For many people, a car is simply a means of transportation from one point to another. But real automobile lovers think of vintage cars as engineering gems or even pieces of art. Automobile-themed landmarks, festivals, shows, and museums can be found all over the world, and, sometimes, it is just too hard to decide which ones are worth to be picked. Our team of real classic lovers has compiled a comprehensive list of all the must-see places to visit if you want to explore rare and gorgeous automobiles, stories and characters that will make you fall in love with vintage cars even more!

Petersen Automotive Museum

The Petersen Automotive Museum is a nonprofit organization focused on automobile history and related educational initiatives. It is one of the world’s largest automotive museums not only in the U.S. but also internationally. In the museum’s 25 galleries, there are over 100 automobiles on show. The other half is housed in a vault on the basement level of the structure. The ground floor is dedicated to automotive artistry, with an array of lavish automobiles on display. Industrial engineering is the focus of the second level, which includes design, performance, and a range of interactive instructional exhibits. Racing, motorbikes, hot rods, and customs are all shown in special displays on the industrial floor. The third floor is dedicated to the history of the automobile, with a focus on Southern California’s car culture. The $40 million Petersen Automotive Museum is owned and maintained by the Petersen Automotive Museum Foundation, which was founded on June 11, 1994, by magazine editor Robert E. Petersen and his wife Margie. The museum was originally situated within the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum, but was later relocated to a historic department store designed by Welton Becket.

The building was opened in 1962 as a Seibu Department Stores branch in the United States, before becoming an Ohrbach’s department store from 1965 to 1986. Robert Petersen chose the largely windowless site as an excellent space for a museum six years after Ohrbach’s closed, allowing objects to be displayed without dangerous direct sunlight exposure. The museum completed a massive $125 million restoration in 2015. The building’s façade was remodeled by Kohn Pedersen Fox and now has a stainless-steel ribbon assembly consisting of 100 tons of 14-gauge type 304 steel in 308 pieces, 25 supports, and 140,000 bespoke stainless-steel screws. The Scenic Route’s interior areas were designed to support shifting displays. On December 7, 2015, the refurbished museum reopened to the public. Today, the museum features one of the DeLorean time machines from Back to the Future, the 1956 Jaguar XKSS formerly owned by Steve McQueen, the “Lightning” McQueen from Disney Pixar Cars and Cars 2, sumptuous Japanese collections, and many more!

AACA Museum

The AACA Museum is not just a transportation museum, but is home to the world’s biggest permanent collection of Tucker 48 vehicles. When David Cammack, a Tucker historian and collector, passed away in 2013, the complete collection was presented to the AACA Museum from Cammack’s personal collection. In conjunction with the AACA’s grand opening in 2003, the Museum of Bus Transportation rented space in the museum’s lower level to display their collection of 22 antique buses. The AACA Museum is located in Hershey, Pennsylvania. It’s a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the history of American automobiles. Contrary to what its name suggests, the museum is not linked with the Antique Automobile Club of America.

Over 130 vehicles, buses, motorbikes, and automobile antiques from the 1890s to the 1980s are on display in themed settings at the 71,000 square foot museum. It is a Smithsonian Institution and American Alliance of Museums associate museum. The Cammack Tucker Collection, the world’s largest collection of Tucker autos, and the Museum of Bus Transportation Collection are two of the museum’s key collections.

The National Association of Automobile Museums awarded the museum the NAAMY Award of Excellence in 2014. AACA Museum, Inc. was founded in 1993 as a public charitable organization with the goal of establishing a museum dedicated to the preservation of all types of classic automobiles. The company purchased 25 acres of land near the national club headquarters in Hershey, Pennsylvania in 1996 to be used as the future museum’s site. The building’s initial costs were anticipated to be $11 million, and the William J. Cammack Supporting Organization Trust made a multi-million dollar testamentary commitment, as well as three 1947 Tucker Torpedo automobiles, in 2000.The remainder of the funds were raised at the AACA’s yearly car events in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The museum debuted on June 26, 2003, with over 70 cars given or lent by members of the club. Rather than displaying its automobiles in long rows, the AACA Museum took an educational approach to their exhibits by including scenery and set designs that corresponded to the time period in which each car was constructed. MSNBC rated the museum one of the 12 car museums in the United  sabasport States worth a detour in 2013.

Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum

The route to modernisation in Alaska a century ago was a dramatic one, and the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum chronicles it in fascinating detail. The museum, which is located on the grounds of Wedgewood Resort, features dozens of historically significant pre-World War II autos as well as providing tourists with a glimpse into Alaska’s rough and fascinating formative years. The museum uses large size historic images and videos to bring the early twentieth century Alaska to life. In the museum, you can find photos of Alaskans adapting their automobiles to get around in the snow, ride on rails, and even cut firewood. Early steam, electric, and hybrid cars, and the first American Midget racers and the first V16-powered engine, are all instances of « alternative » vehicles from the past. There are also some outstanding classics on display at the museum. An 1898 Hay Hotchkiss, a tulip-shaped 1903 Cadillac, the last existing 1920 Argonne, and a 1917 Owen-Magnetic with an electric motor are among the more than 80 automobiles in its rotating collection. The museum even has on loan the 1905 Sheldon Runabout, which was the first built-in Alaska automobile.