Rogues Gallery Journal

Here we are all bursting at the seams ready to embrace Spring and with it what will be the 2013 season at the Old Brogue’s Saturday morning soiree’s. It is in this spirit that I wanted to call attention to the observation that 2013 is apparently becoming the Year of the FordGT40. First of all the Ford Motor Company is citing 2013  as the 50th Anniversary of the creation of the FordGT40 occurring some 8 years after it first chose the FordGT as its standard-barer to celebrate it’s own centennial.

Thus I was inspired to compose an article that was originally entitled “An Appreciation of the FordGT” first as an appreciation of it as an expression of beautiful design  , but also an appreciation for it’s gene pool legacy passed down from its original FordGT40 as being the only American race car with the champion’s pedigree of 4 consecutive wins at LeMans no less and thus the first track-proven American super car exotic , and then finally in appreciation of the 12 or so individual owners of these beautiful full-metal thoroughbreds who bring them around to the Brogue all the better for the rest of us to appreciate them.Might I add that I’ve always loved the idea of just once seeing as many of their number as possible to descend upon the Brogue’s own Le Grande Boulevard one Saturday morning and strut their stuff en masse’ all arrayed like the chorus-line of the Radio City Music Hall’s Rockettes. Could this be the year ?

Now allow me to add to that list of qualifiers the more recent news of last week’s Amelia Concours D’Elegance awarding the *Best of Show* Concours d’Sport to a 1968 FordGT40 following upon the heels of the news of this past August’s record price $11 million , including RM Auction’s cut , at the Monterey RM Auction for a 1968 Ford GT40 Gulf/Mirage coupe and that , ladies & gentlemen , makes the case for casting some serious attention in the direction of this one true American supercar d’exotique , the Ford GT40.

Now enter Ralph Lauren  , the $6 billion dollar man of fashionably traditional Gatsbyan taste & style and the duly recognized world class car collection that this very recognized world class taste & style had gathered unto itself and was then made all the more world renown world-class when , in 2005 , 17 choice members of this private collection were selected for exhibition by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts for the express purpose of exhibiting them not just as a collection of cars , but as works of fine art. Brilliant!   The  exhibition of these full-metal thoroughbreds , trotted out from the state of the art stables of Ralph Lauren , was bestowed the wholly appropriate marketing title of *Speed,Style & Beauty: the Ralph Lauren Car Collection* which , in turn ,  also became the title of both the Boston MFA’s companion book to the exhibition as well as the Discovery Channel’s documentary first aired in October of 2007.