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:
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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?
Kind of like electronics surplus stores in Silicon Valley. The factories went away, so the surplus went away, and nowadays there aren’t many customers either. So the stores are closing one by one.
This is on my mind more these days; it’s what led to the proposed question for Jay Leno about how we can maintain the existing body of automotive knowledge as people age out and retire.
I’ve mentioned this before, but I liked the early seasons of Wheeler Dealers with Edd China and Mike Brewer. Mike’s parts weren’t super interesting, except when he was visiting an out-of-the-way shop so someone with very specialized skills could make or restore a part. I appreciated his commitment to engaging small, local practitioners like that.
It is something to worry about but then you’ve also got the Hoovies and of the Robert Dunns world collecting classics and obscure things, so there’s some young influencers that are keeping car culture going.
Devil’s advocate here… maybe this means lower pricing for people who want to own and drive these cars, instead of them getting dusty in buildings where no one goes to look at them.
Private museums are practically impossible to maintain. They burn cash and you really need to exploit all possible revenue streams. I commend those giving it a go though…
And you really need to have a strategy for after the primary funder dies.
Even Paul Allen’s Living Computers: Museum + Labs in Seattle shut down after he died. Despite all the money sloshing around in the pockets of people who got rich through technology, nobody was willing to pay for it to stay in operation.
David, perhaps the Autopian needs to do a regular (or irregular) series about various car museums out there… Otherwise your last-call visits are going to be viewed with the same love (or fear) The Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore gets when he shows up in a town shortly before some weather-related disaster.
And make the reviews stickies, or file them somewhere easy to locate for trip planning.
Honestly, at this point The Autopian needs easier/better archive search than the current function for all its’ content..
For me Johnson & Wood in North Hollywood closing was the biggest sign that the era of fun garage built stuff was over in Los Angeles. Used to spend tons of time there digging through greasy boxes looking for UJM parts that they somehow ALWAYS seemed to have.
To overall society, people who like wrenching on stuff are at best a curiosity but mostly a nuissance.
Like audiophiles, this market is losing its value. The good news is if you like old stuff it is gonna get cheaper. Because there is no market for it. Bittersweet.
Definitely sad about this one. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in that museum, and even in the seats of some of those cars, as this was the chosen location of the Malaise Daze car show that the Malaise Motors Facebook group has hosted for a few years now.
I too have the same concern about craftsmen who keep this hobby alive dying out. In the 20+ years I’ve been wrenching as a hobby I’ve seen several old school guys who I’ve used to do some sort of specialty work retire, and their businesses either closed with them or went downhill under different ownership.
Autopian needs to be more proactive and cover the museums BEFORE they close. That way we can visit them and hopefully prevent them from closing.
I’ve stayed in the El Segundo area several times, but never heard of this museum.
Nethercutt, here I come!
Yes! Been there twice while living nearby and loved it.
In fairness they announced the closure of this one pretty abruptly without much warning. I wanted to visit one last time before it closed but just wasn’t able to.
Autopian has their own survival to worry about. Like they say on the airplane… You gotta put your mask on first.