Only a car aficionado knows how worthy it is to be able to see a collection of their favourite cars at one place, like a museum. Wonderful it sounds, doesn't it? Well it sure does. Not everyone can own a Lamborghini or vintage Corvette, and for that matter numerous other swanky cars, however they can marvel at them in the museums based all across the globe. These museums are no less than a heaven for any car enthusiast, where an array of cars are exhibited just like any splendid artefact. There are a host of car museums around the world that are definitely worth a detour. The list include:
Mercedes-Benz Museum and Porsche Museum – Germany
Perhaps no other auto makers does justice to Stuttgart’s reputation as the cradle of cars as much as Mercedes-Benz and Porsche. The stunning Mercedes-Benz museum is designed by Dutch architectural firm, UNStudio with 9 floors that house more than 160 vehicle. Starting from classics like the 1921 Mercedes Knight touring car and 1958 Mercedes-Benz 190SL to the futuristic C111 experimental vehicle of 1969, there are options aplenty to check out here. While the Porsche Museum is a $100 million building, designed by the Viennese firm Delugan Meissl. It boasts of a “floating” exhibition hall and is known for an excellent collection of about 80 cars. The most prominent among all of them is worth a view, which is the first Porsche ever made, the 'Slick 356'.
Petersen Automotive Museum and Mullin Automotive Museum - California
The Petersen Automotive Museum is considered as one of the premier car museums in Los Angeles. This museum has 200 historic vehicles on display. The world class collection of vehicles on display here includes customised 1950s hot rods, movie cars and celebrities' cars like Batmobile and '32 Duesenberg that evokes visions of Garbo and Gable, and a rare 1983 400i Ferrari automatic-tranny convertible, which was once owned by Rod Stewart. Vintage motorbikes along with the 1917 Woods Dual Power sedan are also put on a display here. The Mullin Automotive Museum is a stunning museum, which has been decorated like a Paris salon. Vehicles on display here are symbolic of the sleek and streamlined styling of the art deco. The collection includes storied 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic, 1938 Talbot Lago T150 SS and a 1939 Delahaye T165.
Some other splendid museums that best illustrate the automobile as an art and engineering marvel are in located in Italy. Casa Enzo Ferrari Museum, Mille Miglia Museum and the Lamborghini Museum at Sant’Agata Bolognese are few highlights of the same. While many of the world’s greatest car collections are privately owned by billionaires, a handful of them are stored in these repositories that are worth travelling for. Albeit the fact that Auto Expo and racing events entice the car lovers to a great extent these days, there is no comparison to these popular automobile museums that remind us the impact of automobile on the world over the years and the reason we fell in love with them.
