Auto Museum

The Petersen Automotive Museum has confirmed a new exhibit that will discover the world of Hypercars, featuring some of the fastest and most exotic cars that money can buy, starting December 4, 2021. The Exhibit Hypercars: The Allure of the Extreme will rotate up to 30 vehicles over the coming 18 months to showcase what a Hypercar really stands for, and why they continue to entice the automotive community the world over.

In one of his most recent videos, Doug DeMuro checks out one of the weirdest modern cars to ever hit the road, the 2006 Citroën C6. It was the French automaker’s flagship car between 2005-2012, although, the C6 was never sold in North America.

It went up against models like the Mercedes Benz E Class and the BMW 5 Series. This particular example is currently on display at the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, Tennessee.

Porsche has refurbished a very special 962 C. The car seen here is chassis #009, which was completely restored to its original state by the Heritage Department and the Porsche Museum over the course of 18 grueling months.

With the latest bond film No Time to Die, there’s no time better time to look back at some of the most exciting Bond movie cars ever. Bond in Motion is the very first formal exhibition in the United States to display actual vehicles that featured in the James Bond film franchise.

The films were produced in conjunction with EON Productions and the Ian Fleming Foundation. The exhibition currently underway at the Petersen Automotive Museum commemorates the 60th anniversary of the 007 films, which began with the release of Dr.No, six decades ago back in 1962.

Supercar Blondie has made it a habit of giving us the tour on some of the most epic cars and concepts ever created. Lately, this included quite a few legendary classics, and the one Supercar Blondie is showing us this time is arguably the ultimate – a Mercedes 300 SLR of which only two were made. And she even managed to get behind the wheel and drive it.

The Miller 962 that clinched the Rolex Daytona 24 hours back in 1989 and the Coke-liveried 962 are among the seven cars on display in the Petersen Vault, which is open through November 19 this year.

Alpine’s return to automotive prominence hit another milestone with the unveiling of the A110 Legende GT. Billed as the “most refined interpretation of the A110 to date,” the A110 Legende GT breaks away from its contemporaries with a smattering of exclusive touches, including an all-new paint finish that will be seen for the first time on the A110.

There is, of course, more to the Legende GT than a fancy new paint. The special edition also boasts a bespoke exterior that matches the exclusivity of the interior. Alpine only plans to release 400 units of the A110 Legende GT. The special edition sports coupe is available to order in France with a starting price of €69,300. That’s around $77,000 based on current exchange rates.

Toyota is bringing an armada of trucks and SUVs at the 2020 Chicago Auto Show, including the Highlander XSE that’s infused with enough sporty characteristics that make us wonder if Toyota’s deliberately trying to jolt some life into what otherwise is a family-oriented three-row crossover. To be clear, the Highlander XSE is not a special edition Highlander; it’s a new trim level that comes with significant visual and performance upgrades that you normally don’t see in a Highlander. If this is Toyota’s attempt to catch our attention with the 2021 Highlander, consider our attention’s caught. The Toyota Highlander XSE will go on sale in the fall of this year as a 2021 model. No pricing details have been revealed, but Toyota did say that the Highlander XSE will slot between the XLE and Limited trims. With the Highlander XLE starting at around $40,000 and the Highlander Limited starting at $44,000, expect the Highlander XSE to start at $42,000.

The fourth-gen Ssangyong Korando made its presence felt at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show. Although it did not receive enough attention, there is no denying that this is an important product in the European market. The 2019 Korando is largely based on the SIV-2 design that was showcased at the same show three years back. What’s the most exciting thing about the launch, you ask? That it will be available as a fully electric vehicle by the end of 2019.

Mercedes has unveiled an all-new B-Class practical family car, and no, this new model isn’t very pretty either, continuing in its predecessors’ tracks, but there are plenty of other reasons you may want to buy one. I’m pretty sure it was never really bought based on styling, so that takes a back seat to the features it does offer its occupants.

If you’re an auto fan, you should know about the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California. If you’re an auto fan, you should be over the moon that often-exclusive vault inside the museum will finally open its doors to the public today, June 1. A new exhibit, called “The World Tour Vault presented by Hagerty,” will pull the curtains on as many as 100 cars found inside the museum, giving museum-goers an opportunity to see some of the finest machinery the industry has ever built.

In a world where technology is taking over, everything is going digital these days. The most recent example of this is the online heritage museum that Citroen has just launched. Cleverly called “Citroen Origins,” the new website offers a unique take on looking back at historical models without ever leaving the comforts of your home. Currently, the online display only includes 49 of the brand’s previous models, with cars like the Citroen DS and SM left out in the cold, but that’s okay because there are some pretty cool features outside of viewing static pictures of Citroen’s past.

To start off, the website is interaction. Once you click on a model, you’re greeted with a zoomed in image of the exterior as well as some basic specs. You can do a full view of the exterior of the car, and if you scroll down, you can read more about it. On the right, there’s a toggle switch that allows you to switch over to an inside view. Once inside the model of your choice, you can drag the screen in any direction to get a full view of the interior – talk about a cool feature. On top of all of this, there are also other things you can play with. You can hit a button to hear the engine start and rev up, and some will even let you hear things like the blinkers functioning.

There’s also music playing in the background that is based on the model of your choice. Older models are backed by music of the era, while newer models get jazzier and more era-relevant music. There are at least two downsides to the site, however. First, all wording on the site is in French, and so far, there is no ability to translate. The second downfall is that there doesn’t appear to be a way to mute the music. For now, the list is somewhat limited, but it appears as if Citroen is planning to add additional models in the future. It’s set up with a slide bar that reads from 1919 all the way to 2016, so it’s safe to assume that Citroen will probably display its whole lineup eventually.

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Collecting automobiles has become an increasingly popular hobby among the wealthy in recent decades. Based on auction data, it started to become a trend in the 1980s and it went mainstream in the 1990s. Over the last two decades, the value of classic cars has gone through the roof, with 1960s and 1970s sports and race cars fetching millions of dollars.

This expensive hobby has spread all over the world, with famous personalities amassing huge and impressive garages in the United States, Western Europe, Russia, and the Middle East. Notable collectors include Wyclef Jean, Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason, fashion mogul Ralph Lauren, and Jamirquai front man Jay Kay. Russia’s Dmitry Lomakov displays his collection in a museum, while Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani, India’s richest man, is said to own nearly 200 cars.

Then there’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, who owns some 7,000 vehicles, including one-off and concept cars commissioned from Ferrari, Porsche, and Jaguar. In the U.S., we have Ken Lingenfelter and his 40,000 square foot building in Michigan for a garage and Jay Leno, who put together an awesome show to talk about his rare automobiles. Of course, we can’t forget about the Jerry Seinfeld, whose passion for the Porsche brand is impressive to say the least.

But, while all of the personalities above are known the world over, there are collectors that aren’t exactly famous beyond their native country. At least not for the rare and expensive cars they own. One such man is Ion Tiriac, a Romanian businessman and former professional tennis and ice hockey player who owns about 250 historical vehicles and displays some of them in an exhibition on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania’s capital and largest city. While 250 cars might not sound like much compared to what Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld have in their garages, Tiriac’s collection stands out by being the only one the world with six pre-1972 Rolls Royce Phantom models and for including automobiles that previously belonged to celebrities such as Elton John, Sammy Davis Jr. or Bernie Ecclestone. Keep reading to find out more about that and take a virtual tour of the exhibition in our photo gallery section.

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