Doran Dal PraWhen you’re a certified car junky and you find out there’s an Italian car show in Brookline, Mass, it’s like Lindsey Lohan finding out there’s going to be a rager down the street: unbridled excitement, dilated pupils and sweating palms, rounded out with the undeniable certainty that you’ll be there no matter what. That’s exactly what happened with the Tutto Italiano Auto Show held this past Sunday, October 16 at the amazing Larz Anderson Auto Museum.
Located in Brookline, the Larz Anderson Auto Museum was born out of a tradition started by its owners Larz and Isabel Anderson: they would open up their doors on Sunday afternoons and let people admire their spectacular antique automobile collection. Today, the museum contains cars from nearly every era of automotive history, from ancient Lincoln limousines and Renault phaetons, to a modern McLaren Mercedes SLR supercar.
Fast forward to today and the museum’s function hasn’t change much from those early days. From the museum’s website, “Today, the museum’s primary goal is it’s continued support of the collector car community through educational outreach and the preservation of our permanent collection of early automobiles. The Larz Anderson Auto Museum hopes to serve as a resource for your collector car interests.” And shows like Tutto Italiano are one of the ways the museum does this. Head over to their website to see all their cars, read the full history, and find out when the next event is.
The first sight you see as you enter the Tutto Italiano is Ferrari red. Rows, and rows of Ferrari red. On the right side of the driveway are dozens of Ferraris: 308′s, 512′s, Dino’s, a sparkling new 458 Italia, two pristine 430 Scuderias. Closer to the museum are a smattering of Lamborghinis; their low, wide stanches and menacing profiles a stark contrast to the flowing shapes of the Ferrari Dino and 612 Scaglietti. On the sloping hill to the left is a sheet of Alfa Romeos, many with their hoods and doors thrown wide open, while Alfa aficionados mill about swapping tips and war stories.
Follow the driveway up the hill and around the museum and vintage Ferraris from the 1960′s share real estate with a rare Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, and an old Michael Schumacher Formula1 car (I know. Awesome.) Families relax out on the museum’s lawn enjoying the gorgeous fall day. The smell of cooking hamburgers and hotdogs wafts up from the grill that shares space with more Italian machinery in the form of pristine Ducati and Moto Guzzi motorcycles. The immaculate carbon fiber body panels on several Ducati 1198′s shimmer in the warm autumn sun.
To say this show was awesome is a severe understatement. There are multiple Tutto Italiano shows coming up next year, so be sure to keep an eye on TDC and the museum’s website for dates in 2012. Viva Italia!
