Classic cars are works of art, too
Ann Norton’s monumental sculptures and the “art” that will be displayed Saturday at the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens might not look alike, but they do have qualities in common — chiefly size, sophisticated engineering and innovative design.
Except you can’t drive Norton’s sculptures, and the classic cars on view in “Sculpture in Motion — The Art of Pre-and Post-War Automobile Innovation” definitely were made to be driven.
The one-day exhibition capped with a VIP reception exemplifies the Ann Norton’s goal of elevating and diversifying its programming while attracting new visitors — some with deep pockets. John Barnes, the show’s curator, estimates that about 30 Palm Beach residents have significant historic car collections.
He’s likely to know that because he organizes the Palm Beach Cavallino Classic, the annual topof-the-line Ferrari and classic car show held in January at The Breakers and the Mar-a-Lago Club. Five of the dozen cars in the Ann Norton show are owned by current or former Palm Beach residents.
The cars’ innovative engineering and design align with the organization’s expanded vision, which now embraces science as well as art, said board Chairwoman Frances Fisher, whose husband, Jeffrey, is an ardent classic car collector.
“Not all cars are created equal,” she said. “In many of these automobiles, you can find the ultimate form of beauty.”
Experts will guide visitors through the show, which features eight pre-World War II-era and four postwar cars manu-
factured from 1925 to 1966.
For many, that’s the golden age of car design, when wealthy clients could buy high-end car innards from manufacturers and order custom-built bodies from the manufacturers’ approved body-builders.
Fast cars were a new sensation. “The way designers looked at it was ‘How do we capture the new idea of speed in metal?’” Barnes said.
But why don’t we let the collectors tell us about their cars?
Jeffrey Fisher
Fisher, who bought and restored his first classic car when he was 17, has loaned his 1939 Type 57C Bugatti Stelvio to the show.
“The car exemplifies Ettore Bugatti’s passion to combine the most advanced engineering technology with art,” he said. “Bugatti’s family members were all artists. For me, this car is the essence of what Bugatti is all about.”
The car not only is beautiful on the outside but also features elegant details, such as the chrome-plated front axle and the inscribed geometric patterns on the cam cover, in places where few will see them.
Barnes calls the car “one of the most elegant cars ever made” and estimates that only a couple of dozen remain in existence.
You might have seen Fisher driving the Bugatti and his other collectible cars around town.
“They evoke the era of times gone by,” he said. “When I drive my Bugatti, I feel like I’m in that era. It changes your attitude on a regular day.”
Martin Gruss
Gruss will never forget the first time he saw a 1966 Jaguar XKE. “I remember when it first came out,” he said. “It was so beautiful and radical. It took your breath away.”
Now that he owns one, it still does. It’s such an iconic design that the Museum of Modern Art in New York has one in its collection, he said. The high-performance car, which was based on Jaguar’s D-Type racing car, spurred industrywide changes.
Gruss owns several Jaguars and loves driving them. “It’s a feeling of pace, but smoothness,” he said. “They feel supple, very much like a cat.”
Today’s cars can’t compete with classic automobiles in design, he said. “Cars today have such a homogeneous look. It’s hard to tell a Toyota from a Nissan.”