The following post is by Charles Zucker, who attended the Amazon Video sponsored event at The Petersen on behalf of Westside Mommy. All opinions are his own.
I attended The Grand Tour’s takeover of the Petersen Automotive Museum on November 12th. As a longtime fan of the BBC’s Top Gear and cars in general, I was incredibly invested. Many fans of The Grand Tour come from years of watching Top Gear as hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May. These three hosts eventually left Top Gear to produce a car show they way they wanted to with the help of Amazon Video. The Grand Tour is nearing the premiere of its second season, and Amazon hosted an event with the Petersen Automotive Museum in Miracle Mile to celebrate.
When I arrived, I was given an RFID wristband, which was my all access pass for the museum in addition to The Grand Tour event. The wristband was a neat element to the event because it could be used to collect virtual badges by participating in various activities. When all the badges are collected, the wearer was eligible for The Grand Tour themed prizes. I personally didn’t take much interest in collecting all the badges, but I spoke with people who were very enthusiastic about it. The one activity I found particularly unique was the screening of the season finale of The Grand Tour season one, which was shown in the part of the museum that exhibits vintage Ferraris. I really enjoyed this screening because although I have seen this episode multiple times, it was an all new experience watching it surrounded on all sides by Ferraris. The rooftop car show was also a very exciting attraction of that day.
After the screening, I decided to take a look around the museum itself. I had been to the Petersen once before, but I enjoyed it even more this time around. The Petersen has a terrific Bugatti exhibit on the first floor that shows just how talented the Bugatti family was. In addition to their cars, the various pieces of artwork and furniture the Bugatti family made is also on display to show how closely connected these crafts were. Besides the extraordinary event hosted by Amazon, the Petersen is a great place to go if you’re interested in cars. Check out some photos from the event below!
The “cruise-in” car show on the rooftop:
This day was filled of family fun for all attendees, who were given an RFID wristband upon arrival to the Museum. This touchpoint gave them an all-access pass to everything Grand Tour related within the museum, including screenings of the show, gifting stations, photo booth moments, and more.
Guests were given complete access to roam the museum and its auto galleries, which (in true Grand Tour fashion) contain once-in-a-lifetime cars for their viewing pleasure. True car buffs were invited to participate in the “drive-in” aspect of the activation, which included a car show on the Museum’s rooftop.
Fans were able to round off the day at the final gifting station, where they received Grand Tour car blankets, after touching in to all access points around the activation: the screening, the photo booth moment, the custom engraving station. The final touch point was the voting station, where attendees chose the best car on display the cruise-in.
The Grand Tour
The Grand Tour is an Amazon original motoring show with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May. The Grand Tour returns for Season 2 on December 8th, only on Amazon Prime Video.
http://amzn.to/2hL6kuu
The Petersen Automotive Museum
The Petersen Automotive Museum Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) educational institution. The Museum is located at 6060 Wilshire Boulevard (at Fairfax) in Los Angeles, California 90036. For general Museum information, call 323/930-CARS or visit the Museum’s Web site at:
https://petersen.org
Charles Zucker is a car enthusiast and takes Taekwondo at Tae Ryong Brentwood.
