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Formula Drift champion Chris Forsberg travels the country finding unique garages for the Network A series Garage Tours. On one of the recent episodes, Forsberg visited the Petersen Automotive Museum in sunny Los Angeles.
The Petersen, founded in 1994, is one of the world’s largest automotive museums with more than 100,000 square feet on three floors, including a Vault area housing more than 400 cars.
Forsberg gets a tour around the Petersen by its chief curator, Leslie Kendall.
“The Petersen Museum exists to explore and present the history of the automobile and its impact on American life and culture,” Kendall says.
Forsberg’s tour pays special attention to the Petersen’s Vault, where the museum’s cars are stored when they’re not out on display and where its in-house shop is located.
Kendall shows Forsberg what he thinks is the car that the Petersen is most known for: The one-of-a-kind 1925/34 “Round Door” Rolls-Royce Phantom I Aerodynamic Coupe.
He also checks out a one-of-four 24 karat gold-plated DMC DeLorean built for an American Express Gold Card promotion. Kendall says it’s the only car in the Petersen collection whose value can go up or down with the price of precious metals.
Forsberg is shown a few more groups of cars including those that have carried previous Presidents and some not-so-great leaders’ cars, including Saddam Hussein’s Mercedes 600 Landaulet.
A number of the rare cars housed at the Petersen were also featured in movies, but what Kendall didn’t mention in the video is that the Petersen Museum itself was part of a film setting.
Part of the 1996 film Volcano, starring Tommy Lee Jones, was shot at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue, right where the museum stands.
Watch the video for some eye candy and a preview of the Petersen’s current exhibit, Seeing Red: 70 Years of Ferrari, featuring the oldest Ferrari known to exist, a 1947 Ferrari 125 S car #2.
