4 minute read
A Visit to the Brother’s Collection
Hidden in an industrial park area of Salem, the Brothers Collection is an incredible car museum that any Oregonian car enthusiast should visit if they ever have the opportunity.
Enjoy a few of the photos. Editor’s Note: I just pulled a few of the photos – please take a look at our SmugMug site here: https:// orpca-pix.smugmug. com/2023-ORPCAEvents/Brothers-CarCollection-Jan-2023/
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The Oregon Region PCA was fortunate enough to get a time slot on Sunday, January 15. All our proceeds went to the Brothers Collection which they in turn donated to a charity.
Right after you enter the museum, you are greeted with displays of very rare interwar cars and antique motorcycles. Past that, a visitor can spot the diminutive Toyota 2000 GT. Four firstgeneration Ford GTs, each in a different color, are probably the next thing a visitor’s eye will catch. But your eye won’t linger there for long since those mid-2000s American supercars are sitting surrounded by European exotics.
Although I am a longtime Porschephile, the car that truly made my jaw drop was not from our favorite manufacturer out of Stuttgart. No, it was a magnificent Ferrari F40, the supercar icon of the ‘80s. This was the first time I’d ever had the chance to see one in person and it did not disappoint. Beside it, the F40’s disappointing (at the time) successor, the F50. And beside that? The F50’s own successor, the Ferrari Enzo (or perhaps “Ferrari Enzo Ferrari”?). The difference between the iconic Ferrari Rosso Corsa red and the racing team’s Rosso Scuderia was made obvious seeing that Enzo beside the F40 and F50. The Enzo and the F50 are astonishingly wide but looked scarcely better in person than they do in photographs. Truly, they are cars that are famous because of their impressive capabilities and outrageous prices, not because of their aesthetics.
The nearby collection of Porsches is comparatively tame, even just compared to the remaining Ferraris in this part of the museum. The mysterious brothers clearly liked 356 Cabriolets and slope-nosed 911s more than any of their modern, water-cooled successors. On a rotating platform, looking quite nice in Guards Red, visitors can find the F40’s
German nemesis, the Porsche 959. Despite the fact that it has spent most of its existence illegal in the United States, I have been fortunate enough to have seen this ‘80s supercar before. While it was an impressive technical achievement, the car has not managed to stand the test of time in terms of driving excitement the way the F40 has if modern reviews are anything to go by. But it’s a lovely museum piece.
Nearby sits a great collection of Lamborghinis. It’s nice to see the aesthetic evolution from the Countach to the Diablo to the Aventador (sadly, the museum skips the intervening Murciélago). There’s even a gorgeous, white Huracán Performante. (Which was especially interesting for me to see since the Ferrari section was completely devoid of their “lower range” mid-engine V-8 cars like the 360 Modena/Challenge Stradale or the 458 Italia/Speciale.)
A variety of other European cars, including Jaguars and Mercedes-Benzs round out this section; don’t miss the Mercedes-McLaren SLR tucked into the corner! The legendary Jaguar E-type can be found here, too, much to the joy of those who (unlike me) appreciate its clown shoelike design.
The next section contains more exotic, chiefly European supercars. First, there is a prototype Mk 1 Ford GT40 (from before Caroll Shelby got his hands on it and helped Ford beat Ferrari at Le Mans).
Then there is the exceptionally rare, track-only variant of the Ferrari Enzo, the FXX. Beside it, in bright orange, the Maserati version of the Enzo, the MC20. In a beautiful metallic red, an American supercar from the early 2000s fits right in with these exotics: the Saleen S7.
Next, two of the most expensive production cars ever made, each a production car top speed record holder, can each be found sitting on rotating platforms: the Bugatti Veyron and the Bugatti Chiron. Two cars I would not have expected to ever see, much less together in the same collection.
Continuing around the wall, you encounter the Porsche 959’s successors: a black Carrera GT (whose Le Mans prototype-derived V10 is considered by many to be one of the bestsounding engines ever made) and a silver 918 Spyder. Presumably separated from the earlier set of Porsches due to their newness and the lack of room—or maybe the brothers just didn’t want these two Porsches showing up all of those Ferraris. Curiously, the 918 Spyder represents the only member of the mid-2010s hypercar trio present at the museum. Perhaps because they considered it the best one? (I certainly do!)
Rounding out this section is the infamous Jaguar competitor to the McLaren F1, the V6-powered (but V12-promised) XJ220. A supercar that the British marque had to practically beg people to buy. What it lacks in record-setting capabilities it at least attempts to make up for in aesthetics, looking like a road-going Group C racecar.
On the opposite side of the room, surrounding the Ford GT40 prototype is a collection of Shelby Cobras (presumably the exceptionally rare real-deal not one of the many, many knockoffs) and a prototype of the Shelby Daytona.
From here, you enter the bulk of the collection and what is quite obviously the brothers’ true passion: American muscle cars. I can’t do justice to this section at all, but I will say that it begins with a nice collection of Corvettes, beginning with not one, not two, but three 1953, first year, Polo White (the only color available) Corvettes, one of which sits upon a rotating platform. The remaining Corvettes span the first six generations of the car. Curiously, I saw no examples from the seventh and eighth generations.
Beyond that is an absolute sea of muscle cars, a handful of older racecars, and even another second-generation Ford GT (in Gulf Oil livery). Chevy Camaros, Ford Mustangs, Dodge Chargers and Challengers, and more. Where there wasn’t enough room for them on the expansive warehouse floor, they were even stacked three high! Some were 21st-century offerings, but most were from the ‘60s and ‘70s.
Despite all I’ve said, I’ve barely scratched the surface. This remarkable collection of cars includes many I haven’t even mentioned in the European sections alone. If we are invited back next year and you’ve never been here, definitely keep an eye out for when tickets go on sale. They go fast and there is little question as to why. n