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Bernie's Museum Trip: Petersen Automotive Museum... Part II

Oct 17, 2014




While I was in Los Angeles for the Dub Car Show, I decided to go back to one of my favorite places, the Petersen Automotive Museum. The Petersen Automotive Museum is one of the greatest places on earth, especially if you're an automotive enthusiast. Located on Wilshire Boulvard, this museum specializes in automotive history. And after 20 years, this museum will be closing its doors on October 19, 2014...



.... for a complete renovation. Ha!!!! I scared you. Once I walked around, I was able to find out some more inside news. Basically, they're expanding the galleries- going from less than 10 galleries to having the ability to hold over 20, open floor plan, but... the more permanent cars will be in glass display cases.  So it won't be nearly as intimate as it is-- well I should say-- was. I'm interested to see what it'll look like- interior wise. Inside the museum, there's a 2-D and a 3-D rendering of what the exterior of the new museum will look like.




As we all know, I love a great museum, and without further ado, here's my updated tour of the Petersen Automotive Museum... I'm actually going to start upstairs since that's the galleries they always change.



One of my favorite areas since I was a film major in college is the automotives in Hollywood gallery. This time around, the museum obtained the 2013 Ford Shelby GT500 that was featured in Need for Speed. Oh, and this Mustang not only has Forgiato wheels on it, it also has a New York license plate.



Meet Eleanor, the only Mustang to ever receive star title credit in a film. This 1971 Ford Mustang was driven in the classic Gone in 60 Seconds.



This 1965 Ford Mustang, named Zebra, was in the movie Marriage on the Rocks. Driven by Nancy Sinatra, Zebra was customized by famed car customizer George Barris



Although this 1951 Chevy Truck wasn't in a movie, it belongs to Travis Barker, who lives in Los Angeles and has an extensive car collection.



But this car definitely was in a movie. This was the Batman car in Batman Forever. FYI, George Barris did the original Batman car, and by original, I mean the Batman TV show... from the 60's.

Another interesting gallery was the Limousine Gallery, because everyone got to see how limos progressed from 1897 to 2009.



This is a 1897 Benz Mylord Coupe. Top speed of approximately 19 miles per hour. Discovered in a barn in England and restored in the United States.



1931 Lincoln Model K Razor Edge Brougham Town Car by Willoughby. Willoughby specialized in building chauffeur-driven town cars for wealthy clientele. But the reason why I'm showing off this photo is that I liked the pairing of the Orpheum Theatre backdrop with the car, and the whitewall tires.

But every single limousine failed in compairson to....



Liberace's 1962 Rolls Royce Phantom V Landau Limousine. He commissioned this custom Rolls Royce Phantom V to match his mirrored piano and had the interior upholstered in genuine ermine. He used it on stage in the 70's at the Las Vegas Hilton and in the 80's at Radio City Music Hall. Once I saw Liberace's limo, I was done.

The next gallery was an opinionated gallery where auto enthusiasts picked their favorite sport coupe. But it's strictly opinionated.



Bruce Meyer, Founding Chairman of Petersen Automotive Museum picked the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing Coupe. Thank goodness they asked Bruce Meyer because he would have shut this down...



Adam Carolla picked the 1963 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso



John Lasseter (Creator of the Disney Cars movies) picked the 1967 Ford GT40 Mark III



Francis Ford Coppola picked the gorgeous 1954 Plymouth Explorer Concept by Ghia. That color is gorgeous.



Another favorite, the Hot Wheels Collection... Definitely a must see if you love Hot Wheels. It shows you the process to making one to many of the different kinds of cars.



An American Classic has its own gallery- Mustangs Forever: 50 Years of a Legend. This 1965 Mustang convertible was previously used by Ronald Reagan



The answer to the Chevy Camaro's V8, the Ford Mustang Boss 302 (the 1970 edition)



And this Ford Mustang was customized by Galpin Auto Sports and was unveiled at the 2010 SEMA Show (the first SEMA show I attended). It has a retractable hardtop, custom orange pearl paint, custom leather interior, a Ford Racing suspension kit, and a Magna Flow exhaust system.

This concludes my tour of the Petersen Automotive Museum, and hopefully when it's reopened, you can experience the magic for yourself. Side note: I hope that they have a gallery dedicated to Los Angeles car culture for obvious reasons. Just sayin'....

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