Autocar's star cars of the Grand Basel show

Grand Basel Gallery

This new arrival on the motor show circuit is billed as one for “automotive masterpieces” and breaks new ground by mixing a car show with art exhibition. Around 100 of the most fabulous, fascinating and expensive cars in the world were exhibited, each one in its own ‘frame’, created to deliver space and light around each car and maximise viewing enjoyment.

The show was curated by a board of six, including design titan Giorgetto Giugiaro and style guru Stephen Bayley, with each choosing a car of personal significance. We visited it and here are our highlights:

1980 Fiat Panda 45 ‘Saved No 1’

An unexpected find in a show of glamorous automotive sculptures. Professor Paulo Tumminelli’s rusty 38-year old Fiat Panda 45 set the tone of Grand Basel as an alternative, thought-provoking car show. “This Panda is an honest representation of the automobile as a user-friendly tool,” he said. Found in Sardinia after a long search, it usually resides in a Munich design museum.

1963 Lincoln Continental

Artist Sylvie Fleury loves American cars and, for her display, curated a Continental owned by Picasso and still in his family’s ownership, shown next to one of her hallmark modern art sculptures: a giant shark’s tooth. “A huge, powerful machine, the Continental shows the interface between art and design,” said Fleury.

1962 Ford Consul Capri

“The idea for a dream car entered the mind of Ford designers in an anguished year, 1956, the year of the calamity of the Suez crisis,” said art critic Stephen Bayley. The result “was one of the strangest mass-produced cars ever” and the first popular car to wear a ‘GT’ badge. 

2018 Giugiaro Sibylla GG80

A theme of Grand Basel was the cars of Giorgetto Giugiaro, who turned 80 in August; nine of his designs were on display. His personal choice was the Sibylla, a five-metre-long, four-seat study for an electric luxury saloon of the future.

"Its styling draws influences from the low, provocative and hedonistic cars we designed in the 1960s and 1970s,” said Giugiaro, “but juxtaposed with a futuristic electric powertrain.”

Model cars in 1:87 scale

Sprinkling some left-field, art school creative magic on Grand Basel, Professor Michael Erlhoff displayed tiny toy cars on his expansive display frame. “Small things can be very powerful, like atoms and diamonds,” he said. “You have to look very closely to see them. And when I was thinking of automobiles, I realised the same could be true for car models.”

2018 Fiat 500 Spiaggina by Garage Italia

Spiaggina is Italian for ‘beach chair’ and became the nickname for stripped-down 500s with wicker chair interiors used in the 1950s by Fiat chief Gianni Agnelli as yacht-born land transport. His grandson, Lapo Elkann, has created a modern-day version, described as "evoking beauty, positive energy, colours and good vibrations."

1953 Gio Ponti ‘Linea Diamante’

Architect Gio Ponti is most famous for his elegant skyscrapers and diamond-pattern tiling designs, but in the 1950s he ventured into car design. His ‘diamond line’ car rethought luxury with large windows, a boxy body to maximise interior space and a hatchback. Although his design never progressed past a scale model, 65 years on, the five-door has been recreated in full size, based on Alfa 1900 running gear.

1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta

This particular 250 GT SWB – chassis 2111GT – is a special example, being used as personal transportation by Enzo Ferrari himself between February and September 1961. It was actually a prototype for the new 1961 body shape, and numerous photos show Enzo behind the wheel of the car that year.

1994 Benetton-Ford B194

Shown as a tribute to seven-time Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher, who continues to battle severe health problems, the B194 is the race car that took Schuey to his first world championship in 1994. Powered by a 3.5-litre V8, the B194 was said to be very tricky to drive, yet Schumacher won eight of the 16 races in the 1994 season.

1954 Pegaso Z-102 Series II Saoutchik Cabriolet

Spanish truck and bus maker Pegaso took a dramatic step into the world of exotic sports cars with the Z-102, whose V8 engine made it the world’s fastest production car. Just 90 cars were built, and this magnificent Saoutchik Cabrio is even rarer, being the sole example.

1956 Porsche 550 1500 RS Spyder

Highly successful in competition against bigger, heavier race rivals, this RS Spider won its class at the 1956 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. The mid-engined layout endowed the RS with a fine handling balance and good traction from the 1500cc, four-cam flat four engine, designed by Austrian Dr Ernst Fuhrmann.

But the feather-like kerb weight of just 550kg was its secret weapon. Film star James Dean, who was involved in a fatal crash in his ‘Little Bastard’ on the way to a road race in California, gave the RS its notoriety.

1961 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato

When Aston Martin and Ferrari were battling in the 1960s for World Sports Car race supremacy, the arrival of the Italians' 250 GT SWB led to the Brits looking to Italy for a lightweight body to raise the competitiveness of the DB4 GT. As well as looking sensational, Zagato’s handsome alloy body shaved 50kg off the kerb weight.

1968 Lamborghini Miura

Lamborghini heralded a new area of sports cars with the mid-engined Miura of 1966, shaking up Ferrari, which up to that point believed only in front-engined designs. This particular Miura was used for the iconic opening driving scenes in the movie The Italian Job in 1969.

1947 Cisitalia 202 SC

As Europe’s car industry started rebuilding after World War 2, the Cisitalia 202 caused a sensation when it was revealed in 1947. Its curvaceous bodywork by Pinin Farina opened a new chapter in car design, the sweeping curves influencing designs in Europe and America. The Museum of Modern Art in New York displays a 202 as a “moving sculpture”. This particular car was restored from a barn find.