We Are Porsche: Petersen Museum

We Are Porsche: Petersen Museum

By: Ellen Beck

The Petersen Museum in Los Angeles is architecturally stunning, both inside and out, especially with this year’s We Are Porsche exhibit, sponsored by Porsche Cars North America. No stranger to fabulous Porsche exhibits over the years, this one is uniquely interpreted through the stories of 40 special cars, beautifully told in images, video interviews and text. Of course, the rest of the museum is also insanely cool, with current exhibits on the Cars of Film and TV, Splendor and Speed (treasures from the collection), Inside Tesla (featuring an exploded 3-D view of a real car) and the history of tires (strangely fascinating).

Right before the holidays, I flew to San Diego with my mom, bringing her out to visit for 3 weeks with my brother Bill and his family. I stayed for a long weekend and one of our planned activities was a trip to LA to see an art gallery exhibit of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s early works, followed by a birthday dinner for my niece. Our tickets were for 4:15 pm on Saturday, and while we were figuring out who was going in what cars (8 of us including a 2-year-old), I mentioned that it was too bad there wouldn’t be time for the Petersen…. Well, my brother is not really a car guy, but he was instantly alert and up for the adventure!

Long adventure, short version: Jane dropped Bill and I off at the Amtrack station at 10:15am and we took the 2-hour train trip to LA’s Union Station (quite a scenic ride right along the ocean), then got a Lyft to the Petersen. The whole trip being based on making all of the very unpredictable travel times work, we determined upon arrival that we had exactly 1 hour and 20 minutes to see the whole museum! After our whirlwind tour, we took another Lyft across LA to the art show, which was also amazing, then had a spectacular dinner after which Jane drove my mom, Bill and I back to San Diego. A wild and exciting 12+ hours!

Arriving at the Petersen Museum, I hardly knew what to look at first. The first floor was filled with gorgeous Porsches, and the gift shop of course, because everyone needs another T-shirt and the stunning poster. Our eyes were popping, but we followed their directions to start on the 3rd floor and work our way down (the 4th floor is special event space). We Are Porsche was primarily on the second floor, but Bill and I were mesmerized by the collections on the 3rd floor. The exhibits were arranged not in rooms, but such that you could flow around the space. I’m sure there was a correct way to do it, but we were like hummingbirds darting between brightly colored flowers - to the next, and the next beautiful new work of art. Look at this! What about that? There was so much to read about each vehicle that I just took photos of the placards too, so we could read about them later.

I never missed an episode of Batman as a kid, and the Batmobile was there! Herbie from 2005’s Herbie Fully Loaded is a real race car under the cute beetle body. And for the first time since the movies, Sally Carrera and Lightning McQueen were in the same location (Sally normally parks in Europe). And not surprisingly, the inside of the Time Machine looks exactly like it did in Back to the Future.

The exhibit of experimental cars were fascinating designs, so aerodynamic, sleek, sexy… and I wanted to absorb all the details about every single one. I took lots of photos, but there’s just no room in this article to show you them all.

Looking at our watches… we needed to get to the Porsches! OMG, wow, what a great display. Starting with Porsche # 1 of course. It’s amazing how your senses sharpen when you realize you only have a finite amount of time to absorb as much as possible. The story cards and displays contained so much history and information, it was really a crime to be rushing through this exhibit, but again I just kept my phone in hand!

As it turns out, I took just over 150 photos on my iPhone 14 during my very short visit; it’s a miracle I got some good ones! It was hard to pick from them for this article because there were just so many interesting Porsches and stories, and other spectacular cars. I included details as I wrote the photo captions that will hopefully intrigue you, since I certainly learned so much from the presentations. The Petersen Museum is truly top class and worth the trip if you are ever in or near LA. We are Porsche is on display through April 2024.

