The Petersen Automotive Museum had its largest opening to date with the simultaneous launch of four new exhibitions that opened this month and look at a range of automotive innovations, from super cars to concept vehicles to self-driving cars and electric rides . “This is a really big deal that we have four exhibitions opening at the same time,” said Autumn Nyiri, one of the two curators of the exhibitions. “They are all looking at various aspects of automotive history from design to propulsion to the future,” she added.
The exhibitions, which opened Saturday, Aug. 3, encompass the second floor of the venue. Here’s a look inside each exhibition.
All four will run through next year. The Petersen Automotive Museum is opening four new exhibitions on the same day that look at a range of automotive innovations, from super cars to concept vehicles to self-driving cars and electric rides. (Photo courtesy Petersen Automotive Museum) The Petersen Automotive Museum is opening four new exhibitions on the same day that look at a range of automotive innovations, from super cars to concept vehicles to self-driving cars and electric rides.
(Photo courtesy Petersen Automotive Museum) The Petersen Automotive Museum is opening four new exhibitions on the same day that look at a range of automotive innovations, from super cars to concept vehicles to self-driving cars and electric rides. (Photo courtesy Petersen Automotive Museum) Nyiri was the curator for this exhibit, which is a can’t miss for car enthusiasts who are all about speed and performance . It’s made up of a rotating display of iconic supercars that are the fastest and most powerful cars ever made.
“The modern notion of ultra high performance vehicles came around in the late 1960s and since that time vehicles have gotten more extreme, more luxurious, higher prices, more rare,” she said. It launched on Aug. 3 with three cars including the 2020 Bugatti Divo, a 1,500-horsepower machine with a top speed of more than 230 miles per hour.
“It’s also priced at about $5.8 million so it is not for everyone,” she said. Another car on display is the 2008 Koenigsegg CCXR.
This car tops out at more than 250 miles per hour and what’s special about this supercar is that it can run on gasoline or renewable biofuels, Nyiri noted. Rounding off the three cars opening this exhibition is the 2022 Apollo IE, nicknamed the “Purple Dragon.” The IE stands for “Intense Emotion,” and it’s one of 10 cars built by Apollo Automobil, a German sports car manufacturer.
Some people may think electric cars are a new thing, but they’ve been around for more than 100 years and at one point were more prevalent than gas-powered cars. And this exhibit explores all that history. “At the turn of the 20th Century electric vehicles were actually a more popular method of propulsion because they were clean, they were quiet and they were easy to operate,” said Nyiri, who also curated this exhibition.
“But as oil became more widely available and then of course Henry Ford’s mass produced Model T made gas-powered cars more affordable there was a huge fall in the use of electric vehicles,” she added. Some of the cars on display include the 1896 Riker electric roadster, a 1928 Auto Red Bug electric roadster, a 2009 Mini Cooper E and to bring it to modern times, a 2021 Lanark DS Roadster, a two-seater roadster inspired by European sports cars. These are the cars that designers dreamed up but never made it to the road, well at least not yet.
According to Jonathan Eisen , who curated this exhibition, people will see a collection of 10 concept cars from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s. “They are 10 cars that have never been together at the same time and its a great way to look at the evolution of automobile design,” he said. “They represent visions of the future from the recent past,” he added.
Concept cars in this exhibit include a 1995 Ford GT90, which was inspired by a race car and was Ford’s first attempt at building a supercar. “It’s a really radical looking car. It’s a car that if it came out today you would still like, Whoa, this looks like a spaceship,” Eisen said.
Like it or not, in the future some cars will not need drivers to get around and this exhibit explores that future with a display of autonomous driving technology. Eisen also curated this exhibition that focuses on Waymo LLC, formerly known as the Google Self-Driving Car Project. The company produces autonomous driving technology.
On display are prototype vehicles as well as the Terregator, a six-wheeled mobile robot. “In the exhibit we see the past, present and future of the cars they’re going to use as well as a lot of explainers on how the technology works,” Eisen said. When: Museum hours are 10 a.
m.-5 p.m.
daily Where: Petersen Automotive Museum, 6060 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles Admission: $21 for adults; $19 for seniors 62-and-older; $12 for ages 4-11 and $13 for ages 12-17. Information: 323-930-2277 or petersen.
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