I sat in on “The Drive with Alan Taylor” early Saturday morning at the Petersen Automotive museum in Los Angeles, and it was lots of fun. The studio sat in a corner of the museum’s second floor and was a simple fabric-covered table (to reduce noise) , a sound board, headsets and microphones for each chair. I was told to “eat the microphone” in order to be heard…yum.
Leading the in-studio team was motojournalist Steve Natt, who I know from my life in the motorcycle industry and who you may have seen on the Speed channel, Karl Brauer from Kelly Blue Book, Matthew Valbuena from Pioneer audio, and classic car collector Dick Messer, whose previous post was as director of the museum. Between the folks in the studio and Alan Taylor from his remote studio in Oregon, there was an encyclopedic knowledge of cars that was really impressive. The format was free-flowing and fun, and we talked about everything from the Catfish to ammonia-powered cars. We were even able to speak with John Hennessey, whose Venom street car had just broken the top speed record with a run of 270.49 mph. That’s absolutely amazing, especially for a “street” car that has A/C, Bluetooth and navigation. Hurry, only about six are left and they’re going fast at $1.2 million…
Perhaps the most fun was actually being in the museum before it opened with only the cars there, and a few lights on to see them. Karl Brauer from KBB and I were talking on the way out. We both think that some of the very most beautiful and compelling car designs came out of the fifties and early sixties, which is the style we’ve tried to carry forward with the Catfish. Check out the museum on Wilshire boulevard the next time you find yourself in Los Angeles.
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