HomeNews and EventsPetersen disrupts its 25th anniversary celebration

Petersen disrupts its 25th anniversary celebration

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“Disruptors,” an exhibit featuring minimalist vehicles as well as complementary works by shoe designer Rem D Koolhaas and industrial designer Joey Ruiter, opens June 29 at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles as that facility continues its 25th anniversary celebration. Koolhaas, nephew and namesake of Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, is the founder of the United Nude fashion brand known for blending fashion and architecture “within abstract yet functional objects such as shoes, chairs and personal accessories,” according to the museum’s news release.
Lo-Res Car sculpture by United Nude
Lo-Res Sunglasses
Ruiter has worked with Herman Miller and other companies designing everything from furniture to watercraft, and is known for thought-provoking products. “Although Koolhaas and Ruiter do not come from automotive backgrounds, they both independently began applying their dramatic design approaches to the automobile, resulting in vehicles with limited facets and curves that are still technically advanced and fully functional,” the museum said. Among the works on display are the Lo-Res Car Sculpture by United Nude and Ruiter’s Moto Undone, a minimalistic city bike. “This exhibit is unlike any other we’ve presented in the past because the content challenges common perceptions of vehicles, and the presentation is appropriately unconventional in its aesthetic,” said Petersen executive director Terry Karges.

ACD Museum gets 1926 Duesenberg chassis

Duesenberg chassis on display | Museum photo
The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum in northeastern Indiana has received a restored and running 1926 Duesenberg Model A chassis as a gift from Perry and Margie Pintzow of Albuquerque, New Mexico. “This is the first donation of a Duesenberg Model A to the museum, which makes it an even more important contribution for us to continue to develop, refine, and share our collection,” said Brandon Anderson, the museum’s chief executive. The Model A was the first production passenger car with a straight-8 engine and the first domestic car with 4-wheel hydraulic brakes. Museum curator Sam Grate notes that the chassis, a long-wheelbase version, is significant in that, “it was the way Duesenberg sold their cars.  As was the case with the later Duesenberg Model J, purchasers chose a custom body to be built to their specific tastes. The body was created and placed on the Duesenberg chassis to create a truly custom automobile.” Also important, he said, is that having a chassis on display allows visitors to see what otherwise is hidden beneath coachwork. “Mechanical linkage, engineering features, engine compartment and running gear are all visible to visitors.”

Gilmore will turn buggy into motorcar

This is a 1908 Holsman High Wheeler | RM Sotheby’s photo by Steve Chester
A grant from the Michigan Humanities organization will commission a project at the Gilmore Car Museum to turn a horse-drawn buggy into a gasoline-powered horseless carriage, and to share the project and its results with school students across the state, the museum has announced. The project will be done both on site at the museum, which has its own restoration shop on its campus in Hickory Corners, Michigan, and at various Michigan schools. The goal is to turn the Amish-built buggy into a vehicle similar to a 1909 Holsman High Wheeler motor buggy. Founded in 1901 and active until 1910, Henry Holsman built vehicles in his Chicago workshop, including the 1909 model on display at the Gilmore. Holsman is believed to be the first to equip his vehicles with a reverse gear.

‘Fads and Failures’ at Owls Head

‘Fads and Failures’ exhibit runs through 2021 at Owls Head museum | Museum photos
The Owls Head Transportation Museum in Maine has opened its “Fads and Failures” exhibit that explores “the origins of innocuous inventions destined to die upon arrival and cutting-edge oddities that laid the groundwork for other ideas to flourish later on.” “From curious contraptions to motorized machines, this exhibition will utilize these popular, yet often misunderstood pieces to activate imaginations and generate opinions,” the museum promises. “Visitors will be able to escape the modern standards of today’s well-oiled modes of movement and step behind the curtain to a world of touch-and-go tinkerers and undeterred dreamers.” The exhibit runs through 2021.

Great Race visits West Coast museums

The annual Hemmings Great Race for vintage vehicles launches June 22 from Riverside, California, as it sends competitors north toward Washington state. Along the way they’ll make a few stops at car museums. Actually, soon after they launch, they’ll stop in Victorville, California, for lunch at the California Route 66 Museum. A week later, they’ll spend the night at the LeMay Family Collection in Tacoma, Washington, and the race ends June 30 at LeMay – America’s Car Museum, also in Tacoma.

Special events this weekend

Author Dan Albert will discuss his book, Are We There Yet?: The American Automobile Past, Present, and Driverless, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. June 22 at the Simeone Foundation Automobile Museum in Philadelphia. Earlier that day, the museum concludes its three-part “The History of Le Mans” Demo Days by exercising its 1970 Porsche 917 LH, 1966 Ford GT40 Mk II, 1967 Ford GT40 Mk IV, 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona coupe, 1975 Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 TT 12 and 2019 McLaren 720S. The Miles Through Time museum in Toccoa, Georgia, hosts its second annual car show from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. on June 22. Also that day, the museum stages the third and final segment of its “History of Le Mans” Demo Days. It’s the “Ultimate All-Year Truck Show and Swap Meet” on June 22 at the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan, where the show field will be open to antique, vintage, military, emergency, commercial and pickup trucks and to utility vehicles. The Lions Drag Strip Museum in Rancho Dominguez, California, holds its grand opening June 22. Disney Imagineer Bob Gurr, architect of Disneyland and its Monorail, will be at Autobooks-Aerobooks in Burbank, California, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on June 22 signing his new book, Bob Gurr: Legendary Imagineer —  Life and Times, Disney and Beyond.

