After leaving the movie section, I arrived at the discrete darkness of an Art gallery and memorabilia collection that relaxes the stimulus and allows to gather our strength for the next showroom.
From the nimble dusk, a flamboyant and futuristic Pegaso Cupola coupe stroke me when I hit the light, and for the next 20 minutes, the Museum doesn’t take back from the pace.
The next main hall contains so many curiosities and historical masterpieces, that would suffice for a whole museum.
On the right there are some exciting race cars, of course a Toyota (a Group B spec Celica) is also included.
I was again reminded that once the Dutch royal police had the largest Porsche fleet in the world.
I first encountered this fact in Amsterdam’s AutoRAI Car show, but also later at several occasions (e.g. at the Techno Classica) where avid collectors of the retired Dutch Porsche police cars were present. By the other wall, there is a line-up of unique concept cars and legends.
My personal favorite was the Sbarro Challange and the Maserati Medici concept, which was the precursor to the Quattroporte III (the latter was purchased directly from the Italdesign HQ).
At the end of the set, the civilian version of the Le Mans-winning Jag XKSS and other glorious cars show the way to the next modern racing car section.
Here again, enters the Toyota connection: one of the crown jewels of the section is Toyota’s aspiring but unsuccessful Formula 1 car (the 2009 TF109, to be exact).
Personally, the six-wheeler F1 developed by March in the 70’s made a more lasting impression on me, but its really worth to take the detour to the deep end of the section to see legends from many more racing series, such as Indycar, NASCAR or Le Mans.
The theatrical climax of this floor was, without doubt, the featured set of Italian cars.
The section was spot on, not just the wide and tasteful selection of cars, but the spectacular colour scheme and discreet humour (with Enzo’s well-known saying “Aerodynamics are for people who can’t build an engine “).
I was not surprised for a second that the museum sported a perfect specimen of the first ever street-legal car with a prancing horse on the bonnet (the Ferrari 166).
The race cars included a couple of really interesting ones (such as the Grant Piston Ring 375 that failed Ascari, at Indy).
Some of the road legal Ferraris (275 GTB, 500 Superfast) belonged to Prince Bernhard.
At this stage, it would be difficult for the Museum to take it higher. And they do not make that mistake to try.
Thus the next stage is coming again with velvet twilight and showcases memorabilia and trophies.
On the way out, you can observe the cabin interior of the “Zeppelin” that overlooked the restaurants leading to another hall with rarities and unique masterpieces.
Louwman Museum part 3 – saving the biggest and best for last
