Cars at the High Museum again:

Four years ago, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta hosted a spectacular exhibition called "The Allure of the Automobile". A lot of us went and I think we all enjoyed it.

Well, the High is at it again. This summer they are hosting a similar exhibition of seventeen "Dream Cars". It will run from May 21 to September 7 and looks well worth taking in.

More information at Dream Cars: Innovative Design, Visionary Ideas.

 

If anyone is interested, the official book of the exhibition is now on sale at Barnes & Noble stores for $40.

 

I took advantage of a day off and went to the High yesterday to see the collection. To take advantage of their half-price admission offer (after 4 PM), I went late in the day and, knowing what Friday-afternoon summer traffic is like around here, I was "smarta" and took MARTA.

The collection is in the same hall as the one in 2010, and as before, the cars were fairly well separated, though some were next to the wall so you couldn't walk completely around them. The cars didn't seem to be in any particular order, though in certain cases cars that were somewhat related were grouped together. Several were in separate rooms off of the main hall, including the newest entries, from BMW and Porsche. Photography was permitted, though without flash. I took my "small" Canon and shot in program mode at ISO 800, though there were still some rather long exposures.

I've seen quite a few of these cars in books, for years in some cases, and it was a revelation to finally see them in the flesh. Of course for us the stars, sitting side-by-side, were the Pininfarina/Ferrari Modulo and the Bertone/Lancia Stratos HF Zero. These well-known cars are totally outrageous, though if you look closely at the Modulo, you can see the 512S that lurks within. It's hard to believe that this car is related to the Ferraris that Steve McQueen was dueling with in "Le Mans"!

If you haven't seen the exhibit yet, by all means go. It will probably be the only chance you'll have in your life to see these iconic cars, certainly the only chance to see them all together.
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Here are a few of the other iconic cars in the collection: the Stout Scarab, the GM LeSabre and Buick Centurion, and the Porsche 918 Spyder prototype.

Very informative descriptions were on the wall near each car, along with a few sidebars. Naturally, the exhibit empties out into a well-stocked gift shop.
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Next month, the museum is hosting a related event that I sure want to attend, and you might as well.

On Saturday, August 24, a discussion called "Visionaries in Auto Design" will be held in the museum's Hill Auditorium. To quote the flyer that I got at the museum:

"Join us for this not-to-be-missed discussion among top automobile designers at the High Museum of Art. Led by Dream Cars curator Sarah Schleuning, the talk will focus on the exhibition, design processes, and future projects. Come and listen to Paolo Martin, designer of the 1970 Ferrari (Pininfarina) Modulo, and Chris Bangle, designer of the 2001 BMW GINA Light Visionary Model, share their insights and then join us in the galleries."

Admission is listed as free, but I wonder if general admission to the museum is still required. There will be two sessions, one at 1 PM for "students only" (with no definition of what they consider a "student") and the public session at 2:30 PM. Tickets are limited to 2 per person.

 

Today, I attended the previously mentioned discussion "Visionaries in Auto Design" in the museum's Hill Auditorium, at which every one of the 220 seats was filled by people wanting to hear the guest speakers. Admission was, indeed, completely free.

We were given translators with headsets to wear, since Paolo Martin spoke in Italian, and we heard a translation through the headsets. After the prepared remarks by both designers, questions to Martin were then translated to him. The young lady is Sarah Schleuning, the curator of the Dream Cars exhibit.

It was interesting to hear the comparison between dealing with a small company (Pininfarina) and a large one (BMW). Even Pininfarina's dealings persuaded Martin to eventually leave, and he spent a lot of time on motocycles: Gilera, Bennelli and Moto Guzzi. As Bangle noted, in Martin's day, one person effectively designed the whole vehicle, but by 2000, he was actually head of a team that designed the GINA. Both designers also talked some about future concept designs, and Martin showed some slides of one.

I was able to take photos off the wall of some of Martin's slides on the Modulo; in one he tried the car on and confirmed that he couldn't fit! Bangle asked for no photos to be taken during his segment, since some of the images shown were still proprietary to BMW.
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After the discussion, we were allowed to re-visit the Dream Cars gallery, at no charge. Being a weekend, the museum was mobbed, as can be seen in a few of the photos. I was able to photograph the Modulo's V-12 engine through the "portholes" in the cover; note the clear injection trumpets. I had never seen the car run, and Martin confirmed that the engine was "dead" and the car was strictly a styling exercise and a non-runner. Pity.

I found the description of how the GINA's fabric skin works during Bangle's presentation to be absolutely fascinating; access to the engine is thru a fore-aft zipper on the centerline of the "hood", and the car can actually wink! The creases on the hood of the Z4 (and some of the other character lines as well) were clearly influenced by the GINA.

The evocative Bugatti Aerolithe was right there and inspired me to take a few more photos. While the exhibition has been held over until September 14, you'll note that the Bertone Stratos HF Zero is no longer there; no explanantion was given for its early departure. (Ironically, it's the car on the cover of the book that accompanies the exhibition!)

After the discussion, there was also a reception in another part of the museum, with delightful hors d'oeuvres and free drinks, including beer and wine. I had someone take a photo of me with Paolo Martin (who is wide awake; the photographer just caught him in mid-blink!). Of course, he is holding a glass of vino.
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I mentioned to Paolo Martin that I own a 328, and asked him about its designer, Leonardo Fioravanti. He replied that he, of course, knows Fioravanti well, but apparently they do not get along! Still, I'd love to meet Fioravanti someday.