Pantheon: Icons and Bolides in Basel
It is already the 24th special exhibition that Stephan Musfeld has opened. In the past years, various brands, eras or technologies have been guests at the Pantheon Basel. And the events have always attracted many classic car enthusiasts to the architecturally interesting museum building in Muttenz near Basel. Now it's time for icons and bolides and a break with the [...]
And the events have always attracted many classic car enthusiasts to the architecturally interesting museum building in Muttenz near Basel. Now icons and bolides and thus a break with the past, because until now the exhibition was always dedicated to historic vehicles.
The "Icons and Bolides" exhibition, which runs until October 13, 2019, includes modern vehicles for the first time, and for good reason.
Design and technology development
Stephan Musfeld is all about juxtaposition this time. He wants to show how design has developed over the last 50 or 90 years and what advances in technology have been possible. All 28 cars shown are equipped with gasoline engines with over sixgs, eight, twelve or 16 cylinders.
One design icon from each of 14 brands is presented vis-à-vis its modern counterpart. So you can see an Aston Martin DB5 next to a DB11, an Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 next to a 4C or a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing next to a modern AMG GT.
Comparisons with modern sports cars
Not only the design development is interesting, but also the technical progress. Compared to the icons of the past, modern sports cars usually have double or even multiple horsepower. At the same time, weight values have increased significantly in most cases, and driving performance has improved significantly.
Brands must still exist today
It is an exciting selection of cars that are gathered in the Pantheon. Of course, one could have imagined other exponents of the sports car guild, but the space in the upper part of the museum is limited. The selection criterion was that the brand still exists today and this unfortunately excluded many icons, such as Iso Rivolta, De Tomaso or even Lancia. There were still enough interesting brands left, as the special exhibition worth seeing shows.
