Ralph Lauren's ar collection on display

It will pay odes to Lauren's sleek collection of Bentleys, Jaguars, Porsches and Ferraris.

It Automobiles as art? It's a concept that might seem out of place among the Museum of Fine Arts' extensive collection of paintings and sculpture.

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Then again, designer Ralph Lauren's sleek collection of Bentleys, Jaguars, Porsches and Ferraris is no mere gathering of junk yard vehicles.

"When you present a car in a certain way, there is a sculptural beauty in the way this thing was formed," said Darcy Kuronen, curator of Speed, Style, and Beauty: Cars From the Ralph Lauren Collection, an exhibit that opens on Sunday and runs through July 3.

"Every part of it is expressive and says a lot about the artist and even the time and place in which it was made." The 16 cars possess hefty price tags, sophisticated looks and powerful engines. Among those Lauren has loaned to the MFA is a rare 1938 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic Coupe, one of three made and two still in existence, according to the museum.

There's also a 1929 Blower Bentley, a 1,950 kilogram (4,300 pound) behemoth decorated with a British flag design; a 1950 Jaguar XK120 Alloy Roadster, one of just six alloy models ever built by Jaguar; and a 1930 Mercedes-Benz SSK designed by its original owner, Italian race car driver Count Carlo Felice Trossi. Visitors get a preview of things to come when they enter the museum's West Wing Lobby, where a brilliant red Ferrari Testa Rossa is on display. And the museum will hold "Hoods Up Evenings" on the last Thursday of each month, giving visitors a chance to inspect the inner workings of the automobiles.

Curators hope the exhibit helps visitors appreciate something beyond the practical uses of cars.

"In a sense, it's like a wardrobe," Kuronen said. "What am I in the mood for today? A Jaguar? A Ferrari? Something old? Something modern?"

At a recent media preview of the show, Lauren couldn't say which of his gleaming cars he likes best. "Every time I buy one of these cars, they're all different," he said. "They're another experience and you can't really evaluate which is your favorite and which is not."

He said his interest in cars has permeated his fashion and design sense.

"There's so many details on these cars that are special," Lauren said. "They've had an influence on my clothes, they've had an influence on different products, on furniture." Organizers of the show, which will not travel, hope the cars will draw an often underrepresented group to the museum: men. "I think men will be interested in this exhibition," MFA Director Malcolm Rogers said. "But I think it's also true that women will find it very attractive.

"A lot of these cars were planned to impress women. They have two seats usually. They look like weekend plans, some of them, don't you think?"