By Scot Keller, ACM Curator of Exhibitry
Without a shadow of a doubt, unveiling a new exhibit at America’s Car Museum is the zenith of months of hard work from staff, volunteers, advisors and collectors. They say it takes a village to raise a child, and in the case of creating a new exhibit, it takes a community of enthusiasts, collectors, designers and historians to shape an exhibit at ACM.
The work begins a year in advance with the development of an “Interpretive Brief” that delineates the story to be told in the exhibit. That brief also defines the design “look & feel” and importantly, the criteria for the cars to be shown.
Exotics@ACM – Seductive Supercars is focused on the crème de la crème of exotic cars that embody the world’s best designs, technology, and performance. Specifically: cars derived from a prestigious brand, are limited production, sport great design proportions and stance, and feature highly crafted interiors made of the finest materials. They must have “technically advanced,” sophisticated powertrains with high specific output and be capable of stunning performance, acceleration, top speed, braking and lateral acceleration.
The video below will give you peek at the cars currently in the exhibit.
For Exotics@ACM we choose to define the beginning of the story in the late 60’s and 70’s, with cars like the Ferrari Daytona Spyder, De Tomaso Mangusta, Lamborghini Miura and the Maserati Bora. However, the emphasis is on cars built in 21st Century with each car selected based on its performance credentials in the year it was launched to the public.
The goal was to create an exhibit with a point of view that encourages a dialog with Museum visitors as to what defines an “exotic” or “supercar.”
Each major exhibit at ACM includes a kick-off with a Exclusive Member Preview where we “unveil” the cars much like concept cars in a major auto show. With Exotics@ACM, the owners presented each car and provided a few remarks.
Join the conversation and share your thoughts in the comments about what you think constitutes an “exotic” or “supercar” and what other cars you would like to see included in the Exotics@ACM exhibit over the coming year.