ferrari 308

What do you think of when someone says culture?

Opera? Art? Good wine?

At the old lighthouse on Fornebu is the museum "Culture on wheels". It is a small museum with cars, bicycles, mopeds, motorbikes and windpipes - and Norway's largest collection of Vespas. Private objects are exhibited, and the selection is constantly changing.

When it comes to culture, it is impossible to avoid Italy. Nor here.
My eyes fall on a red Ferrari 308 that looks like it's taken straight from "Magnum PI", you know that series where Tom Selleck plays a private detective who drives around Hawaii in a red Ferrari. But the was a targa (GTS). The Ferrari at Fornebu has a fixed roof (GTB).

I mean to have heard that the 308 is not considered a proper Ferrari. The story can actually be found here at the museum. Next to it stands the origin, a grey-green Dino 308 GT4. "3" for 3 liters and "8" for 8 cylinders. Named after Ferrari's son, Dino, because they did not dare to use the Ferrari name. This is a 2+2 seater with matching brown interior. The similarity to the Magnum-308 is striking. The interior still smells classy. This is sufficient, although some claim that a proper Ferrari should have a V12.

I also stop at a red 1991 Honda NSX, one of the few that was imported to Norway. I remember well when the NSX came on the market. I read the tests in British CAR magazine and American Motor Trend. My dream was created. I think the price tag was 1,2 million here at home. That was a lot for a Honda. When I see the three supercars in the same room, there is no doubt that the NSX is on its way to becoming a classic in any case.

The truly Italian thing about this museum is the Vespa collection. About twenty Vespas from all eras stand gleaming after painstaking renovation where everything is original. Some of the scooters are new. I recognize some from the early seventies. I greet Tom Arheim who I believe is Norway's foremost expert on Vespas in Norway. He owns no less than 14 of the scooters in the room. "These", says Arheim, "are scooters to be renovated", and points to two original, rather shabby bicycles in one corner. He shows me the workshop where a new Vespa is being transformed into a piece of jewelry.

I see on my driver's license that I can drive a light motorcycle up to 125 cubic meters.