Petersen Automotive Museum

Petersen Automotive Museum

The Petersen Automotive Museum, for the first time in its history, is allowing the public to tour its famous vault, which houses over half of the museum's collection.

Tucked in to the vault are such vehicles as a rare Jaguar XKSS formerly owned by Steve McQueen as well as a Volkswagen Beetle driven by Lindsay Lohan in Herbie Fully Loaded.

Guided tours will run only through January 6, after which the vault will one time again stay available only to museum staff & special guests.

Other remarkable vehicles include a unique 1925 "Round Door" Rolls-Royce Phantom, a 1939 Bugatti given to the Shah of Iran as a wedding present as well as a Ferrari given to Henry Ford II by Enzo Ferrari.

The vault has become legendary among regular museum-goers, who have often asked for tours, but until now it's been strictly off-limits, except to employees & special guests.

The main floors of the museum can hold only about 150 vehicles at any given time, but the whole collection comprises over two times that number, with most of them stored underground in the vault, which runs the whole length of the 300,000-square-foot building.

The Petersen Automotive Museum, of the largest in the world, was founded by publishing giant Robert E. Petersen, whose stable of 36 every month magazines included Hot Rod, Motor Trend, Rod & Custom, & Automobile Craft.

Petersen, a Los Angeles native, returned home from service in the Army Air Corps in World War II & quickly became swept up in the burgeoning New york automobile culture. He published the first issue of Hot Rod in January 1948, & rode his motorbike to racetracks & stores around the state, selling the journal for 25 cents.

The treasures include a collection of vintage Southern New york hot rods, a Popemobile, a Hot Wheels toy display & Elvis Presley's 1971 De Tomaso Pantera.

Other publications followed, & as his empire grew, so did his collection of vehicles & automotive memorabilia. In June of 1994, he & his spouse, Margie, along with a group of supportive friends, opened the museum to house both Petersen's private collection & vehicles on loan from various institutions & individuals.

The vault will open for tours on December 15. An additional ticket purchase of $25 is necessary & includes access to the vault.