Modena, September, 2017

The current exhibition at the Museo Enzo Ferrari in Modena is “Driving With The Stars”, celebrating Ferrari’s 70th anniversary with an eclectic display of Ferraris, either of the type or the actual car, that have been owned by famous personalities, or that have featured in films or television series. With a seventy year history of producing some of the world’s most desirable automobiles, not only in terms of elegance and performance, but also rarity, it is unsurprising that there have been numerous well known people from many diverse genres, including sportsmen, stars of the stage and screen, musicians, captains of industry, through to politicians and royalty. Equally there have been numerous films in which Ferraris have appeared, probably the most famous being “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, whilst on the small screen the 308 GTS model is synonymous with the “Magnum P.I.” television series, starring Tom Selleck, and the Dino 206 GT with the British “The Persuaders” series, starring Tony Curtis and Roger Moore.

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The first car that one encounters upon entering the museum is the 166 MM Touring Barchetta, owned by probably the most famous captain of Italian industry, Gianni Agnelli, the first of a number of Ferraris that he owned during his lifetime. Amongst the faithful royal customers over the years was King Leopold III of Belgium and his wife, the Princess Liliane de Réthy, who between them ordered a number of bespoke Ferraris over the years, and the 330 GTC “Speciale” commissioned by The Princess Liliane forms part of the display. Of the more modern variants there is the full scale styling model of Eric Clapton’s 458 based one-off SP12 EC, and Jay Kay of Jamiroquai fame’s bright green LaFerrari. Between these two extremes is a wide spectrum of models, with descriptions as to where they fit into the exhibition. When visiting don’t be alarmed by the lights suddenly being dimmed, as there follows a film show projected onto the walls of the auditorium, tracing the history of the company intertwined with important world events of the different decades.

Part of the museum complex is Enzo Ferrari’s father’s original workshop building, which is adjacent to the main modern museum building, and has been sympathetically restored, and houses the Museo dei Motori, a display of historic and current engines, including F1 and experimental units, bounded by some of the cars in which they have been fitted. At the moment one of these is the stealthy looking matt black 458 “muletto” from 2011, with the code name M5, which carried prototype running gear for the then upcoming LaFerrari model. The main museum building also houses a Ferrari Store and a café/restaurant, plus a driving simulator for those with F1 aspirations.

Further details regarding opening times, entry fees etc, can be found at
musei.ferrari.com