New Petersen Automotive Museum: Special Preview

Though the Petersen Automotive Museum sat outwardly quiet over the last year there was a lot happening inside the Los Angeles landmark. In fact, it was about $125 million worth of “happening.”

At a special gala grand opening on December 5, the Petersen will reopen its doors and unveil an entirely new museum experience. Now, car lovers will finally be able to explore a new automotive world of history, technology and participation.

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On the outside, the Petersen enjoyed a total renovation without any major architectural rebuilding. New stainless steel ribbons now wrap around the building with LED lighting interacting with the metallic look day and at night.

Inside, 25 new galleries explore the realms of automotive history, industry and artistry. While the Petersen Gallery of old was predominantly stagnant and did the basic job of showing off and explaining the significance of classic cars, the new museum will offer experiential activities allowing visitors to get a sense of what it feels like to drive one of the hottest cars in the world.

For example, the Petersen will offer eight driving simulators in the Microsoft/Xbox Forza Racing Experience. The gallery will offer special versions of the racing simulators created exclusively for the Petersen that allow visitors to “drive” the new Ford GT supercar.

Simulator competitions will be held, and the Petersen is planning a 24 Hours of Le Mans event during the actual race. Qualifying teams will drive new Ford GTs on the simulators during the race as if they were on the track in France. Forza driver changes will coincide during the race’s actual pit stops.

In addition to that Forza Gallery, other galleries include examinations of Motorsports, Hollywood cars, hot rods, motorcycles and other vehicles. To educate visitors on the history, character and engineering of cars, the new Petersen will use augmented reality. Characters from the Disney/Pixar movie Cars (Lightning McQueen, Mater and others) will guide through the new exhibition space, The Cars Mechanical Institute. While guests look through specially designed, interactive “CARSpad” mobile device, the Cars characters will appear on screen to offer details on principles of automotive design and engineering.

While VIPs will see it all on Dec. 5 – with the public coming through the doors for the first time the next day — we managed to get a hold of a few computer rendered images of what the museum will look like once it opens in early December. You can get your own sneak peak at the new Petersen in the gallery below.

All photos courtesy Petersen Automotive Museum