Part of the magnificent Spyker collection on display at the Louwman Musuem .
What soon becomes noticeable from viewing the exhibits is Louwman ’ s dedication to preservation . As far as possible , all the cars are displayed dans leur jus , so visitors can appreciate them exactly as they should be : original through and through , with their factory finish and fittings kept intact . Time can all too easily run away as one pores over the enchanting patina of cars from the 1890s which have never been restored .
Evert Louwman has been a keen supporter of the London to Brighton Run for decades , and regular spectators will certainly have seen some of his cars making the annual pilgrimage . The 1895 Peugeot Type Neuf vis-à-vis is sometimes among the oldest entrants , and last year the museum entered its thunderous 1903 Napier 100hp Gordon Bennett racer , which stormed to Brighton alongside the two other surviving
Gordon Bennett Napiers . Louwman ’ s name , however , is probably most closely associated with Genevieve , the much-loved 1904 Darracq from the eponymous film , which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year . Genevieve joins the Brighton Run every year , but this year she is accompanied by her old rival , the Spyker , which the Louwman Museum has just restored in the pretty primrose livery it sported in the film .
On the subject of Spyker , Evert Louwman is naturally proud of the Netherlands ’ car-building heritage , and a hall dedicated to the Amsterdam marque , which built cars from 1900 to 1925 is another of the museum ’ s star attractions . They share space with the only surviving example of an Eysink , another Dutch car-maker contemporary with Spyker .
Of course , with 275 cars on display , the Louwman Museum contains much more than just veterans . Visitors will find entire rooms dedicated to racing and concept cars , Ferraris and special coachwork , to name just a few of the attractions . The huge automobilia collection is something to behold , spanning everything from early motoring clothing to spindizzies – pre-war model racing cars powered by miniature combustion engines . Perhaps most impressive of all is the art gallery – the world ’ s largest publicly-accessible collection of motoring art – which contains everything from Art Nouveau trophies and beautiful Belle Époque posters to F Gordon Crosby ’ s soul-stirring paintings of early motor races and the more recent but very evocative Impressionism of De Bruyne .
There is nowhere else quite like the Louwman Museum . Few other collections contain such an extraordinary variety of rare , unique and historic cars , and Piet and Evert Louwman are to be congratulated for all they have done to preserve and promote the history of motoring .
For further information , please visit www . louwmanmuseum . nl / en / -
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