No trip to LA would be complete for me without a trip to the Petersen Automotive Museum. Like going to Washington DC and not seeing any of the Smithsonian. Going to New Orleans and not hitting Bourbon street. What’s the point? Were you even really there? Even Trucky Verdes Transmission issues couldn’t keep me from it. After picking up a rental Mustang Convertible I was on my way!
The Super car exhibition is still in place and while I’d been through it already, I was still excited to walk through again. They have done some shuffling and it was nice to see the two roadsters the Ferrari Monza SP1 and the McLaren Elva side by side. And that’s just the lobby!! That’s a hell of appetizer! Walking into a lobby with an Bugatti EB110, both the Ferrari and McLaren roadsters and a Koenigsegg… how could that ever get old?
What was new?
I was pretty stoked to see the Meyers Manx Cafe was open so I stopped in to chill. As many times as I’ve been to the Petersen this is the first time I’ve been able to eat at the on site cafe since they closed the Johny Rockets. The Petersen on site Cafe has gone through a few different variations but this is by far my favorite and I really hope it sticks! The Meyers Manx Cafe. Despite only being open 3 months is absolutely worth stopping in for, this place is legit. The music is upbeat and just the right volume to be heard but not impede vigorous debate over which car was the coolest in the collection. The decor is on point. Tons of awesome pics of the dune buggies and the people who so obviously enjoyed them. It’s easy to forget what a revolution the Myers Manx was in its time.
As for the food, sadly I wasn’t super hungry so I took a chance on the Crispy King Trumpet Mushrooms and eye hustled everyones order around me. Everything I saw coming out of the kitchen looked great and I didn’t see any full plates going back. As for my Fird mushrooms, I was not disappointed! The server hooked me up with a quartet of hot sauces to try along with them and they were all awesome, each complimenting the light batter coated mushrooms in their own way. I decided to pretend to be fancy or infantile and finished things up with a flat white coffee and a monster chocolate chip cookie for dippin. So Bomb! Just what I needed after the long drive from San Dimas. If you can I suggest showing up hungry everything I saw at the surrounding tables looked fantastic. I didn’t see any plates getting picked up that weren’t picked clean.
After my lunch I went up to the top and started working my way down. There were some movie cars including the Back to the future Delorean and a few others. I am not a big movie car guy and I had seen these ones a few times so I kinda just blew through them. The 1959 Chevrolet Italia by Scaglietti. I had always hear that Carol Shelby had made several attempts to get a car of his own off the ground and that he had done one with GM but I had never known what it was or how far it had gone. It was really cool to finally see one of his early attempts in person! As much good stuff as there was in the initial space the AMC Scepter Concept was by far my favorite. This thing was pretty wild and had some interesting features. The flat desk like dash area on the passenger side was interesting but the bright silver/chrome looking seat inserts and the odd gyroscope looking gauges and interesting window/door handles had me scratching my head. Stuff like this makes me wonder what AMC would be up to if they were still around.
I was surprised to see a Hennessey Venom F5, sporting a Turbo 6.6 GM sourced motor and built to break 300 mph… This things a weapon. Like I said I was surprised to see one at all and was even more surprised at how well put together it seemed to be. If that wasn’t cool enough walking around the corner was the Maserati P70!! Another car with Carol Shelbys fingerprints on it after writing my previous story on the new Maserati P72 seeing the P70 I was hoping that the P72 would be there as well. It wasn’t but it was pretty cool to see the car that inspired it.
There’s always a few Hot Rods at the Petersen and while I’ve seen these ones before its always cool to see a few of the most influential Hot Rods in person and together. The Alexander Brothers then Barris coupe that graced the cover of the Beach Boys little Duce coupe album. A few Boyd/Foose designed cars and the first 32 to sport a DuVall style windshield the Doane Spencer Roadster. But my favorite of this bunch is the Ricky Nelson Roadster, after all, its the right color.
As I mentioned before, I had already seen the main exhibit, The Super Car Collection. But it had been shuffled around. This was a terrible turn of events for the owner of the Hispano Suiza Carmen Boulognes which was now under many more and much brighter lights. Let me start by saying this is an interesting looking car. Personally, especially in this color it reminded me of Penelope Pitstops car, a fictional character who appeared in the 1968 Hanna-Barbera animated series Wacky Races. They made some interesting design choices from its bulbous fenders to its for some reason very Chrysler 300ish grill its an odd one.
