6SpeedOnline Visits the Petersen Automotive Museum
We ventured to L.A.’s Petersen Automotive Museum to explore their fine collection of hypercars, supercars, and multi-million-dollar Ferraris.
Car museums, there are many of them. Whether it’s muscle cars, European cars, fire trucks, or strictly vintage cars, there’s something out there to satiate most enthusiasts’ hunger for shiny sheet metal. That being said, museums that manage to put together well-rounded collections of vehicles from all walks of life are few and far between — and the Petersen Automotive Museum is certainly amongst the best in the world.
You can’t miss the Petersen, really. Located on the corner of Wilshire Blvd. and S. Fairfax, just a stone’s throw away from Beverly Hills and Hollywood, the Petersen boasts a magnificent facade which teases the pupils ahead of the actual car collection. “The Pete” was kind enough to host 6SpeedOnline for an entire afternoon, which was quite certainly one of the highlights of a recent trip to the City of Angels.
We first visited the museum back in March of 2016, where we came across stunning machines such as a McLaren F1, Juan Manuel Fangio’s 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196, and an exquisite array of Formula One and Le Mans racing cars. But this time, it was the Bugatti and Ferrari exhibits that knocked it out of the ballpark, amongst many other individual vehicles.
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If you consider yourself a Ferrari Tifosi the current exhibit dubbed “Seeing Red: 70 Years of Ferrari” will make your heart skip a beat. Even more so if you happen to idolize racing heroes like Schumacher and Lauda, as the exhibit houses their respective 2006 and 1976 Formula One World Championship scarlet contenders. Seeing these engineering masterpieces up-close is quite literally rush-inducing.
Slightly less hardcore, yet ultra-modern are the all-carbon-fiber (and we mean all carbon fiber) McLaren F1 and super exclusive McLaren 688 MSO. The latter of which, is just one of only 25 ever made. Manage to un-glue your eyes from the McLarens and you’ll be rewarded by a wooden “buck” utilized to style the magnificent Bugatti Type 64, and a lovely Jaguar XJ220. Turn the corner and you’ll encounter a Maserati Levante that’s been fully detached from its chassis/drivetrain in order to create a wild-looking and informative display.
If the above doesn’t do it for ya, you can always check out the Hollywood Stars exhibit which features vehicles from famous movies, such as the VW Beetle from Herbie, the VW Bus from Little Miss Sunshine, and several Batmobiles (and Batcycles). Oh, and we can’t forget Lightning McQueen!
If you’re ever in Los Angeles you owe it to yourself to stop by the Petersen Automotive Museum, you won’t regret it.
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