Car Museum Revs up Excitement

Car fans will enjoy wandering Petersen Automotive Museum on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. It was formerly a department store and converted into place to display the world's largest collection of cars.

It was founded in 1994 by Robert E Petersen who made his money in magazine publishing and his wife Margie. Seven years ago it had a facelift, including a stunning facade featuring a stainless steel series of ribbons wrapped around the building.

The first electric car in 1839 made in Scotland

Inside it's a car fanatic's dream, from those interested in automotive history to racing cars, vehicles featured in pop culture and movies to electric vehicles (failures and successes).

There's an original 1918 Ford Model T car, one of less than 10 in existence, and the first electric car built in 1839 by Scot Robert Anderson.

It was called Columbia and apparently the technology improved so rapidly that by 1900 electric cars exceeded both steam- and petroleum-powered cars in popularity. And wouldn't you know, the car was highly prized by taxi companies and the wealthy because the electric car was free from noise, vibration and noxious odours. How come it took us this long to figure that out?

There is a Japanese car called Fuji Cabin that has three wheels. It was built to provide cheap, economical cars to people after the war. The three-wheeler was built on readily available motor-scooter parts, and was powered by a one-cylinder engine with a kick start. It only had three forward speeds and reverse. However in the end only 85 of these cars were built.

The Fuji Cabin was made in post-war Japan

We had fun going down memory lane with a series of cars featured in movies. These included the DeLorean from Back to the Future. It looks so old now, but at the time the movie came out in 1985 it was considered quite cool. The Batmobile from Batman Returns starring Michael Keaton is featured in the exhibition, and of course the car Lightning McQueen from Pixar Animation Studio's Cars.

Another section had a show called "Bond in Motion", featuring the official collection of cars featured in James Bond films. It was fun watching clips from the various movies with Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig that had the chase scenes with the vehicles in it. While the older films don't necessarily age well since technology has advanced so much, the dialogue and the acting are still priceless. 

There really is something for everyone at this museum. Pleasantly surprised.

James Bond looking suave with his Aston Martin

Petersen Automotive Museum

6060 Wilshire Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA 

90036

323 930 2277