Haute Wheels

Exotic autos are synonymous with money.

Vintage cars roar discerning style.

Merge the two and you have a dream machine. A roadster designed to stop traffic and turn heads on its looks while being able to move faster than the law permits.

Acquiring these types of cars is a sport and its most glamorous athlete is Ralph Lauren. Mr. Lauren’s collection, boasting everything from the rarest car in the world, the 1938 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic Coupe (only three were ever made), to the fastest car in the world, the McLaren F1 (capable of 240 mph), has always been considered art.

So, the exhibit, Speed, Style, and Beauty: Cars from the Ralph Lauren Collection, featuring sixteen of his prized possessions at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is an appropriate setting. Among the masterpieces spaced across 10,000 square feet are the 1930 “Count Trossi” Mercedes-Benz SSK, the 1958 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, and the legendary Jaguar XKD.

Score one for the gearheads.



Speed, Style, and Beauty: Cars from the Ralph Lauren Collection. Until July 3rd at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, (617) 267-9300, www.mfa.org.