Wintertime is the perfect season in which to display cars preferring the dry Tarmac and maximum grip of sunnier months. The 40, privately owned cars are therefore enjoying a little ‘winter holiday’ in the climate-controlled museum in Muttenz near Basel, the city in north-west Switzerland where the Swiss, French and German borders meet.
This is the ninth exhibition held at the Pantheon since it opened in 2008. On entering the building, one cannot simply walk around the exhibition on one’s own. Instead, organised tours run on a regular basis around the top floor of the rotunda.
Taking centre-stage, inevitably, is an original 250 GTO and this is joined by two later models sharing the legendary suffix: a mid-80s 288 GTO and the latest 599 GTO.
Compared with the svelte 60s GTO and its more high-tech siblings, the 166 S Corsa appears tiny. A car built in 1949, the two-litre, V12-powered machine has certainly led an adventurous life, but it is now reunited with its original engine and bodywork.
Appearing in the company’s road car catalogue at the same time as the ‘hot rod’ GTO was taking all before it on the circuits, the discreetly styled 250 GTE is now a collectors' item in its own right. At the Pantheon, it’s joined by other models steeped in Ferrari folklore such as a 250 GT SWB, a 275 GTB/4 ‘N.A.R.T. Spider’ and a LWB, covered-headlamp 250 GT Spider California.
In addition to a stunning selection of cars, the Ferrari exhibition also houses a selection of photographs from the Stuttgart-based photographer Gunther Raupp – the man behind the annual official Ferrari calendars.
The exhibition ends on 8 April 2012.
Photos:© Urs Gautschi, Basle
