Earlier this year, LA Metro opened three new stations on its D Line. (If you’ve heard about this, chances are it is from the hilarious and successful “Ride the D” advertising campaign.) So I decided to make an effort to utilize this new transit boon to see some things that were now much more possible to visit. Chief among those was the Petersen Automotive Museum.

Why the Petersen, you may ask? After all, during a recent trip to the Museum of the Italian Automobile in Turin, I admitted to all of you that I am not a “car guy.” So why would I choose an auto museum as my destination?

Let me take you inside my visit, and you’ll see just why the Petersen Automotive Museum can wow even a novice like me.

The Petersen was established in 1994 by magazine magnate and avid car collector Robert Petersen. His offerings included Hot Rod, Car Craft, and Motor Trend, so cars weren’t just a hobby. But its current iconic look dates to a 2015 $125 million renovation. Exiting out of the Metro station at Wilshire/Fairfax, it is impossible to miss the stainless steel ribbon covered building, one that reminds me both of a Hot Wheels track and the flames on a race car.

Entrance is through the parking structure (which makes sense), and visitors are treated to a selection of cool cars in the lobby before the ticket counter.

And don’t miss the parking structure itself, which holds a car that has driven nearly 1.4 million miles, with more being added yearly. (A friend is approaching 300,000 on his old Toyota Corolla, and that seems downright unused in comparison.)

Tickets are $23 for an adult, but you’ll notice an additional offering: the Vault. Admission to both the museum galleries and the Vault bump the price up to $52. Let me tell you right now: while it might seem steep, it is absolutely worth it to add that on, and then to begin your visit there, in the basement vault.

Let’s talk about the Vault for a moment, since I’m sure you’re not totally sold on that extra $29. Your first sign that this is something special is a Ferrari just outside the area they will check for Vault admission (so you can see this regardless). But this isn’t just any Ferrari. It is the first car to ever bear that name, a 1947 125S, one of two built. A staff person tells me it is insured for a whopping $200 million, and he guesses at auction it would sell for close to twice that!

The Vault itself is a one way path through dozens (maybe even hundreds) of cars. I categorize these (and all at the museum) into three pools: old cars, fast cars, and famous cars.

Let’s begin with the old cars in the Petersen Vault. These range from a 1914 Chevy Royal Mail Roadster (fewer than 800 were built) to a 1913 Mercer in mustard yellow to a stunning purple 1929 Ruxton Model C. There is a Ford Model T, a 1925 Rolls Royce Phantom, and countless more. Signage is good, although not on every vehicle.

Do you like fast cars? A 1950 Talbot-Lago T26C was used in the inaugural Formula One World Championships, finishing fourth. There is a 1993 Bugatti that cost about $300,000 new, and a series of current (or just past) race cars, like the 2023 Red Bull racer driven by champion Max Verstappen.

But it is the famous cars category that sets the Petersen apart. (Some are here in the Vault and others on display in the museum proper.) Cars owned by the likes of Saddam Hussein and Nikita Khrushchev are here, as is a pope mobile from the papacy of John Paul II. A custom Laraki Sahara made for a prince of Morocco has 1550 horsepower and cost $2 million in 2020. Or for lovers of film – and we are in Los Angeles so it’s quite appropriate – there is Herbie the Love Bug to gaze fondly on.

In addition, there are cars with custom bodies, custom interiors, or custom paint jobs owned by the rich and famous. There are cars with historic significance like the first hybrid or the EV-1, the first commercially available electric car. The Vault is an overwhelming place, even if you are just a casual fan like me. For a true connoisseur, it is Nirvana.

After spending about an hour and a half in the Vault (I could have spent at least another hour to read all of the signs and to truly take a moment with each car), it was time to see the Petersen Museum galleries. It should be noted that, as far as I can tell, basically all exhibitions inside the collection rotate. Some feature cars owned directly by the museum; some exhibits contain many on loan from other private collectors or even manufacturers themselves. It means that if I were to come back yearly, the odds are that I’d see different things over the museum’s three main floors.

The largest exhibit on the first floor is currently dedicated to the history of Mercedes Benz. The 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen is the oldest car in the museum currently, standing in sharp contrast to a side-area with race cars and modern sports cars.

But it’s the classic, 1930s era (yes, the Nazi era) vehicles that caught my eye. The silver 1936 Cabriolet became one of my favorite cars in the entire institution, even more so with another attentive staff person explaining to me that the owner of this particular car was so obsessed with symmetry that she had fake exhausts put in on one side to balance the real ones on the other.

(Note: Mercedes Benz, like BMW, has worked to both own up to its role in Nazi Germany and to make reparations for that.)

Another gallery is dedicated to Aston Martin, and I walk through that one with the Bond theme playing in my head.

Still others hold off-road vehicles or motorcycles. One room has a 2025 Czinger (built here in Los Angeles) that just set the record for the fastest car ever by a production car – and is totally street legal (if you can afford its $2.35 million price tag)!

More old cars, fast cars, and famous cars line the rooms. Futuristic vehicles designed decades ago that were never built like a 1969 Fascination join Waymo evolutions, muscle cars, and old Detroit icons.

But this is Los Angeles, and star spotting is an intrinsic part of life here. The Petersen Automotive Museum has one of the largest collection of vehicles from films in existence. (A few, like Herbie, are in the Vault.) Michael Keaton’s Batmobile sits alongside the Wayne’s World Car (with Queen cassette) and the Back to the Future Time Machine.

And then there are the vehicles of the Fast and the Furious franchise, more of which have ended up here than anywhere, sitting next to screen shots from associated films. It is insane, even for someone who has only seen the first movie.

And of course, no famous car exhibit would be complete without a Lightning McQueen. (This is also the one vehicle you can touch as you pose for a photo.)

So yeah, there is a lot here. I spent about three and a half hours, but could have easily stayed longer. I could have raced on a simulator or learned more about Motorsports. And I could have sat staring at the Cabriolet for much, much longer.

The Petersen Automotive Museum is not just an iconic building – although it certainly is that. It is a chance to appreciate cars: old cars, fast cars, and famous cars, in a setting worthy of them. It is a chance to learn, to see something new, and to leave with just a bit more understanding about this most wonderful industry.

Thank you so much to the Petersen for hosting my visit. It was a day very well spent!

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