities: good condition, mileage potential, rare versions or prototypes. Displaying broad diversity, they reflect the technical evolution of the missions of the Gendarmerie and how their resources have been adapted to them. Each year, the collection welcomes new models, such as the famous Renault Megane RS which arrived from Angers in March 2020 with no less than 394,000 km on the clock, a record in Gendarmerie history.
The musée de la Gendarmerie Nationale endowment fund
With, as its founder and honorary president Jean Todt, alongside the founders MOTUL, Amaury Sport Organisation and Automobile Club de l’Ouest, the main mission of the Musée de la Gendarmerie Nationale endowment fund (fonds de dotation) is to support the museum in conserving, restoring and promoting the legacy assets of the Gendarmerie Nationale.
Thanks to corporate patronage and charitable donations from individuals, the fund will be able to provide its support to the museum, in particular in the renovation of iconic and atypical vehicles which marked the history of the Gendarmerie and indeed, the history of France itself.
Educational and scientific activities will also be conducted as part of this legacy promotion plan.
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