Savoy Automobile Museum Opens Exclusive Exhibit in Collaboration with Pirelli

Cartersville, GA – In 1872, twenty-three-year-old Giovanni Battista Pirelli founded “G.B. Pirelli & C.” in Milan, Italy. Fast-forward 150 years, Pirelli, an internationally recognized brand, is among the world’s major producers of tires.

To celebrate the company’s 150th anniversary in the United States, Savoy Automobile Museum and Pirelli are proud to present the exclusive exhibition of Pirelli: The Story of a Company – A 150‐Year History of Passion and Innovation.

Opening on Tuesday, May 10, 2022 at Savoy Automobile Museum, and on view through Sunday, September 4, 2022, this unique exhibition tells the 150-year history and present-day world of Pirelli.

Starting from the first factory opened in Milan to produce rubber items, followed by the first Motorsport victory in 1907, aboard an Itala fitted that won the Beijin-Paris raid, to finally arrive at the international expansion of the Company and recent successes on track and on the road. What visitors will be able to undertake by visiting the exhibition is a three-century journey made of passion, men and women, technology and innovation. A journey that few know has one of its main “stops” in the United States: it was indeed in New York, in 1908, that the famous logo, the "P" with its stretched out "belly" overhanging the other letters, was born.

The link with Pirelli and the United States has always been tied: part of the exhibit is indeed dedicated to Pirelli’s roots in the country, from advertising of local products to posters created for Pirelli that became part of the permanent collection of MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The exhibit tells the history of Pirelli through the creative elements of artists, designers, masters of communication and advertising: and through the works of leading photographers, from photos of the factories to the great names behind the iconic Pirelli Calendar. Many of these beautiful images come from Pirelli Foundation, the Institution that preserves the Group’s historic and cultural heritage, taking a look at the past with a view to building the future.

Savoy Museum will host a specially curated collection of automobiles that showcase Pirelli’s wide range of tires as well: from beautiful vintage cars to Motorsport jewels, including a Trans Am vehicle and modern-day Formula 1 car developed for the 2022 season including for the upcoming Miami Grand Prix, to the fully electric Rivian, that gives a glimpse on how the future of mobility is taking shape.

The exhibition is also the opportunity for Pirelli to celebrate 20 years of its presence in Georgia. Pirelli inaugurated its plant in Rome, Georgia, in 2002. The factory is a robotized production facility focused on premium specialty tires for cars, light trucks, and SUVs. The Pirelli factory in Georgia is also the first tire plant in the world to be FSC-certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. FSC forest management certification confirms that the natural rubber plantations Pirelli sources from are managed in a way that preserves biodiversity and benefits the lives of local communities and farm workers, while ensuring economic viability. 

  The full lineup of vehicles on display includes:

• 1947 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Cabriolet (On loan from Jim Taylor)
• 1962 Lancia Flamina GT 3C Touring Coupe (On loan from Ivan & Myrna Ruiz)
• 1967 Chevrolet Camero RS (Savoy Collection)
• 1967 Iso Grifo – Series 1 (On loan from Ivan & Myra Ruiz)
• 1970 Maserati Ghibli Spyder (On Loan from Ivan & Myra Ruiz)
• 1987 Lamborghini Countach (On loan from Ron Green)
• 1991 Ferrari F40 (On loan from the Mauzy Family and 1thirtyone Motorcars) 
• 2022 Formula 1 race car (with 18” wheels, an update for the 2022 season)
• 2022 Rivian R1T (On loan from Rivian, LLC)
• 2022 Trans Am Spec Chevrolet Camaro (On Loan from Trans Am Championship (Presented by Pirelli 150th Anniversary Trans Am Class Camaro)

About Savoy Automobile Museum 
Savoy Automobile Museum connects people to the cultural diversity of the automobile. Whether you are a serious car collector, a weekend enthusiast, or simply a traveling motorist from Detroit to Daytona, Savoy aims to educate and entertain through changing exhibits, educational programs, and engaging experiences. The world-class museum campus sits on 37 acres in Cartersville, GA and provides access to a variety of automobiles and a specially curated collection of original automotive art. As the newest program of Georgia Museums, Inc., Savoy Automobile Museum joins a prestigious group of museums including Booth Western Art Museum, Tellus Science Museum, and Bartow History Museum.

About Pirelli
Founded in Milan in 1872, Pirelli is a major player in the tire industry and the only global player focused solely on the Consumer tire market, which includes tires for cars, motorcycles and bicycles. With a distinctive positioning in High Value tires, the Group stands as a global brand known for its cutting-edge technology, high-end production excellence and passion for innovation that draws heavily on its Italian roots.

Pirelli has a diversified geographical presence, with 19 production facilities in 12 countries. 

Pirelli has an extremely rich cultural heritage and a history of supporting the arts. The Pirelli Foundation, which curates and preserves this heritage, houses the historical archive with over 3 kilometers of documents illustrating Pirelli’s 150-year history. The government of Italy declared the Foundation a cultural asset; it is visited by thousands of people every year.

It opened its first manufacturing plant in the United States in Rome, Georgia, in 2002. Today the plant covers a perimeter of 400,000 square meters and employs approximately 250 highly skilled workers and administrative personnel. Furthermore, Pirelli has offices in New York, Detroit and Los Angeles, warehouses and a sales team in locations across the US, and a flagship store in Los Angeles.

Rome’s site houses one of the Pirelli’s twelve Research and Development centers and, thanks to the highly automated system Modular Integrated Robotized System (MIRS), produces performance tires.