Ralph Lauren's approach to car collecting elevates the automobile to high art. Lauren's private garage in Westchester County, New York, is a minimalist temple to motoring. Here his own custom-trimmed Mercedes 280SE - his very first car - sits alongside some of rarest, most iconic and spectacular automobiles ever made.
The collection extends to around 60 cars, kept inside a deliberately non-descript structure that keeps its secrets closely guarded. Inside, thanks to design input from the Polo Ralph Lauren interiors team, the collection is displayed in a truly reverent fashion, part Zen garden, part Rothko Room, with every car placed on a carefully lit pedestal, yet kept maintained and primed for instant use.
Invitations to this automotive nirvana are somewhat limited, but a new exhibition in Paris successfully takes Lauren's garage aesthetic into the public realm. The Musée des Arts Décoratifs plays host to 17 cars from the collection, including a brace of Bugattis, Mercedes and Ferraris, a couple of Alfas, and rarely seen machines from Bentley, McLaren, Jaguar and Porsche.
The show has been curated by Rodolphe Rapetti, Head Curator of the French National Heritage, and put on display by the French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte. Arranged chronologically, the display charts the evolution of car design from the inter-war period to the modern era, with the focus on the artistry that evolved from race engineering.
The cars on display date back seven decades and represent a rich life of careful collecting and deep enthusiasm. With several of the classics making their public display debut, this is a rare chance to savour one of the world's best-kept car collections.
Virtual tour: Ralph Lauren's car collection
Front left: Bentley Blower, 1929
The classic 'Blower' Bentley epitomises the inter-war British racing car as the preserve of the brave aristocrat. These monumental machines derived their nickname from the supercharger, added by the speed-crazed 'Bentley Boys', led by Tim Birkin, who desired more power and went against the factory's wishes to create their own verso of the 4 1/2 litre model.
Front right: Mercedes-Benz SSK 'Count Trossi', 1930
Designed by racing driver Count Carlo Felice Trossi, this unique SSK is almost a caricature of the 20s supercar - vast bonnet, projecting exhaust pipes, faired in wheels and a front end dominated by lights and radiator. Like many of the cars in the Lauren Collection the SSK was comprehensively restored to near showroom condition once it had been acquired
Photography courtesy of Wilmotte & Associes
Lauren's 1938 Bugatti 57 SC Atlantic Coupé is just one of two surviving examples of this extravagant piece of Art Deco design. Finished in rich black, a very atypical colour for a luxury car of the era, the cars were hand-crafted from aluminium, with the visible seams down the wings and the body raised and exaggerated
Photography courtesy of Wilmotte & Associes
Front: Alfa Romeo Monza 8C 2300, 1931
Dubbed Monza after the Italian race course, these cars were built by the Alfa factory for their own works racing team, before being sold off to private collectors once their track days were over. 8C comes from 8 cylinders and the 8C family included extravagantly bodied luxury coupes as well as these lightweight racers.
Rear: Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 Mille Miglia, 1938
A later evolution of the 8C, this particular model was built for the celebrated Mille Miglia and finished second in the 1938 race
Photography courtesy of Wilmotte & Associes
Right: Jaguar XKD, 1955
The racing precusor of the famous E-Type, the D-Type (known as the XKD in the US) was Britain's world-beater in the 1950s. With three consecutive victories between 1955 and 1957 at the Le Mans 24 Hours, and another at the Nürburgring in 1956 it was briefly the dominant racing car of its day. Remarkably beautiful, the D is characterised by the vertical fin behind the driver.
Left: Porsche Spyder, 1955
Porsche's first racing car, the Porsche 550 Spyder was ultra lightweight and hugely successful
Photography courtesy of Wilmotte & Associes
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing Coupé, 1955
From 1954 Mercedes began offering a road-going version of its 300SL racing car, mainly at the insistence of its American importer, Max Hoffman, who correctly guessed that the car would be a big hit in the States. 1,400 coupes were built, and over 80% ended up in the USA. Famed for its wing-like upward-opening doors, the Gullwing became an instant design icon, influencing subsequent MB concept cars and today's SLS AMG model. It was also the world's fastest production car in its day
Photography courtesy of Wilmotte & Associes
1958 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa
Designed by Sergio Scaglietti, the Testa Rossa represented the peak of the intersection between pure sculpture and competitive form. Just 34 of these supreme racing cars were built
Photography courtesy of Wilmotte & Associes
1958 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa
Designed by Sergio Scaglietti, the Testa Rossa represented the peak of the intersection between pure sculpture and competitive form. Just 34 of these supreme racing cars were built
Photography courtesy of Wilmotte & Associes
Jaguar XKSS, 1956/1958:
For a select few, owning a race car car for the road is ultimate automotive prize, then as now. The Jaguar XKSS is truly rare. Just 16 examples of the road-going version of the race-winning XKD were before a factory fire destroyed the last remaining chassis. The open-topped car was aimed at American enthusiasts (including Steve McQueen) and is an obvious antecedent of the 1961 E-Type
Photography courtesy of Wilmotte & Associes
Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Scaglietti, 1960
The forerunner of the contemporary supercar, Ferrari's 250 series were aimed at an emerging class of customer keen to bring race-bred manners on to the road, with cars that could mix long-distance touring with short spells on the track. There were countless variants of the 250, with a variety of body styles depending on their use. This short wheel base version has a body by Sergio Scaglietti
Photography courtesy of Wilmotte & Associes
Ferrari 250 LM, 1964
LM stands for Le Mans, then, as now, the place where manufacturers pushed the limits of technology. This model marked Ferrari's shift from making exclusively front-engined cars to a mid-engined design (today it still builds both). With a V12 located behind the driver's seat, the LM had distinctive styling that would go on to influence numerous Ferrari road cars
Photography courtesy of Wilmotte & Associes
McLaren LM, 1996
McLaren's F1 is still a remarkable and unmatched machine. The fastest, most expensive and rarest car of its day, the company entered the F1 into Le Mans in 1995. All five finished well, and to celebrate the company released five F1 LM models in bright Papaya Orange
Photography courtesy of Wilmotte & Associes
