The Petersen Automotive Museum is All Revved Up for its Reopening

FLOOR 1

On the Peter and Merle Mullin Artistry Floor, guests can discover the most artfully designed vehicles from history, often regarded as rolling sculpture. The Mullin Grand Salon features the exhibit Artistry of the Automobile, featuring some of the finest coachbuilt cars of the art deco era, from the 1936 Type 57sc Bugatti Atlantic to the 1938 Talbot-Lago T150C SS Figoni et Falaschi Teardrop. This gallery also houses a 166-foot panoramic display wall displaying motion graphic art inspired by the “golden ratio,” a design standard often used in Art

Decoera design. The last exhibit on the top-to-bottom tour is also the first one visitors see upon entering the museum—BMW Art Cars in the Armand Hammer Foundation Gallery, presented by BMW of North America. On display is the 1995 BMW 850 CSi designed by highly influential British artist David Hockney as well as the 2008 BMW Z4 used by South African artist Robin Rhode for the “Expression Of Joy” project.

FLOOR 2

On the Industry Floor, guests can explore the diversity of automotive design and technology and see cars that have been modified for speed and efficiency. Learn what it’s like to work in the car industry and watch automotive design students as they envision the next generation of vehicular transportation. Here, you’ll also be able to experience the Precious Metal exhibit in the Bruce Meyer Family Gallery. As presented by Rolex, you’ll find a gathering of the world’s rarest and most exotic cars, all finished in silver. Just a few samples of the vehicles in this gallery include a 1995 McLaren F1, the 1964 Aston Martin DB5 driven by James Bond in the movie Goldfinger and a 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196 Streamliner driven by Juan-Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss. Meanwhile, the Pixar Cars Mechanical Institute features a life-size Lightning McQueen and uses augmented reality technology to teach children how cars really work, starring their favorite characters from the Cars movies on Carspad tablets. The Industry Professionals exhibit in the Roeder-Harman Gallery screens interviews with the engineers, designers, marketers and executives who take cars from design to reality—all presented by Jay Leno. The Production Gallery, presented by Maserati, features “Made in Italy: Design to Line,” an exhibit showcasing how a production luxury car goes from rendering to model to finished vehicle. Continue down the hall and visitors can visit the High Performance Road Cars exhibit presented by Ford Motor Company, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Ford’s historic win at LeMans with the museum’s GT40 MkIII alongside the all-new Ford GT supercar. From there, fans can step into the winner’s circle in the Motorsports exhibit in the Charles Nearburg Family Gallery; directly behind this exhibit is the Forza Motorsport Racing Experience, where fans can get behind the wheel of a variety of vehicles and try their hand at racing on driving rigs running the latest version of Microsoft’s racing simulator.