The Petersen Automotive Museum opened on 1994, it relocated at the former Ohrbach’s department store, and had several insignia columns at the front of the building. Then, it was transformed in 2015, with a mass of stainless steel ribbons that makes it standout from all other buildings and looks like a pattern on the sports car. The museum itself has three levels of the past, present, and future of cars. At the ground floor entrance, there is the ticket booth, next to it is the Guinevere van from Onward (2020). Which was a photo op at the 2019 D23 Expo. The placard at the Petersen noted it is called Vantastic, a 1980 Chevrolet G10 Van, that was from a time period, 1960s and 1970s, that made the van popular. Next to it is Lightning McQueen from the Cars franchise, built by TransFX for Pixar, inspired by the Corvette C6 and the Ford GT40 sports cars.
Lotus Esprit S1 from Bond in Motion, Petersen Automotive Museum, photo by the author.
The third floor opens to the very beginnings of cars, one of which is the “First Practical Car”, a replica the 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagon. It looked like the 19th century carriage, almost a big bicycle with one seat and rear internal combustion engine. A chart of the vehicles notes that the first internal combustion engine was the 1875 Marcus! This leads to a number of sports cars, Porsches and Ferraris, and there were tv themed vehicles. One is a replica of the 1965 Lost in Space Chariot. It has tracks and is like an ATV on a ski vehicle. Part of Robot is in the back and it has a top speed of 30 MPH. Behind is the Chariot from the 2018 show. It is more modular with white panels and four wheels. There are a number of real life space vehicles including a model of the 1998 Mars Sojourner rover. The rest of the film vehicles like the Back to the Future DeLorean and Fast and Furious, I believe are in The Vault, the basement level with an extra charge.
1937 Ford Coupe, the “Crimson Ghost”, Petersen Automotive Museum, photo by the author.
On the other side, there is the race car room, the racing sounds was a bit too much for me. I did like the 2017 Scuderia Toro Rosso STR12 because it had the name “Bull-Monkey-Shark.” There was a section on concept cars, it looked like a peek into a design studio, and I liked The Dale, “The First Space Age Automobile”! Around the corner, there was a hallway of electric cars! I was impressed by the 1915 Detroit Electric Model 61 Broughham built from 1906 to 1939, the longest time manufactured for an electric car, it had a top speed of 20 MPH and a range of 80 miles! It kinda looks like a sleek Model T. This leads to the 1996 General Motors EV1 which had a top speed of 80 MPH (the total distance of this early EV), and range of 100 miles. Then, there is the 2009 Tesla Model S Prototype. The batteries are shown including the 2015 Tesla lithium-ion EV battery. The next level down has the 1937 Ford Coupe called the “Crimson Ghost” that looks right out of (as the placard reads) 1930s gangster movies.
1964 Aston Martin DB5, Bond in Motion, Petersen Automotive Museum, photo by the author.
The ground floor also features Bond in Motion, which is the “first official exhibition in the United States.” It was an exhibition at the London Film Museum from 2017 to January 2021. Bond in Motion opened at the Petersen Automotive Museum on September 25th. IT is kinda stunning to walk down the stairway from the second level to what looks like Q-Branch. The highlight is of course the 1964 Aston Martin DB5 with the license plate, BMT 216A. This was used in GoldenEye (1995) all the way to No Time to Die (2021). There are models like the Lockheed Martin VC-140B Jetstar that was in Goldfinger (1964), RAF/NATO AVRO Vulcan Bomber from Thunderball (1965) the Kawasaki-Bell 47G-3 helicopter from You Only Live Twice (1967). Some of my favorite Bond films. I would also say another highlight for me is the 1977 Lotus Esprit S1 called the “Wet Nellie” from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). One of the finest of the Roger Moore Bond movies. I also like from Moonraker (1979), the 1978 Glastron/Carlson CV-23HT with Motorized Hang Glider!
BMW R1200C , Bond in Motion, Petersen Automotive Museum, photo by the author.
Still, I would have liked to see the Bell Rocket Belt, even a replica, from Thunderball. Also, the goofy jet pack and laser gun platfrom from Moonraker. Another memorable vehicle was the 1999 Bentz Boats “Q Jet Boat” from The World is Not Enough (1999). I remember it launching from the MI6 building and racing along the Thames. When I was staying in London, my hotel was a short walk, about four buildings over, to that very same building! I kept thinking James Bond is going to come racing out of that building any minute now. Next, there was the 2002 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish featured in Die Another Day (2002). The first invisible Bond car, yes, James Bond films have always been absurd. There was a motorcycles including the 1997 BMW R1200C out of Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) which had Pierce Brosnan’s Bond riding with Michelle Yeoh’s Wai Lin. One of the vehicles was an exception Die Another Day’s Ski-Doo MX Z-REV snowmobile because you can actually sit on it for a photo-op! No other vehicles by the way. There are many more vehicles to see including cars that are really screen used, bullet ridden with shattered glass! This museum is not just for car lovers, but anyone who has enjoyed a ride in a nice car, want to see the history of cars laid out in physical form, Bond fans and movie cars, at one of the best automobile museums in the world!
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