California And Nevada Car Museums

I just went to the California Automobile Museum (formerly the Towe Auto Museum) in Sacramento. The most interesting cars there include a Bricklin, an Avanti that set records in Bonneville, and a green Countach with gold phone dial rims. This is how it stacks up with the other major car collections in the area.

5. Petersen Automotive Museum, Los Angeles. This may be the most popular museum, but I have to say it is my least favorite and the least memorable. Why? Because it is soulless.

4. California Automobile Museum, Sacramento. It's got a decent collection of American cars and a few foreign ones. The cars are on display in a dim, poorly ventilated, dilapidated warehouse. The signs describing the cars look like they were printed off of your old Okidata dot matrix printer. So why is it still better than the Petersen? Because it feels like it was put together by a bunch of guys who are passionate about cars.

2 (tie). National Automobile Museum, Reno. The Harrah Collection is diverse and interesting. My favorite is the Jerrari, an old Jeep Wagoneer with a Ferrari engine.


2 (tie). The Auto Collections at The Imperial Palace, Las Vegas. The collection is impressive-- almost half a dozen Ford RS200s, a Jaguar XJ220, even a street version of the Lancia Delta Integrale. It's got something for everyone and the inventory is huge. The only problem-- the displays are outdated and look cheap and haphazard. It really takes away from the experience.


1. Blackhawk Museum, Danville. This is the best car museum on the West Coast. On just two floors, the curator has assembled an extraordinary collection of automobiles, from a wooden Hispano-Suiza to a 16 cylinder Cadillac to a Hongqi limousine from Red China. The cars are displayed like jewelry at a high end store. The museum is world-class. It is exquisite.