by Pushkar Modi
posted on December 28, 2017
At Turo, we love cars and we’ll take any chance we can get to study the past, present, and future of the automobile. A trip to Los Angeles last summer took me to the fabulous Petersen Automotive Museum, which first opened in 1994 and went through a massive $125 million renovation in late 2015. The Petersen Museum is one of the largest auto museums in the world and consists of three floors with changing exhibits focused on the history, industry, and design of some very special cars.
In the months since my first visit, I had the privilege of doing a special episode of CarStories, the Petersen Museum’s podcast. We recorded the episode from the cockpit of the excellent Porsche 911 GT3 that I rented in Los Angeles:
Turo and the Petersen Automotive Museum have partnered to bring you exclusive experiences in some of their exquisite vehicles. Enter our contest to ride along with the museum’s conservator, Dana Williamson, as he drives you through famous routes in Los Angeles. Click here to learn more about this exciting opportunity, then check out some of what I saw on my recent pilgrimage to the museum.
1947 Cisitalia 202
The museum has three floors and a special vault. The third floor is all about the history and cultural impact of cars and includes Back to the Future’s famous Delorean and the bat-pod.
DMC Delorean time machine
1929 Duesenberg Model J from The Great Gatsby
Bad-pod from The Dark Knight and Batmobile from Batman
Lightning McQueen from Cars
Hudson Hornet from Cars
The museum also had an exhibit celebrating the 70th anniversary of Ferrari racing. On display were plenty of classic race cars, including the 2006 Ferrari F1 car driven by Michael Schumacher in his final season with Formula One.
Michael Schumacher’s 2006 Ferrari 248 F1
1976 Ferrari 312 T2
1958 Ferrari 250 TR Spyder
2014 Ferrari LaFerrari
Finally, there was the amazing McLaren P1 hypercar finished in carbon, and a collection of classic Bugattis. Petersen Automotive Museum is a must for all car geeks!
1939 Bugatti Type 57C
Pushkar Modi
Pushkar is Turo's Chief Auto Enthusiast and a bonafide, lifelong car guy. He loves a classic Porsche, an Audi R8, but his heart belongs to the Lamborghini Murciélago.
