A former employee of the Petersen Automobile Museum in Los Angeles once revealed to me, by far, the most popular car in their collection. You want to guess? No, it’s not a rare exotic car like their quad-turbo V12 Bugatti EB110. It’s also not a classic like their 1947 Ferrari 125S, the first car to carry the ol’ brand Enzo’s them, either just built. And it wasn’t their simultaneous 1925 victory Rolls Royce Phantom I “Round Door”, a beautiful coach-built car from the Art Deco era. It’s the Batmobile.
As it turns out, most visitors to Los Angeles’s Aviation Museum, a cluster of galleries along Wilshire Blvd’s Miracle Road, are just casual car enthusiasts. Many are not car enthusiasts at all, but simply movie fans who want to see Tinseltown.
Against that backdrop, Petersen’s new exhibition, which focuses on electric cars from sci-fi and fantasy titles, is sure to be a hit. The display features are not only Batmobile from 1989 by Tim Burton”Batman“ but also other blockbuster movie cars. Top payout will go to DeLorean time machine from “Back to the Future“The Miller-Meteor Futura two-sided car was based on the 1959 Cadillac, called the Ecto-1 from”Ghostbusters: Afterlife“and a Lexus LC500 words”Black Panther. “
However, not all of the cars are original, as many are too valuable to destroy during filming (or even just for filming). For example, in 2021″Red Notice“one year 1931” Mercedes Grosser 770 was discovered in a Nazi bunker and driven over a waterfall. Apparently, the filmmakers used a copy. Likewise, a 1933 Auburn Speedster used in 2013″The great Gatsby” is also a forgery, although quite convincing from the photos.
Detroit Iron fans may also enjoy 1967 Chevy Impala sedan from the TV series “Supernatural“in 1976 Ford Gran Turin from “Starsky and Hutch“and a rare 1948 Packard Magnetic scooter “Lovecraft Country. “
Finally, there are a number of creations developed specifically for the films in which they have been featured. For example the IOI Carrier, an armored vehicle of the future vans are from “Ready Player One“timeline in 2045. Going even further into the future we find a Lexus Maglev 2054 from”Minority Report. “Then there’s the trio of alternate timeline bikes – a unicycle and a custom chopper style motorcycleboth words”Men in black 3“and a Skynet Moto-Terminator 2018 from”Terminator: Salvation. “
But that’s not all. Until the end of October 2022, Petersen has a concurrent exhibition just for James Bond movie car. So, if you are a movie buff and also love cars, now would be a very good time to visit Petersen.
