andrethx Posted October 13, 2013 Report Share Posted October 13, 2013 here in los angeles, we have the petersen automotive museum...it's on wilshire boulevard, near the LA country museum of art and the la brea tarpits. the museum was started years ago by pete petersen, the founder of petersen publishing (car craft, motor trend, and many other magazines). i have wanted to visit this museum for many years and finally got around to seeing it a few weeks ago. i have to say, i was a bit disappointed. the museum basically has three types of exhibits -- LA automotive history, hot rodding history, and famous movie/TV cars. of course there is some overlap between these topics. i'm not a huge hot rod fan, nor am i a particular fan of the other automotive genres native to los angeles, so there really wasn't a lot here for me that was in the "must-see" category. i am still glad i got to see it, though, and i understand that the museum will be changing over time to feature more european (and, particularly, french) cars so maybe i will go again in the future. what follows is my highly subjective photographic impressions of the museum. tim burton batmobile batbike from the 1960's batman tv series starring adam west. true fact -- my older brother was a huge fan of this show, and as a result of this my first word was "batman." beetle convertible from an austin powers movie (the second one, i think) mercedes convertible from the hangover volvo p1800 from 1960s tv show the saint starring roger moore mach 5 from the wachowski brothers' speed racer movie. the car in the movie was cgi, this one was created as a stand-in & for promotional purposes. bmw i8 prototype from a mission:impossible movie starring tom cruise chip-foose customized plymouth prowler 1961 toyota toyopet vw transporter crosley pickup truck. extremely small. jeep forward control. jeep recently did a show car based on this vehicle. several vehicles available for photo opportunities mattel, the make of hotwheels, is based in el segundo, california, a suburb of los angeles (and the location of LAX). there was a large hotwheels display at the petersen, i took this picture for jeff. andré Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casm Posted October 18, 2013 Report Share Posted October 18, 2013 Dumb question: do they still make you exit through the incredibly patronising 'vehicle safety' exhibit at the end? I haven't been there in years, but always disliked being filtered out through that. Of course driving cars is inherently unsafe, which is part of what I love about them. There used to be an incredibly nice Peugeot 202 Eclipse (cream with a red leather interior, IIRC) on display a few years back. As a fan of prewar streamlining, this is one of my favourite cars - right up there with the Tatra T87 and Chrysler Airflow. Got to drive a red-on-black RHD Citroen Traction Avant convertible from Port Hueneme to the Petersen for Rendezvous 2002 (or was it 2003?). Absolutely fantastic. Ended up leaving the car there for the owner to collect, and coming back a week later for the actual gathering in the Mi16 when I did get to meet the owner. Had the only Peugeot in attendance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted October 19, 2013 Report Share Posted October 19, 2013 I just watched some Car & Driver vids on you-tube and I thought it would be well worth the visit, but they were in the vault in the basement checking out all the cars not on display... I'd want to see ALL the cars if I made it there! Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethx Posted October 23, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 @cameron -- didn't see anything like a vehicle safety exhibit there. only thing you see on the way out now is the gift shop. @rabin -- the cars in the basement vault are "celebrity cars" -- cars that are not significant in and of themselves, but because of their previous owners. the basement has a separate admission fee from the main museum, and they promise lots of "untold stories" with respect to the cars there. i've lived in LA long enough that i'm not so star-struck anymore...if i want to see liberace's duesenberg, i'll just go to vegas. plus for me the museum is just a short drive away so if i ever did want to go back, it wouldn't be difficult. i had hoped that the basement contained lots of cool/rare cars, but that doesn't seem to be the case...i think that those are stored off-site somewhere. AFAIK, those off-site cars will be brought on site as the petersen remodels and changes its collections. andré Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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