Messums Wiltshire is a gallery based at Tithe Barn in Tisbury, founded by Johnny Messum this a recently restored 13th century monastic barn with 6500sqft of floor space.
Johnny Messum - Photo by Millie Pilkington
During May, Messums Wiltshire has an exhibition and talks called Art In Motion: Knowledge & Design. This is all about the art of automobile design. .
They will be showcasing 7 of the most important post war European Sports Cars along with talks from the Curator Richard Sutton, former editor of Classic & Sports Car Magazine (05-05-2017), Professor Dale Harrow from The Royal College of Art (06-05-2017), Hugo Spowers, creator of the Riverside Rasa (12-05-2017), Mark Roberts, Design Operation Manager at McLaren Automotive (19-05-2017) and Stephen Bailey, Critic, Social Anthropologist and design guru (26-05-2017).
Arrival and Parking.
As ever the car park for the Preview Evening had an array of lovely cars,
Jaguar XK120
Nissan GT-R
Bristol
Aston Martin DB9
Ferrari 550 Maranello
AC Cobra 427
Porsche 911 SC Turbo
Jaguar XK120
AC Ace
Volvo P1800
Lord Pembroke's Mercedes Benz 300SL
AC Ace
Aston Martin
Porsche 911
E-Type Jaguar Roadster
Ford Galaxie
Mercedes 220 SE
Aston Martin DB11
Once inside and looking at the exhibition cars up close, I was warmly greeted by Johnny Messum, we had a quick chat before he moved on to greet other guests. I continued my walk, stopping to chat to owners and enthusiasts and to take photo's. The combination of this 13th century building, the cars and the people made a very special atmosphere.
The Exhibition Cars
Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona
AC Cobra 289 Mk II
Lamborghini Muira S
Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Special
Ferrari 288 GTO
E-Type Jaguar Roadster Series One
McLaren F1
Johnny Messum and Richard Sutton then made their way to the stage for some final preparation before Richards talk. To begin with we were treated to the sound of Nick Masons Mclaren F1 being taken around Goodwood. This was a nice touch as it sounded like it was done in surround sound.
The talk began with a brief history of the barn, then Richard got to why the cars were here. Its because like the barn, the cars were all hand made by craftsmen of their day and made with a real passion.
We then saw a film made by Simon Kidston about the Lamborghini Muira, this is brilliant as the narrator is not an actor but an employee of Lamborghini. Below is a link
http://www.kidston.com/kidston-movie-item/68/A-Winter
Richard then came to the underlying theme of the night, he compared a Lamborghini Muira to the Veneno: the Muria is fluid and organic whereas the Veneno is jagged and aggressive. All of the exhibition cars could be described as organic, fluid or curvaceous.
Richard then went on to go through an insightful and at times hilarious talk about the exhibition cars, their designers and why they were being exhibited.
Richard Sutton during the talk
Richard then finished his talk with the Ferrari 250 GTO. He was hoping to exhibit one but sadly could not. Richard then told us two stories of how Alain de Cadenet lost two Ferrari 250 GTO's
The first one he bought for around £1,600, he took it to a friends house and challenged the friend to a game of snooker and out the 250 up as his part of the bet. He lost. Alain's friend recently sold the 250 for around £30 million.
The second one Alain lost, he had left the 250 with his mum to go on his travels, he came back and asked his mum where his Ferrari had gone? His mum replied "your friend picked it up". Alain then asked where the pink slip was? His mum replied "you're friend has that too"
After the talk, I chatted to Richard and other guests and had a look at some of the original AC Ace promo photo's that had been bought to the event.
After that I made my goodbyes and left.
If you can get to Messums Wiltshire I strongly suggest you do, it's got some great cars, friendly staff and a lovely atmosphere about it.
For further information about Messums Wiltshire please visit
http://messumswiltshire.com/
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