Petersen Museum sellling of Cars

Interesting story.

It seems the Petersen Museum is selling of 120 of it's 400 cars to attain more motorcycles and avant garde french cars.

Some of the cars they are selling off are the Hot Rods.

 

Guess I'll buy a lotto ticket.

 

That is why it is a bad idea to donate an item to a museum........just put it on loan, only as long as they have it on display.

 

Selling American Bred Hot Rods to make room for French Cars!! Are you shitting me? I hope he plans to move to France because i'll never, ever buy another Peterson publication.
I hope the TRJ isn't a Peterson backed enterprise.
Unthinkable! Isn't Doane Spensers' roadster in that museum?

 

I didnt make it all the way through, but the Jado Special, Spencer T bird and the Glaspar are kind of exciting. The rest of it is a bit of a yawn. Personally I also dig the 406 tri-power '62 Ford, but not really true HAMB stuff.

 

Waitaminute.

I just saw something on TV that talked about WHY the Petersen was created in the first place - it is a museum of automobiles, sure, but it is also intended to document the car culture of southern California. That's why hot rods have always been a part of the Petersen. So that part is dropping off? To say I'm disappointed would be an understatement.

 

Are there any Petersen Automotive titles left? They sold off Hot Rod just before it became Ol' Skool Rods Lite...

 

The only one I'd take interest in is the old school high boy(blue). Most everything else has a small block dropped in it.

 

That's a real bummer. It doesn't sound like I will have much of a reason to visit there anymore after they do this.

 

Who do you mean by "he"? Robert Petersen? He's been dead for years and the publishing company has been sold and resold. And the museum is totally independent of any publishing company.
I'm not a fan of selling off any of their cars for the most part but I'll stop short of a boycott of a dead man

 

I would be real disappointed to have donated a car to the Petersen Museum only to see it driving down the road with someone else driving it.

Mr Petersen, and the Petersen Museum was great because this museum HAD Hot rods in it, right next to some foreign million dollar car.

 

Never been there an now might be a bit of a disappointment !

 

Sad to see some of the cars being sold off..love the blue roadster. HRP

 

it's a 501(C) (3) organization.....Robert E Petersen and his estate have nothing to do with it and the decisions anymore. i'm sure it's run by a Board of Directors . i wonder who is on that board?

many years ago my father bought something from a museum's "surplus inventory". the guy who had donated it years before found out about it and was not very happy

 

It says on their website that the museum is not owned by and/or has no affiliation with Petersen publishing.

Good story...and while I do agree that there are some badass French cars...this move kinda sucks.

If Mullin already has a museum in LA dedicated to these cars and bikes, what the hell sense would it make to have to two museums displaying the same thing an hour away from each other?

 

Gotta wonder how many of the guys posting on this thread actually looked at what was for sale. I "petered" out after the third late model mustang, but I only spotted 3 cars that had any hot rod related historical relevance...

 

They must be pieces of shit then....


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From what I've learned, and I used to work at the Petersen Museum, look for more Petersen cars to be sold at other upcomming auctions.
Some pretty significant ones too !!!

 

Love the Miller roadster. I would say this car personifies California hot rodding. Maybe the NHRA Museum is a better place for it.

 

Exactly. There's only a few cars that I'd miss. The rest are better for leaving.

 

Oh well.
If they are going to pack the museum full of famous and desirable French cars they won't need much space. Maybe cut loose a Mustang or so.

 

who buys magazines anymore ?

 

Interesting reads: LA Times - Car Section Article: Petersen Automotive Museum Takes A Major Detour and bloghemmings.com article: Peter Mullin Named Chairman of Petersen Automotive Museum

 

There are hundreds of cars in the basement, some are complete, some are projects in various states. These may be some of the cars the're ditching ?? The cars on display upstairs in the actual museum are as somebody mentioned mostly on loan for display. Cars are donated for various reasons, one being the owner can't find a buyer for what he thinks it is worth, or what he has in it. He can show the receipts to the tax man and claim that amount, or have it appraised eventually getting a number he likes and use that for the tax man.

 

Most museums are in the financial toilet these days. My guess is that they're selling off some cars that can now get them serious coin. 10 years ago everyone wanted a chopper. Today everyone wants a '32 roadster. 10 years from now they'll be selling something else that can balance their books and allow them to more than make their nut.

 

is that THE Ala Kart?

Cause I'd sure like to have that......I made a model of it in the 50's when I was a kid.

 

Most people don't understand that when you give (donate) something to a museum, they can do with it as they wish -- display it, sell it, store it in the basement, use it for parts.... It's as if you gave or sold your car to me, I can use it, sell it, or scrap it...
No museum would normally accept a "donation" with the stipulation that "you can never sell it and you must always display it."
You want to loan your car to a museum, that's fine (many are noted as "on permanent loan from XXX.").
But if you make a gift, don't try to be an Indian giver.

 

I have a car that they told me that they would accept when I was ready.
I guess that that time will never come now.

 

That's one of the fall out from Pebble Beach allowing hot rods. Now they gotta be a gold chainer museum.

 

they need to get rid of the cars of the stars , increase the hotrods and add some foriegn exotics for flavor. I do not think they rotate their stuff enough. to me each month they should move cars up and down. even at going once a yr you see the same 90% of cars.

I for one have seen enough brass era cars from the teens and 20's. show me more 30-60s coach built rides and hotrods. its a musuem. do a section for each decade to show the progression of evolution. Hell show me some cool 70's vans even for a special display, (their paint jobs were like art)