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Wedges, Waymos, and Movie Star Wheels
The article reviews the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, focusing on its temporary exhibitions and extensive underground Vault collection. It argues that the museum presents automotive design, technological change and cultural history in an accessible way, while noting areas where its online collection and exhibition information could be expanded.
It highlights an exhibition on Waymo’s autonomous vehicles, tracing driverless-car development from the 1939 Futurama display to Waymo’s 2015 Firefly and 2021 Jaguar I-PACE. It also discusses a recent exhibition on wedge-shaped cars, including the Lamborghini Countach and Lancia Stratos Zero, and describes the Vault’s nearly 300 vehicles, such as Jayne Mansfield’s pink Lincoln, a safety-focused Tucker ’48, presidential and head-of-state limousines, and rare early American and Italian cars.
In short
- Petersen museum links cars with design, technology and history
- Waymo exhibition charts autonomous vehicles’ development
- The Vault contains nearly 300 notable vehicles
Explained simply
The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles is one of the world's major vehicle collections, presenting cars not merely as machines but as reflections of design innovation, technological progress and cultural change. The museum combines temporary exhibitions exploring specific themes with a permanent underground collection called the Vault, which houses nearly 300 vehicles spanning American and international automotive history.
The museum's exhibitions have examined subjects such as the development of driverless cars from 1939 design concepts through to modern prototypes, and distinctive design movements like the wedge-shaped cars of the 1970s and 80s exemplified by the Lamborghini Countach and Lancia Stratos Zero. These exhibitions demonstrate how individual vehicles reveal broader patterns of technological and cultural change.
The Vault's collection includes celebrity-owned cars, early safety-focused designs, presidential limousines and rare American and Italian classics, each selected to illustrate different aspects of automotive history. These selections show how vehicles have shaped society through technological innovation, cultural significance and the evolution of safety standards.
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