The Zimmerman car museum in El Segundo near LA was open for the final time on Sunday, and I had a chance to check it out before the doors closed forever. Here’s what that was like.
The closure of the “Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum” — named because visitors can actually get rides in some of the classic cars — was covered by various news outlets including the LA Times which is how I learned about it, and likely why there were so many people there this past weekend.
It was a glorious collection of pretty much all American cars, and I had a chance to peek at it and help preserve its history. Check it out:
The details of the Zimmerman Car Museum’s closure are similar to those of the Mullin — the primary benefactor passed away, and there was nobody with enough interest/funding to continue on the legacy, as the LA Times reports:
Still, the end of this beautiful nugget of car culture is what led me to visit it for the first time, and I had a lot of fun. Here, have a look at a Pontiac Fiero and a Chrysler Laser:
Check out some old early 1900s iron, including a Detroit Electric:
Here’s a room of Auburns, Cords, and Pierce Arrows:
Some more vintage iron:
Check out the Packard straight-8!
Plus there was an engine you could spin with a crank to teach/learn how internal combustion engine cars work:
Visitors had the chance to sit in this old Overland:
Look at that Chrysler Airflow in the background:
This was a one-off “Arex Roadster.” It’s an apparently 800 horsepower three-wheeler one-off developed by an engineer who’d worked at GM, Toyota, and Harley0Davidson. Under the hood is a twin-supercharged Chevy V8 apparently capable of ripping this thing from zero to 60 in three seconds:
A Cadillac Allante, and more Fiero:
Here’s more vintage iron:
Look at this lovely Edsel and Ford Falcon:
Here’s a World War II Jeep:
Check out this WWII Dodge truck, with a Bantam next to it, and an old Crosley next to it:
The Crosley’s chassis was nicely labeled:
How about some open-top fun, with a Cadillac in the foreground and a Corvair in the back:
The Studebaker Wagonaire, with its beautiful rear top retracted:
Hey look, a Japanese car!:
I loved seeing the OG Plymouth Voyager minivan:
And the Mustang/Studebaker Vanti/Willys Jeepster/Nash Metropolitan lineup was choice!:
This museum, and the Mullin before it, have me worried about the future of car culture. So many ol’-timers have propped car culture up over the years, and while I’m all for change, I do worry about certain luxuries going away. It’s not just car museums, but also the folks who rebuild our starter motors/radiators/leaf springs/etc.
Is that era of craftsmanship going to remain?
I say this because everyone who has helped me braze a radiator or bend leaf spring U-bolts or redo my speedometer or even sell me a new-old-stock part for my Willys Jeep has been over the age of about 60. In 20 years, will we have museums to visit, parts to buy, ways to keep our old classics on the road without having to pay an arm and a leg?
Or am I worrying about something every generation before me has worried about?
That Packard Darrin was quite the car in its day, wouldn’t mind having it in my garage. It’ll still pull big money. Got to visit the car museum in Tupelo Mississippi several years before it closed. It was quite a nice collection of cars, those were all auctioned off.
It hurts me anytime a museum closes. Centers of learning are labors of love, they rarely are self-sustaining. Often they represent one person’s passion, so losing one often is related to someone passing. My plan for what to do with myself when I retire is volunteering at a museum. I’ll finally use that degree I got.
I visited this museum just before the pandemic with my brother in law Tom! I got to ride in an AMC Pacer which was super fun! Didn’t realize what a great engine the straight six was! So sorry to see it go away. We also visited the now closed museum in Oxnard that had all the wonderful French cars! Need to get to the Peterson again soon!
That Jeepster is gorgeous!! I’ve always liked the first generation’s grille design, but seeing a second gen (like the one in the picture) in person gave me an appreciation for it.
As an old car guy myself, I think your fears are well grounded….there used to be a number of places where you could get a block bored, a crankshaft ground or a cylinder head redone – now even in a town as large as KC there are maybe one of each place, and they’re all run by guys as old as me – at some point they’re going to stop, or die……
When I blew up a motor earlier this year, I checked with the machine shop I used to use when I did side wrenching. What used to be a week turnaround on heads is now a month or more—and they said they couldn’t get to my bottom end for months. Much as I wished to keep supporting them, I bought a motor with 1/2 the mileage a week or so later
Yeah, wait times are in the months as the amount of work they have is hard to imagine, when I go in my favorite block shop they have engines stacked up everywhere waiting to be redone. Same with the cylinder head shop – you can barely get in the door. The lone crank grinder has them hanging from the ceiling and in racks 12 ft high – his wait time is measured in half years or more.
And that’s fine to go out and buy another motor – if there is one. I work on older stuff so those are not just lying about
Funny how that old Overlander doesn’t have a roof tent, armor, or automatic bear-spray on it.
I guess people were tougher back then—or hadn’t had nebulous fears instilled by certain sections of social media
Roof tents are stupid.