While some people would consider it a feasible idea to journey to Milan to view the Storica Museum cars. It was a far less troublesome trip for me to Kensington to view some of the finer cars of that collection loaned to the Science Museum for exhibition. Maximum impact was guaranteed in the entrance hall where the Disco Volante (Flying Saucer, if your Italian isn't so hot) was angled directly at the public setting foot inside the building. The bodywork on this 1997cc 1952 sports racing car was well ahead of it's time. Built specifically for racing, they were never produced for road use but were entered by the Works for the Mille Miglia of that year, Fangio being one of the Works Drivers at the time. I have never actually seen one in the U.K., before, so that alone was worth the effort.

My interest in beautiful cars is only partly down to the mechanical perfections. I have always regarded the worlds finest coachbuilders as artists in their own right, The cars on display were in themselves worthy of an art exhibition. Having seen the famous stack of bricks at the Tate Modern and been profoundly unimpressed I have no doubt as to which I consider the higher art form. I feel very strongly that art is wherever one sees it, sometimes man made, sometimes fashioned by nature and free to the beholder. I rarely go travelling without a camera and like to snap away at things that take my interest even if at first glance fairly mundane subjects These items in question however are most definitely not mundane or freely available but on this occasion have been accessible to many people who may never have seen some of these cars and may never see them again.

On the upper floor where the rest of the cars were displayed, the first thing that met the eye when stepping out of the lift was a Zagato bodied Gran Sport 1750 without the trademark chrome side strips, a fellow visitor was explaining to his wife/partner whatever that it would not be a Zagato body as these all had the metal strips down the side, not so but I wasn't going to get into the conversation.

Two very interesting engines were on display in this area; A 4 cylinder 1914 Grand Prix engine - A very rare bird indeed and yet again well worth the visit to see at first hand. Nearby was a 12 cyl. 2995cc 316 Grand Prix engine (Boxer type) as fitted to the Tipo 33 sports racing cars and supplied to teams such as Brabham in that era.

A 2.3 Monza was close by, always elegant in it's simple lines, the car is relatively unobtrusive when compared by the more volupturous examples of compound curvatured bodywork on later models. The joy of the Monza is in the driving, my favourite of all Vintage/ PVT cars, they handle beautifully with the short chassis helping to give them wonderful roadholding properties and the splendid 8c giving as much power as anyone has a right to expect of any car of this age.

One of the stars of the show was the Tipo 2.9B Speciale. Touring bodied Le Mans car of 1938. Now most car enthusiasts refer to their pride and joy as "She", I would defy anyone to see anything feminine in this blood and thunder machine. The bodywork is aggressively beautiful from some angles but no view disguises it's raw look of sheer brutal power.

Another Le Mans car displayed was the 1932 8C 2.3 Lungo (Long Chassis) model There were two of these in England for some years. One belonging to the late Mike Hawthorn and previously to his Father Leslie. This was on display at the National Motor Museum for many years, the other one had at one time belonged to Sir Ralph Millais and later to Bill Lake. Both were used regularly and
often seen at Vintage race meetings.

Close by was another 1938 2900B Lungo, this time with much softer lines to the bodywork.

One of the most spectacular cars on view was the 159 "Alfetta" Grand Prix car. These of course were incredibly successful and carried on after the second World War until the day of the supercharger gave way to normally aspirated engines and they faded into history.