Powerful Medicine

Think for a moment about the last time you visited an art gallery where objets d’art are offered for sale. Lots of the merchandise is pristine, brightly lit, spiffy for potential buyers. Then, contrast that image with what you experienced during any visit to a lauded museum, be it the Louvre, The Henry Ford, or the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming. In those halls, you will find exhibitions that were selected on the sole basis of antiquity, or authenticity, with little or nothing done to make them shinier or more presentable. True artifacts don’t need that.

That is the sensibility that Dr. Fred Simeone brings to the world of car collecting. His introduction to the hobby came from canvassing used-car lots and junkyards in his native Philadelphia for classic-era castoffs and parts. His personal collection numbers 65 cars, virtually all of them racing sports cars with documented heritages. Most participated in, or even won, events of great significance. But many of them are not restored. They are displayed in the museum that Fred created