The new 901 Coupe debuted in 1963 at the Frankfurt Auto Show, designated as the 901 until Peugeot complained that they had the trademark to “0” as the middle number of 3-digit model numbers. Thus the ‘911' was introduced to the US in 1965, and the 1964 901 became a unique and very

Steve McQueen special ordered this 1976 911 Turbo Carrera, his last new car, with quite a few factory options like limited slip and dual mirrors, but most famously a custom kill switch on the dash for turning off the brake and tail lights, in the event he was being chased by the law.

Renee Brinkerhoff decided at age 55 that she wanted to race a car, although knowing nothing about racing. She chose a 356, and took instruction at the Porsche Track Experience with Hurley Haywood. In 2013 she entered her first race, a 2,000 mile rally across Mexico, La Carrera Panamericana, becoming the first woman to win her class. She has rallied on every continent in her 356, including the East African Safari Classic, and across an Antarctic glacier. Her Valkyrie Racing team raises awareness for at-risk women and children and raises money to fight child trafficking, having donated close to 1 million dollars to that cause. Her 1956 356A was heavily modified for off-road travel on snow and ice with a unique track and ski system.

Porsche built an estimated 12 Carrera GT versions of the immensely popular among racers 356

Known as the Gmund Roadster, 356/1 was built in early 1948 as a mid engine prototype utilizing a number of suspension, brakes, steering and other parts from the VW Beetle. The aluminum bodywork and tubular frame are the basis for all Porsches going forward.

Lightning McQueen & my Brother Bill

Sally Carrera & my Brother Bill

Californian Rod Emory creates customized Porsche 356’s, called “Outlaws”. He combines original 356’s with modern performance parts, having created over 300 unique cars that were once dismissed by purists and now admired and coveted by collectors. Today, most any modified 356 is called an “outlaw”. Emory Outlaws look near stock, but he has created unique “Emory Specials” with extensive body modifications as well. This unique car, the 1964/1998 356 Emory Special created for Porsche’s 50th in Monterey in 1998, has a specially developed engine based on a 964 motor with a modified housing.

The 2022 SVRSR Hoonipigasus was built to suit the late Ken Block’s rally driving style by Mobil 1 and BBi Autosport. It has a self-adjusting suspension using GPS and racecourse specific telemetry, and the build creates nearly 5,000 pounds of downforce and 1,400 horsepower. The name and livery are a combination of Hoonigan Racing, the famous 917 Pink Pig and the Mobil 1 flying horse (livery designed by Trouble Andrew). Ken’s daughter Lia did a full tribute run in Hoonipigasus at Pike’s Peak in 2023.

Only 16 America Roadsters were built, Porsche’s first lightweight racer with a simplified interior and top-spec engine, to be followed by the 356 Speedster. This 1952 example was the last one built, by Drauz for von Neumann, and eliminated every ounce of excess weight to include turn signals and deck lid straps. It weighed only 1,334 pounds with a top speed of 110 mph with 70hp (the bumpers were added later).

This 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 “Time Machine” is the one of 3 different vehicles created for the Back to The Future trilogy (1985, 1989, 1990), and the only one to appear in all three movies. The gull wing doors made it look like an alien spaceship, according to director Robert Zemeckis, and now the DeLorean is forever associated with Back to the Future.

Making an estimated 800hp, this 935 was the last ever built, and delivered to the Brumos race team in 1980 . The Porsche 935 dominated its class, winning over a third of the races entered. Peter Gregg only drove this car once before his death in 1980, but Hurley Haywood successfully campaigned it for the next few years.

A replica (5 were made) of the very rare 1994 911 Carrera RS 3.8 (55 made), used in the 2023 Paramount movie Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. Porsche Cars NA Collection

Patrick Dempsey's 2014 911 GT America

The Batmobile, driven in Batman 1989 and Batman Returns 1992 by Michael Keaton, is based on a ’67 Impala with a low mounted 327 V-8, Rolls Royce jet engine parts for the hood intake, and turbine blades in the nosepiece from a Harrier fighter jet.