LA Museum Auctions Off Classic Cars

By City News Service

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The Petersen Automotive Museum in the Fairfax district has been quietly auctioning off vehicles in its collection as part of a plan to sell off a third of its 400 classic cars to finance a makeover of the institution, it was reported today.

The new plans include a greater emphasis on motorcycles and French art deco vehicles, matching the tastes of the museum's new leadership, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The strategy was launched this year by Executive Director Terry Karges, who owns a motorcycle company, Champions Moto, and new board Chairman Peter Mullin, who also heads an auto museum in Oxnard that boasts one of the world's foremost private collections of French cars.

The sales started in March. Among the cars sold were a 1995 Ferrari F50 that went for $1.375 million, a 2006 Bugatti Veyron that fetched $924,000, and a 1990 Ferrari F40 that garnered $715,000, The Times reported.

Before the auctions end, the museum plans to liquidate nearly a third of its estimated 400 classic cars, according to The Times, which reported that the sales were conducted under the radar until Monday, when the museum confirmed to the newspaper that that they were taking place.

The funds will finance a major face-lift and reconfiguration of the institution, which opened in 1994 at the site of a former department store at Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue.

"The idea was to breathe some life into the museum," Karges told The Times, adding that the auctions were kept low-profile because of worries about how the news might affect future automobile donations, he said.

"But, according to The Times, the sell-off has drawn criticism from former Petersen employees, who say it threatens to move the institution from the focus in its mission statement "to present the history of the automobile and its impact on American life and culture using Los Angeles as the prime example."