Mark your calendar

The National Corvette Museum’s Motorsports Park is located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, but on June 24-25 it will offer a special high-performance drivers education program at Virginia International Raceway in Dansville, Virginia. The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum in northeast Indiana hosts a retirement celebration from 4 to 7 p.m. on June 27 for Laura Brinkman, “First Lady of Classics” and a more-than 40-year staff member whose jobs included being the museum’s executive director. Back to the Future 2 will be presented at Drive-In Movie Night on June 28 at the California Automobile Museum in Sacramento. The Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, Michigan, hosts a cars & coffee event on June 29. Similar events are planned for July 20, August 17 and September 14. The Murphy Auto Museum in Oxnard, California, hosts its seventh annual vintage trailer show from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on June 29, with more than 40 vintage trailers and campers on display. The Mustang Owner’s Museum near Charlotte, North Carolina, has announced monthly “Fords at the Museum” car shows to be held the last Saturday of each month from 7 until 10 a.m. starting June 29. LeMay – America’s Car Museum in Tacoma, Washington, will be the finish line for the 2019 Great Race and plans to celebrate with a “Shine Time” car show on June 30. The Murphy Auto Museum in Oxnard, California, hosts “Muscles & Mojo,” a morning car show from 7 to 9 a.m. on July 7. Similar shows will be held the first Sunday of each month. The British Motor Museum hosts its seventh annual “BMC & Leyland Show” on July 7, featuring vehicles produced by the British Motor Corporation, British Leyland and The Rover Group. Featured will be the 90th anniversary of the BSA front-drive car, the 60th of the Morris Oxford Farina, the 50th of the Austin Maxi, the 30th of the Rover R8 and the 25th of the Rover SK3. The show also celebrates Triumph National Weekend. “The Car. The Future. Me” is the title of an exhibit scheduled to open July 13 at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon, UK, to explore “futuristic car design and (to) challenge your idea of how we will interact with the cars for the future,” the museum said. The Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, Michigan, inducts new members Sergio Marchionne, the late chief executive of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles; Janet Guthrie, the first woman to qualify as a driver in the Indianapolis 500; Richard “Dick” Dauch, co-founder of American Axle Manufacturing; and Patrick Ryan, creator of the first auto dealership finance and insurance department, on July 18 in Detroit. The North East Motor Sports Museum in Loudon, New Hampshire, will honor NASCAR champion and New England native Joey Logano at a special event July 19. The Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia will feature “Mini Matchup,” an exhibit of classic and contemporary Mini Coopers from June 20 through August 4. The Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia opens its Mini Matchup exhibition on July 20. The showcase runs through August 4. From the 1960s into the 1990s, the Hale Farm & Village in Cleveland hosted a car show. On July 21, the tradition returns with a car show that will include vehicles from the Crawford Auto-Aviation Collection and those from private collections and other entrants parked among the farm and village’s historic buildings. The British Motor Museum hosts “the biggest rally of classic Fords in the UK” on July 21. More than 400 classic Ford vehicles, all between 50 and 100 years old, are expected for the 11th annual “Old Ford Rally,” which this year includes the Capri’s 50th anniversary and the Sunbeam Alpine’s 60th birthday celebrations. Stahls Automotive Museum in Chesterfield Township, Michigan, hosts its annual “Autos for Autism” fundraiser and cruise-in for the Ted Lindsay Foundation from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on July 25. Wayne Carini of Chasing Classic Cars and Detroit Red Wings player Dylan Larkin are scheduled to be special guests at the event. The Britain’s National Motor Museum at Beaulieu celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Nissan GT-4 and the 30th birthday of the Mazda MX-5 at its Simply Japanese cars how on July 28. On August 3, the British Motor Museum will be the site of the Classic Mini Mosaic world-record attempt that is expected to draw more than 600 classic Minis. The following day, the museum will be the site of the National Metro & Mini Show. The National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, England, hosts its inaugural “Simply Mercedes” on August 18. The National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, inducts racer Briggs Cunningham, Corvette designer Tom Peters, and Dollie Cole, Corvette enthusiast and widow of former GM president Ed Cole, into its hall of fame on August 30. “Legends of Speed,” a showcase of nearly two dozen historic racing cars, opens November 2 at the Phoenix Art Museum. Does your local car museum have special events or exhibitions planned? Let us know. Email [email protected].
Larry Edsall
Larry Edsall
A former daily newspaper sports editor, Larry Edsall spent a dozen years as an editor at AutoWeek magazine before making the transition to writing for the web and becoming the author of more than 15 automotive books. In addition to being founding editor at ClassicCars.com, Larry has written for The New York Times and The Detroit News and was an adjunct honors professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

1 COMMENT

  1. "Disruptor" is one of the most tedious and overused cliches of the 21st Century, wholly aside from having no contextual definition. Most times now it means "we didn’t bother to observe any of the business/social rules here so we could make a buck". Kind of like the word "hack". And the "consumer car" appropriately looks like a coffin…intended?

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