Allure of the automobile

[Sammy]

For fathers day I got my dad and son tickets to the "Allure Of The Automobile" for opening day.
The event was held at the portland muesem of art, which did pose problems for the exhibit.
Fitting 16 MASSIVE cars inside this little building im sure was no small feat.

The cars in this show were definitely landmarks in our automobile history, and you can feal it too.

The show started out with a few classic racers.





It quickly started getting interesting with a WW2 design, along with a studabaker (the middle light moves with the stearing).





At this point I thought the show was going well, but hoped this wasnt the extent of calibre in thier car styles.
Then we whent into the last room, and WOW!!

this car is made with ostrich leather interior.




The interior of the one above is amazing.



All the cars were amazing, but there was one that I was drooling over.
I would say the best of both eastern and western worlds was put into this american made and german engineered car.
At the time it was the fastest car to hit the road, topping out at 125 MPH and still looking great.

BRINGING vintage cars to the parks, estates and golf course fairways where they can flaunt their beauty and compete
for honors in the summer’s many concours d’élégance events is a well-rehearsed process.

But as museums have assembled more exhibitions that showcase the artistry and historical significance
of automobiles, the task of putting vehicles into public spaces — often in the center of
a busy city — has become infinitely more complex. Cars, especially prewar classics,
can be huge. And while museums are accustomed to dealing with large artworks,
the vehicles present challenges on another scale entirely.

Placing 16 cars inside the Portland Art Museum for the “Allure of the Automobile”
exhibition, which opens this weekend, has been the job of Donald Urquhart,
director of collections management for the museum.

“These cars present problems, not the least of which is getting into the building,”
he said. “Our doors aren’t as big as some of these cars.”

Mr. Urquhart is the man responsible for the logistics of maneuvering the rare,
important and valuable cars into the museum’s galleries for the exhibition.

Displaying cars as art took a big step forward in popularity in 1951 with the
“Eight Automobiles” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
More recently, cars from the collection of the clothing designer Ralph Lauren were displayed at the Museum
of Fine Arts in Boston in 2005 and at the Louvre in Paris this spring.

The “Allure of the Automobile” opened at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta in 2010.
With a few changes, the same exhibition has come to Portland.

It was not easy to persuade the owners to lend their cars to a museum at all —
let alone twice. When Brian Ferriso, executive director of the Portland Art Museum,
approached the High Museum about bringing the show across the country,
he was told that getting the cars had been difficult.

But because Mr. Ferriso was approaching the exhibition as a study in industrial design,
most of the lenders agreed to a second stint.

“I think they look at these objects as works of art rather than merely technological wonders,”
he said of the owners. “Car museums contextualize the automobiles to the
degree that they’re very much in the pantheon of auto history. Now we’re putting these
in the history of 20th-century industrial design.”

The lenders also see the cars as art to be driven. “Working with lenders is different than
borrowing a painting or sculpture from somebody,” Mr. Urquhart said. “
The lenders have different relationships with cars they drive. One lender said,
‘I can see this as art in an art museum for 90 days, but as soon as you give it back,
I’m driving that car.’ ”

www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/automobiles/12MUSEUM.html?emc=eta1