In London, Design Museum goes beneath the skin of Ferrari

KhodroCar - Since mid-November and running until April 15, 2018, the Design Museum in London is hosting a spectacular Ferrari exhibit, but not one that is of the typical kind. Instead of just displaying a nice range of widely expensive and jaw-dropping Italian steeds, this museum went much more and beyond.

This is a more in-depth look into how the company fared in its early years, well documented by images and documentation, and all of it coming from private collections.

On display are such items as rare watches given out by Enzo Ferrari to his top drivers during the pre-war era under the Scuderia Ferrari banner. Present as well is Enzo’s own driving license.

Divided into different sections, when you walk in you stare at a replica of the very first Ferrari ,followed by a room full of interesting documentation, such as the original drawings of the early cars and the original blueprints of the Ferrari factory.

You’ll even find Enzo’s Montblanc on display, remember that purple ink he was famous for using? Well, that was written with that very same fountain pen.

The next major room mostly features the design of the cars, how they are and where they were built and how the mechanical part of the cars is constructed.

Consider a recent clay model standing by a wooden buck and how the cars were built in the 1950s. There’s even an alloy 250LM body hanging from the ceiling.

But again, it’s the extras on display that keep drawing your attention and have you wanting to make sure you don’t miss anything. When is the last time that you saw actual wind tunnel models on display, or the crankshafts from a Formula One engine, both a rough cast and a finished machined one?

Further down you will keep on finding some of the cars that created the Ferrari legend. A 166 Mille Miglia that was originally delivered to Gianni Agnelli flanked by the very first Ferrari flag that was draped outside the gate in 1948. But also a Ferrari 500 Grand Prix car, the very same car that Alberto Ascari took to victory in the 1952 British Grand Prix, which is flanked by trophy that Ascari received for that victory.

The racing car line continues with gems such as a 250GT SWB Speciale, a 250 GTO and even Schumacher’s 2000-c hampionship winning Formula One car.

A line-up of helmets, all belonging to former Ferrari Formula One drivers, oozes the strong heritage of the brand.