McLaren featured at museums here and abroad

The Petersen Automotive Museum holds a movie night Saturday that will act as the exclusive L.A. premiere of McLaren, the movie that recounts Bruce McLaren’s life from his from humble beginnings at his father’s auto shop in Auckland, New Zealand, to revolutionizing Formula One racing, becoming the youngest driver to win a Grand Prix until his untimely death at 32 in a racing accident.

A question-and-answer session will follow the screening.

The following day, the Petersen holds a Breakfast Club Cruise-in from 8 a.m. – 10 a.m. on the third floor of the museum’s parking structure.

The Louwman Museum in The Hague will host a retrospective exhibition about McLaren from July 7 to August 27. The exhibit will showcase a large number of racing cars and high-performance sports cars manufactured by the company McLaren founded. The exhibition will be opened by Amanda McLaren, daughter of Bruce McLaren.

Car Shows –

The Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia stages the first Pennsylvania Concours d’Elegance on Saturday to support research into birth defects and developmental disorders. The event includes a preview gala tonight.

Also Saturday, the American on Wheels museum in Pennsylvania holds the Ponie Car Picnic along the waterfront from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada, holds a “Women with Wheels Car Show” in the museum parking lot starting at 9 a.m. The show is open to collectible or contemporary cars.

On June 30, the Great Race visits Stahls Auto Museum in the Detroit area. The museum anticipates the arrival of the first car around 12:20 p.m. and will be open to the public from 3-5 p.m.

The Blackhawk Collection in northern California holds its first-Sunday Cars & Coffee on July 2 and will celebrate Collector Car Appreciation Day on July 14, 2017.

The British Motor Museum holds the “BMC & Leyland Show” on July 2. The show will have approximately 400 vehicles on display, including cars, commercial and military, in addition to vehicles produced under the BMC marque.

Then, the museum hosts the 9th Old Ford Rally in conjunction with the Ford Y & C Register on July 15. The following day, around 600 classic Fords will go on display at the biggest rally of classic Fords in the UK.  On July 30, the British Motor Museum expects more than 700 cars from 38 different clubs to be present at “Simply Japanese,” one of the museum’s largest events.

The fourth annual Kansas City Automotive Museum’s People’s Choice Car Show is set for July 15 and runs from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Car registration is a $10 donation to KC Automotive Museum and all makes and models are welcome.

Museums in motion

Today, and July 7, the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville holds a driving experience with visitors getting to drive some of the museum’s vehicles.

On July 1, the Simeone Museum holds a Demo Day themed “Fireworks wish they were this loud.” The museum plans to run some of the most revolutionary cars of their time and showcase how the “revolutionary designs” changed and influenced cars today.

The museum holds an additional Demo Day on July 22 themed “Ford vs. Chevy.” The Simeone is seeking a few die-hard Chevy supporters to help settle the age-old battle and show their Nova, Camaro, or Chevelle from the 60’s or 70’s.

The National Corvette Museum takes enthusiasts on adventures to the Northwest Passage -– the coastal region of Seattle, Washington, Tacoma, and Mount Rainier -– set for July 26-30. Then on August 18-23 the museum heads to Kingman, Arizona and travels portions of Route 66 to Long Beach, CA with a visit to LA, followed by a drive to Roanoke, West Virgina, for some R&R on August 27-29. As with all Museum in Motion Tours, space is limited, so make sure you sign up quickly.

America’s newest racing school, the Lucas Oil School of Racing, makes its fourth stop of its 2017 racing season at the NCM Motorsports Park next month. From July 15-18, racing enthusiasts have the chance to pack the track and take in four full days of competition, as not only will there be a pair of race days, but also two days of instruction from skilled professionals.

The AACA Museum in Pennsylvania offers tours to England in early September and to Italy in November, and the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum in Knoxville, Iowa, will award a raffle winner with a trip for two to Australia that includes tickets to the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic races. Contact the various museums for details.

The Blackhawk holds a day trip to the Pebble Beach Concours on August 20.

Exhibits and Education

The National Corvette Museum hosts  “Kentucky: 225 Years on the Move” opening August 28 and running through Spring 2018 to celebrate the anniversary of statehood.

The Petersen plans an exhibit opening June 29 for “the High Art of Riding Low: Ranflas, Corazón e Inspiración,” a celebration of lowriders and Chicano art that officially opens July 1. Then, July 11, the museum’s education and programs manager Jason Hartwig will discuss the relationship between automobiles and international affairs, from the car’s infancy to the modern day.

The Simeone’s newest special exhibit, “Mopar or No Car,” runs through July 9.

Three new exhibits have opened at the AACA Museum. Garage Finds: Unrestored Treasure that Survived Time runs through October 8; Detroit Underdogs are on display through August 27; the 50th anniversary of Camaro and Firebird is featured through October 8.

The Blackhawk Museum holds its next Speaker Series event on July 8, and featuring author and classic car historian Donald Osborne, who appears with his regular feature on the CNBC primetime series, “Jay Leno’s Garage.” The discussion with launch the museums new exhibition; ‘Transatlantic Style – A Romance of Fins & Chrome’, based upon Osborne’s new book of the same name, which is a collaborative project with award winning photographer Michael Furman. The exhibit will run from July 8 thru September 30, and will feature over 20 automobiles that showcase the depth and range of the creative exchange in automotive design between Italy and America in the decade following the end of World War II.