First Time Ever! Full Petersen Museum and Vault Virtual Tour
For Giving Tuesday the good folks at the Petersen Museum gave us a 2-hour tour of the entire facility which includes several historic Porsches.
As we all know this year has not been kind to the Porsche enthusiast. So many events have been postponed or outright cancelled that we have lost count. However, these difficult times have presented some unique opportunities. There has been a surge in virtual events to help fill in the void left by traditional events that cannot be held under current conditions. The latest example of this is the first ever virtual tour of the entire Petersen Museum. Presented on the Petersen Museum YouTube channel the tour also includes the vault area. The vault is presented by Hagerty and is home to many celebrity and movie cars. Earlier in the year, the museum offered some educational live streams. However, this is an unprecedented virtual look at over 200 cars in the Petersen collection.
Naturally, this wonderful collection houses some of the most historically important Porsche road and racing cars of all-time. We get an up close and personal look at the newest Porsche exhibit which is called “Redefining Performance.” Included here is the 1951 Porsche 356 SL Gmund Coupe that gave Porsche its first ever class win at Le Mans. Holding court nearby are a pair of 911 RSR racecars. One is the 1977 model with the famous 3.0L flat-six engine. Behind that car is the 2016 edition of the RSR which housed a 4.0L, water-cooled flat-six. There are a couple hundred cars in this vast collection, but you can be forgiven for just staring at these three examples for a while.
Michael Bodell, the Chief Operating Officer of the museum has much more to show us. From the Bruce Meyer collection is the 1967 Porsche 910. The car finished first in class at the 1969 Le Mans, the year before Porsche would take home the big prize. The Porsche 910 would also finish 1-2-3-4 at the 1967 1000 Kms race at the Nürburgring. Another beautiful and successful Porsche. “It’s just a beautiful car. You look at these cars from the ‘60s and they were racecars that you just wanted to look at all day.” Says Bodell.
Completing the Redefining Performance collection is a 1980 924 Carrera GT. Yes, there was a Carrera GT before 2004. In fact, this 924 Carrera GT is much rarer than the 2004 Carrera GT. According to Bodell “The 924 GTP car was not a car they produced many of. I think they produced two or three of these cars.” We get to see it here with no lines, no waiting and at no cost. Not a bad deal. This is the end of the Redefining Performance collection. However, it is not the end of the Porsche cars featured on this tour.
Next up we get to slip behind the vault doors in the lower level of the museum. This vault area is huge and takes up an entire city block. It is a large but at the same time a welcoming space. “The vault is much more intimate. What you will notice down here versus the rest of the museum is that there are no barriers between you and the cars.” Says Bodell. Among all the wonderful cars sits a rare 1955 Porsche Continental. This particular car is gray with a blue top. That color combination along with the white wall tires makes for a stunning looking car.
Don’t leave yet because there is more to see. A new exhibit that has never before been seen by the public is the “History of the Supercars.” In this exhibit you will find a lovely guards red 959 S on display. The 959 was a technological tour de force in the ‘80s. The most advanced and for a brief time the fastest production car in the world. Sitting right next to it is a car that if you were a Porsche fan in the ‘80s may be even more famous. It is the Ruf Yellowbird. It is not just any Ruf Yellowbird either if there can be such a thing as just a Yellowbird. This is Ruf Yellowbird serial number one.
This virtual tour is a fantastic way to spend a couple hours taking in over 120 years of automotive history along with some very important Porsche cars. We all hope that things can return to normal soon and we can pay a visit to the Petersen museum in person. However, in the meantime we have this hold us over. Do you have a favorite car on display? If so, please let us know over in the Rennlist forums.
Join the Rennlist forums!
