Petersen Automotive Museum gets metal makeover

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Bright red paint and shiny metal are appearing on the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax, in the Miracle Mile section of Los Angeles. It looks like what someone would find on a customized car, but it's actually the new exterior of a customized car museum.

"After 20 years, we decided it was time for a total makeover," said Terry Karges, executive director of the Petersen Automotive Museum.

The museum that seemed fresh and modern when it opened in 1994 was looking a little tired. Its mid-century department store facade is being spruced up with metal. Huge steel ribbons are being hoisted into place along a crimson backdrop.

"Right now, we believe (the Petersen Museum) will be one of the top two architectural buildings in Los Angeles, (the other being) the Disney Concert Hall," Karges said.

The firm doing the work has a lot of major museum experience, and this one will be another feather in their hard hats.

"It's going to be one of the top iconic buildings in Los Angeles," said Sam Ragsdale with Matt Construction. "Everybody's going to know where the Petersen Museum is."

The inside is now completely gutted too and holes have been cut into the concrete floors to provide an airy feeling. Technology is a big part of the plan.

"When we closed the museum (in October,) we had I believe seven flat-panel screens and they weren't really interactive," Karges said. "When we reopen, we'll have 175."

To begin the project, the museum was closed in October, and it won't reopen until December of this year, which means a total of almost 14 months. But that doesn't mean the museum is now dormant.

"Far from being dormant, we had 45 cars at the Reagan Library for an extended period and just this last weekend we had one of a cruise-in, a Japanese car cruise-in, sand had 500 cars here," Karges said

Keeping the museum on the local automotive radar also helps with the capital campaign to pay for the $125 million overhaul. Museum officials said they're most of the way there, and on target for a re-opening in December.

In a town where the car is king, a newly-palatial car museum is rising with one huge piece of metal at a time.