If you read my previous posts about attending this show you might remember I talked about the purple Hispano Suiza Carmen Boulognes, specifically its fit and finish. I Have to be honest, I didn’t even know that the Hispano Suiza was still around. The purple cleared carbon is a pretty bold choice. And one I would probably really like if it didn’t allow the carbon weave and layers to be seen so clearly. As I mentioned, in the shuffle this car was given much stronger lighting and for this car, that’s not a good thing. A more solid paint choice might have been the way to go on this one. Now, to be fair, had I seen it on its own, maybe on the street in natural light? No, no, no, even then, I am sure I would have still noticed.But maybe its many defects would have been, I hope a little less obvious? I apologize for the beating around the bush I’ll just say it. The layers of Carbon on this car are shockingly bad.
If your not familiar, a Carbon body like this is made very similarly to a tailored suite. Highly skilled artisans take immense amounts of time and well honed skill to cut each individual piece with super computer like precision. After each layer has been measured, cut they are then laid into the mold with the amount of care normally reserved for disarming a bomb beneath a packed school bus. When carbon is going to remain exposed everything counts. This is less important on a car that will be painted in a solid color or when the pieces your making will be structural and not exposed. A great example of this is the Ford GT another carbon bodied car. In the initial run all of the Ford GTs had solid paint. When Ford decided to do a limited run of exposed or Liquid Carbon bodied cars the build time increased three fold. It had to, trading traditional paint for just clear exposes everything. When you're going clear it's like deciding to drive to drive your Hot Rod or Custom in bare metal. There’s no filler or layers of leveling primer to bail you out, its gotta be dead nuts perfect.
That is apparently, unless your Hispano Suiza. Despite CHARGING 1.7 MILLION DOLLARS for the privilege…. Hispano Suiza, apparently forgoes the Artisans and invites over their nearly departed grandmothers sewing circle who I am sure, do their very best, despite being arthritic and cataract afflicted to cut and lay their Carbon. In all seriousness, its bad guys, and I mean really bad. I counted no less than three abrupt starts and stops to the different layers of Carbon in the passenger rear fender alone. Lumps and tiny bulges abound. To be short, when you park under the museum lights of The Peterson and amongst literally the best of the best. The most expensive and elite of the worlds Super cars. Defects are like lighthouses shining their beacons out from a dark coast and The Hispano Suiza Carmen Boulognes has many.
As bad as the Hispano Suiza Carmen Boulognes is, the Lamborghini Sian FKP37 is quite simply stated, exceptionally beautiful. I have never seen a fade on a Lambo before and let me tell you guys Gene Winfield would be proud. Truly a work of art.
Between the Hispano and the Lambo was the undisputed King of Carbon perfection. Pagani. The Pagani Zonda Tricolore makes most cars look pedestrian. But seeing a Zonda in such close proximity to the Hispano I couldn’t help but be reminded of my bar hopping days. How every pack of beautiful women seemed to be guarded by at least one extremely unfortunate looking girl who somehow both elevated the others looks but also prevented anyone from making an approach. In front of the Pagani was a Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport. Flanked by a Porsche 918 Spyder that wasn’t there on my last visit and a Koenigsegg One. There were others as well but those were my favorites amongst the heavy hitters.
Another Car that was there last time but had been moved was the Ferrari FXX so I was able to get a lot closer and soak in the details. The red cleared carbon canards and various other bits were a killer choice. I am not sure if it was done as a one off or a series but someone sure killed it with this spec.
Down stairs Tesla has taken over a large room and put on a great exhibit including the early Lotus sourced sports cars and plenty of concept models that lead to the production models. I am not a Tesla fan boy by any stretch but I thought it was a great exhibit.
lots of Tesla History, my favorite parts were the concept models of some of the cyber truck one of which was parked out front. I forgot how much I liked the original Lotus sourced roaster. it was cool seeing one there but also seeing the models of how Tesla would ultimately change it to make it its own.
The Mock up of the roadster that Elon sent in to space was pretty cool as well but my favorite vehicle in the display was the Cyber Truck. another I thought I'd probably never see in person. I was shocked by how rugged and rudimentary it felt. I'm not sure what version or if this one is one that was an early prototype or a later one but it had a distinct non Tesla feel. its hard to believe that this truck came from the same company. I can't help but root for it to come to production. The truck both does and doesn't make sense in many many ways. Having seen a few Rivians, Fords new lightning and even a couple Hummers. The Cyber Truck is without a doubt its own thing. I almost feel like someone was giving Elon Musk a heavy shit talking about how his Telsas all looks like the generic "car" So he went hard in the paint... or stainless Steele as it were with the Cyber Truck.
Would I want one personally? I don't think so. But if I saw one going down the road id be stoked to see it. I would however love a go on the Cyber Quad!! though why it doesn't have fenders I do not understand.
In closing if your anywhere close by, I can’t recommend the Petersen enough.
James
The Lowered HMFIC
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