The Aventure Automobile (Motor Car Experience) area is a vast 4.20 acres (17,000 m²) room furnished with eight hundred lampposts inspired from Alexandre III bridge's in Paris. It tells the story of the automotive world from 1878 to the present day through 243 emblematic cars. The exhibition is arranged by major chronological periods: the Ancêtres (Forerunners) from 1878 to 1918, the Classiques (Classics) until 1938, and the Modernes (Moderns) from 1945. The vintage cars are on display in the very room where Fritz Schlumpf started storing them in 1961 in what became the Cité de l'Automobile of Mulhouse.