Ralph Lauren's collection

It is
and Still is a great presentation of a great collection

I have images someplace from that year's Pebble that I took of the mechanics finishing a couple of last second things before the judges made it to the Alfa... beautiful work

 

Yes, tonight I saw it for at least the third time. If I could have any thirteen (I think that's how many he has) cars I wanted, most of them would be duplicates of the ones in his collection. They really are stunning, although I agree with those who think they're a bit over-restored. They all seem better than new, which is a shame.

There's a book about the collection called "Speed, Style and Beauty."

Jack.

 

Pity the 250LM no longer has painted on her sides ,her enduro race results
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Link?

 

I'd google David Mckay LM250

 

A good book that Amazon shows out of print!!

Speed, Style, And Beauty by Winston Goodfellow, Beverly Rae Kimes, Darcy Kuronen, and Michael Furman

http://www.amazon.com/Speed-Style-Beauty-Winston-Goodfellow/dp/0878466851/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250806106&sr=1-1

 

I knew I should have gotten the book and not the tee shirt.

 

Just because it's Out of Print doesn't mean unavailable....

Drop by one evening and read MY copy...

 

There's always the black, er, secondary market.

It is worth having but mainly and solely for the photography, which is excellent if a bit underexposed in some shots. The history of the car types is brief and pretty conventional and there is next to nothing in the book about RL's personal history with the cars, how he found them, what shape they were in and any experiences that he had in having them restored.

 

He really doesn't HAVE a personal history with them, he was out making polo shirts with lil' horsies and blending designer paint colors.......LOL!

This was his 288GTO in front of me in New Orleans......
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I guess that's him, sitting in it? Hard to tell.......

 

(somebody's smoking in your car....)

 

probably some at www.abe.com

Holy crap! I just saw the prices. Glad I paid "full retail" for a change.

 

Best part is the F1 LM, that car is something else.

 

Greatest.

Car.

Ever.

 

While I have some issues with the over restorations seeing the collection in the MFA was a quite an experience.

 

Stan Nowak assembled the bulk of the collection in the 1980's on behalf of RL.

Best,
Dave

 

Are we talking McLaren F1 LM?

Otherwise please explain .
Pete

 

Wow! Not a bad return on $60 if I could get those prices. Guess I should have bought a few more!

 

Yes, Ralph owns LM3 since just before Christmas in 2004 after purchasing it from a gentleman in Boston who had owned it since early 2002. Prior to that LM3 had been in the UK with its original owner who actually ran the Gumball 3000 in it back in 1999. It is the only LM to have changed hands so far from its original owner. Three are in Brunei and one is in Japan. The factory retain possession of the LM prototype.

Ralph reportedly paid about $4M USD for the LM when he added it to his collection. Then it was crashed at Englishtown Raceway in NJ by a someone from the authorized McLaren service center in Montvale, NJ while completing some brake testing after a service. Oops... The damage was apparently not extensive and the car was repaired by the McLaren factory, good as new. In the video that sparked this thread, I believe the footage of Ralph receiving the LM was shot post crash repairs when it returned to the USA.

Ralph also owns a pair of silver F1 road cars - chassis #055 that was on display at the MFA in 2005, and a nearly identical one that is #074. Both cars feature a fairly unique option of high mounted exterior mirrors that are fixed to the a-pillar section of the door, giving them a more similar look to the original McLaren F1 concept. Only five F1s have this customized feature. On chassis #074, the mirrors were fitted to the car during its original build whereas on the #055 chassis, a seperate set of doors were built for it so that the high mirrors could be retrofit to the car. For the cost of adding those mirrors, some have said you could have purchased a pretty nice BMW.

Chassis #074 was the second-to-last road car chassis number issued by McLaren, however, because the build order of F1s wasn't always in sync, there were 8 other cars completed after it. One such car was #059, just to show how far askew they were towards the end. Ralph actually does get out and drive his cars, including the LM on occasion, so he gets kudos from me for that.

>8^)
ER
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The selection of the cars in his collection simply demonstrates a man of good taste and style.


PDG

 

The collection is amazing. Got a copy of the book as a present last year. (I asked for it after seeing the show). It has a detailed accound of each car and shows full ownership history. Very cool book to have. Glad that I already have a copy if it is really out of print.

 

Most of the Polo/RL Boutiques still have them available for sale.

 

They may appear "overrestored" as someone in the earlier posts suggested, but I know firsthand that he drives them - from the Bugattis to the 58 Testarossa to the F1 to the Carrera GT - in fact, I saw the Old Alfa, the Trossi, the Bugatti, the 300SL and TR at his favorite shop a few weeks back ... the TR was getting a freshening on the nose from the road rash 'cause he drives those babies. Not a one is a garage queen .. not one