Gems of the Collections

The road eventually leads some cars to the collections of the Mobilia Automobile and Road Museum to become part of the great story of Finnish society. But why does a particular car end up in the museum collections? Is it rare, of high economic value or in good original condition? Is its owner particularly interesting or does it have an exceptional usage history? Gems of the Collection exhibition highlights ten different vehicles that have been chosen for preservation as part of our shared history.

The display case in the Gems of the Collections exhibition features photographs of the vehicles on display, created by Mika and Marja Pitkänen. The photographs bring history to life by placing the vehicles back into the roles they once played, as part of people’s everyday lives, encounters and experiences. Each image seeks to capture the distinctive spirit of its era, from the mechanical simplicity of a turn-of-the-century Oldsmobile and the growing sense of freedom in the 1920s to the resilience of the post-war working years and the carefree road trips of the 1980s. The models appearing in the photographs add the most important element of all: a human touch and a story.