Petersen Museum Open House - Ultimate Car-Guy Fantasy Comes True!

The first car you see walking into the basement, a custom Bugatti with arabic license plates.

If you've ever been to LA and missed going to the Petersen Automotive Museum, you missed something good.  But If you are a member of the museum and never been to the open house, well then you should be in bed crying later!

Tonight, my wife Wendy & I went to the annual open house for members only.  This event is worth the small price of a yearly membership alone.  This is the only place on Earth with a true melting-pot of world class cars!  And it's basement is open for view only once a year to us regular folk.

Nowhere else on Earth will you find a 1925 Rolls Royce Round-Door Phantom parked next to a beat up shell of a Muntz Jet.  Or the Doane Spencer roadster keeping company with a gold plated Delorean. AMBR winners, Big Daddy Roth cars, solar cars, Kurtis midget racers --dream cars for everybody!  I'm not exaggerating either.



I spend a good 15 minutes with the only car I really wanted to see, Frank Mack's Model T.  I was told it wasn't in the basement, and there it was in a dark area near the front.  This was the first time I've seen it in person.  I was happy.

I've never seen this slammed coupe before, I'd like to know who's it was.

Unlike the cars on display up top, cars down in the basement don't have info placards.














This is one of two Muntz Jets in in storage, this one was the bad one.

How many of you have seen a Mercer Raceabout in person?

You might know these two hot rods.  Yes, those are the original ones!  Stacked down here as if they were just parked at the mall.  Actually, they are usually on display.  But the Phil Hill exhibit is in theirs, and the Doane Spencer 32, place at the moment.

I don't know much about this car, but I liked it.

I didn't see Bruce Meyer there this evening. Let's just assume he has full access to the basement anytime he wants.

1946 Kurtis Midget, one great restoration car.

Why aren't these on display with the Super Sports Cars exhibit happening now?

Cars not good enough to display in the museum?


There were over 100 vehicles the public will never see down there. Priceless cars to the mundane! I wish I could share what I was feeling with you, but I'm no Wayne Carini.

This one was a jaw dropper.  I've never seen this car before either.  It an obvious vintage hot rod no doubt.  But it's half Ford, half Duesenberg, at least I think so.  Duesy engine & grill, modified Ford body, suspension, frame.  Four Stromburg carbs, BLC headlights, Chevy taillights --standard hot rod parts.

I did a little searching online, and only one old photo popped up, really no other info.  I could tell this was done in the 40s/50s, hmmm.

'Sniper' is its name, many of you should remember it --this custom was a game changer.  Now it's way in the back in the basement next to the Elvira's '58 Thunderbird.

Elvira's T-Bird on the left, Barris built Elvis movie car right.

This is it, right off the Pebble Beach lawn --1925 Rolls Round-Door Phantom.  One of the coolest cars you'll never see.

One of the oldest cars you'll never see.

Guess who Wendy is... she's eating the free hot dog.

Johnny Rockets was treating guests to milkshakes, as if the night couldn't get any better.

Sam Hanks' Midget Racer on Display

Sam Hanks racing, circa 1940's

Sam Hanks, legendary racer and Indy Hall of Fame member, started racing midget cars as a teenager in the early 1930's. Moving on to Indy cars in 1949, he eventually won The Indianapolis 500, a dream fulfilled in 1957.






Hanks, one of our first hot rodders, built his very own Offenhauser powered midget in 1935 and started winning soon after.

Why my interest in this car?  Well, it's got a lot of great looking parts right on the outside.  Still on my suspension kick, I had to take some shots of hairpins & chrome.

Left hand actuated clutch rod on the outside of the body.  Also a the fuel pressure hand pump.

I recognize the center water temp gauge as 1940's Stewart Warner, the other two gauges look older.  The steering box is a Franklin. The steering wheel, a racing type which may have been made custom made and wrapped in rubber & tape.

A common practice before racing wheels were marketed, was to make wheel out of a large circular saw blade. Cut spokes from the center & a rim.  Then slit a hose to make a something to grip on to, and secure it with tape.





Sam Hanks fought in WWII, before returned to racing and winning the AAA National Midget Championship in 1949.

Bill Niekamp Roadster at the Petersen

First in the series of posting of cars I find interesting at on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum.  The museum is located in on 'Museum Row' in Los Angeles. Which happen to be only blocks away from my workplace also on Wilshire Boulevard.  So I thought it would be a good idea to I'd spend a few lunch hours there studying car details... for research.

The car is located outside the Petersen speed-shop display.

One of my most favorite hot rods of the 50's is the Bill Niekamp built, 1929 Model A roadster.  The car is a mix of street, dirt-track, and dry-lakes racer.  Obviously the car would appeal to me, my Model T build-up is a similar mix; built for the street, but looks like a race car. 

 

I am finalizing the suspension of my '27 roadster called "Terminator", for lack of a better name.  So most of my curiosity is directed at suspensions for the moment.  In particular steering & shocks.

The steering arm is one or a kind, and the shock tower double as the attachment for the front Nerf bumper --nice touch.

There are a lot of custom made parts like the hairpins & batwings.  This was 1949 after all. And so no 300 page, speed catalogs like there are today.





I really love all that chrome & polish.  It's going to take a lot to do this to my roadster, but what a impact it makes!

Looks to me like the steering box may be the same at Daytons, a late 30's Ford box turned sideways. I have to get under that hood to be sure. So I'll have to ask a museum docent at a later date to let me take a look at the engine compartment.









Another thing my T will have is a canvas snap-on top.  All real race cars of the time had snaps holding on a cover or keeping the interior in.

A simple thing, like a snap-on cover, can make a big statement about a car.