Museums increasingly join classic car shows and car events to showcase their best and baddest. Their show presence offers the opportunity to experience a glimpse of their collection, even to those who may never make the detour to Brussels, Lyon or Sinsheim.
One of my absolute favourites was the Big Five exhibition at the 2017 Interclassics Brussels, where some Europe’s best auto museums showcased a set of their favourite cars. This was a truly memorable exhibition that also drove me to pay a visit to those museums, at the earliest convenience.
Blast from the past: the Big Five at the 2017 Interclassics Brussels
The alliance of the five seem to thrive on, and at last year’s Techno Classica, they joined forces again.
The British National Motormouseum Beaulieu contributed with a pair of compact, but truly unique exhibits from the museum’s vault: the 1964 Peel P50 and 1928 Rudge-Whitworth.
The unusual Peel P50 takes minimalism to the extreme with its tiny dimensions. With seating for just one and a two-stroke engine producing 4.2hp, this compact microcar was the world’s smallest production car.
The Rudge-Whitworth was ridden to victory in the 1928 Ulster Grand Prix by motorcycle racer and the first curator of Beaulieu’s motorcycle collection, Graham Walker.
In addition, the Louwman Museum contributed with two eye candies, including a Delahaye 135 MS with a bodywork designed by Pourtout for the 1946 Paris Motor Show.
The last car of the stage was the silver Taruffi Italcorsa Tarf II, also courtesy of the Louwman Museum.
The Italian for twin torpedo was designed by Italian race driver and engineer Piero Taruffi who designed the record breakers Tarf I and Tarf II.
For an overview, have a look at the digital shortcut to the Techno Classica 2019:
