The Museum of Transport in Lucerne is increasingly trying to transform itself from a "museum" into a "house". The motto is to move away from lifeless exhibits and away from all the fear of contact. "People live in a house and they should also be able to live in the Museum of Transport," said Director Martin Bütikofer in his speech. The aim is to bring more life into the "house", be it with events or special exhibitions. Following the Monteverdi collection, Daniel Geissmann and his team have now taken another major step towards breathing new life into the car showroom, which has been untouched for years.
The special exhibition "Italo Design", which opened on October 19, 2018, showcases a number of design icons from the automotive industry that represent the era of flower power (1968), the energy crisis (1973) and the assassination of Prime Minister Aldo Moro by the Red Brigade in Rome (1978).
Influential Italian design
Italy has long been a world leader in design, from architecture to furniture and product design to fashion design. "We are quite simply the best," the architect, designer and urban planner Luigi Caccia Dominioni (1913-2016) once said. In this environment, it was often trained architects who, together with trained technical draughtsmen and talented metalworkers, designed and realized aesthetically high-quality car bodies.
World-renowned design companies such as Pininfarina, Ghia, Bertone, Zagato and Italdesign were, or are, based in Italy and created car bodies not only for the domestic automotive industry. For example, the first generation of the VW Golf, Scirocco and Passat models were designed by Italian Giorgetto Giugiaro in the 1970s.
Prototypes and rarities
The special exhibition "Italo-Design" shows a selection of prime examples of Italian automotive design from the turbulent period between 1968 and 1978. Unique prototypes and rarities are on display, which were only produced in a small series (or as one-offs). They all come from the collection of Milanese architect and entrepreneur Corrado Lopresto.
The exclusively Italian vehicles of the Collezione Lopresto are restored with great care on the basis of extensive research and are frequent winners of the highest awards in elegance competitions.
Passion for Italian design
"I am an architect and I am Italian. So I have a passion for Italian design, for the people behind every design and every drawing. Design is not only a question of form, but also a question of human nature," explained Lopresto at the official opening of the special exhibition.
"When I was a child, my parents owned a large warehouse where some of our neighbors and friends stored their cars - mainly Lancias. And I remember some very nice models. I was also driven to school in my parents' Lancia. It was an Aurelia Berlina with a leather interior, which was an extremely rare feature at the time. I can still smell the leather to this day," recalled Lopresto.
"When I was 18 years old, I saved every penny I had to buy a car. My father didn't want to buy me one. In the end, I had enough for a Fiat Balilla Lusso with a three-speed gearbox. In unrestored condition, of course. The restoration took about a year and was finished by the time I started my studies in Milan. There was just one detail missing: the side trim. So I took the car to a paint shop. The owner showed me a book with all the available stripes. He looked at me and shouted: 'Get lost and let me get on with it! You can't seriously have these stripes painted on your car. Look out, leave the car here and come back in two days!' What I didn't know was that I had taken my car to THE specialist and the Lusso model actually had special stripes from the factory. He wanted them to match the original 100 percent. What could I say against that?"
"I acquired most of my collection by word of mouth. All my friends knew that I was on the lookout for Fiats, Lancias and Alfas. But especially unusual models. As soon as they heard about a car, they would say: 'this one is interesting: it was only built once' or 'it's a very special model, but in terribly bad condition, which nobody likes'. That was exactly what I wanted to hear, because I could then usually buy these special cars for a ridiculous price."
"I took part in a Concours d'Élégance for the first time in 2001 and people quickly recognized my ambitions, especially my philosophy, and helped me find more classics. Some even just wanted me to buy their car, believing that it would then be in good hands."
Neither Ferrari nor Maserati
You certainly can't deny Lopresto's great enthusiasm for Italian design and rarities. But anyone who thinks they are going to see Ferraris and Maseratis is wrong. Lopresto owns neither, his cars come from the factories of Alfa-Romeo, Lancia and Fiat, as well as smaller companies.
Many of his vehicles are one-offs and barely drivable, as they were actually only intended as eye-catchers at motor shows. Some of these visions of the future were only taken up again years later and the ideas were used in new models years or even decades later.
Exciting vehicles
The exhibits include the prototype of the Alfa Romeo Alfasud Sprint, an alternative to the later Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT Coupé, the Lancia Flavia 2000 Super Sport Zagato, the Lancia Flamninia Marica by Ghia, the Autobianchi A112 Giovane by Pininfarina, the De Tomaso Pantera 7X by Ghia, the Lancia Sbilio by Bertone and the Fiat 850 T Visitors Bus by Bertone. A Zagato Zele and a Vespa are also on display, as well as selected design objects from the period.
In addition, the famous Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ "Coda Tronca" from 1961 can be admired as a one-sided restored prototype that has won international awards.
Until further notice, the special exhibition can be viewed at the Lucerne Museum of Transport in the Auto-Halle and is certainly not an everyday exhibition, but one that is extremely worth seeing, as these exclusive cars are rarely seen in public and even more rarely in Switzerland.
Further information can be found on the website of the Lucerne Museum of Transport.
