Bored over the holiday break? Pay a visit to one of these ten excellent automotive museums.
Petersen Automotive Museum – Los Angeles, CA
The recently reopened Petersen Museum might just be the premiere automotive museum in the U.S. It’s probably the only place in the world where you can see both BMW’s 3.0 CSL Art Car and a Pontiac Aztek driven in “Breaking Bad” under the same roof. If you’re in Los Angeles, there’s no reason not to visit the Petersen.
Antique Automobile Club of America Museum – Hershey, PA
This Hershey, Pennsylvania museum claims to have the most extensive Tucker collection in the world. It has three of the 51 Tucker 48s built, a number of engines, and a rolling chassis on display. That alone makes this museum worth a visit, but its extensive collection of Pre-War cars sweetens the deal.
National Corvette Museum – Bowling Green, KY
The National Corvette Museum might be most well-known for a giant sinkhole that opened up in the museum floor in February 2014, taking eight ‘Vettes with it. That’s unfortunate because it has the best collection of Corvettes in the world. Some of the cars destroyed, like the millionth Corvette made, have since been restored.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame – Indianapolis, IN
Indianapolis Motor Speedway—home of the Indy 500—is hallowed ground for motorsports enthusiasts. The Indy Hall of Fame Museum, which is at the track, is well worth a trip, thanks to its incredible collection of historic race cars. You’ll see some of the 1960s Lotuses Jim Clark drove in the race, along with all four cars AJ Foyt raced to Indy 500 victory.
The Henry Ford – Dearborn, MI
Despite the name, this museum celebrates all of the automotive world, not just Ford. Its Driving America exhibit charts the relationship between cars and the American people, and how it has evolved over time. Race cars are celebrated too, with some of Henry Ford’s earliest racers on display.
Lane Motor Museum – Nashville, TN
If you like strange cars, the Lane Motor Museum is for you. Its collection features the Helicron, a car with a giant wood propeller, the 1951 Hoffman, arguably the worst car ever made, along with Tatras, Borgwards, and a host of automotive weirdness. Jeff Lane, the founder of the museum, once drove his replica of Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion car 650 miles to Amelia Island, in case you doubted his car-guy cred.
Larz Anderson Auto Museum – Brookline, MA
The Larz Anderson museum claims to be the oldest car collection in the U.S. It hosts a rotating exhibit of cars and motorcycles on the ground floor of a gorgeous carriage house, with the basement filled with rare turn-of-the-century cars. This isn’t the largest museum on the list, but certainly one of the most interesting.
Mullin Automotive Museum – Oxnard, CA
While many of the museums on this list feature sprawling collections, the Mullin focuses on just one type of car: French, specifically of the Art Deco period. If Bugattis, Delahayes, Talbot-Lagos, and Voisins tickle your fancy, this is the place for you.
Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum – Philadelphia, PA
Some of the greatest race cars in the world live at this Philadelphia museum, everything from a 1911 Stutz Bearcat to a 1970 Porsche 917 LH. The piece de resistance is arguably one of the six original Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupes, or the Ferrari 250 GTO, or the Jaguar D-Type, or the 1936 Bugatti Type 57G. In fact, everything here is fantastic.
National Automobile Museum – Reno, NV
The National Automobile Museum has the only genuine Dymaxion car in existence. That’s worth the trip in and of itself, but its collection features countless other priceless cars, including the winner of the 1908 New York to Paris auto race and the 1949 Mercury driven by James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause.
This story originally appeared on Road and Track.
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