Thankful2

This past weekend we had a family visit down to the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, just ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. The Petersen is considered the leading automotive museum in North America, and perhaps the world, and our visit would have been worthwhile on that basis alone as it has become a mecca of sorts to people interested in automobiles housing everything from rare historic models to prototypes to movie and celebrity cars. Along with the Batmobile, the Delorean from Back to the Future, KITT, and all manner of exotic hyper cars, there was one – and new arrival to the Vault collection – that had special significance for me.

My (former) MR2, that I bought when I graduated college in 1995 (27 years ago) and modified extensively over the years is now owned by, and displayed in, the Petersen. I have all kinds of memories with that car from the day I bought using the sale of my Jetta to my sister, credit cards and day trading apple stock on 100% margin (something I never wish to repeat) to the years that it was just a 135 horsepower commuter car that I occasionally commuted in to my first law firm job in the copy room of Morrison Foerster all the way to my first actual attorney job years later at Ropers Majeski. That was the more private chapter of that car’s history. In those years, I would meet Sean Fanning, on the of founders of Napster, having our cars worked on together (he had an FD RX-7 at the time – one of many RX-7s, apparently) and attend my first autocrosses and track days, mostly at Thunderhill Raceway.

My first modification was a K&N air intake, installed by Motorsport 1 in Redwood City, something I researched extensively before finally committing to alter my pride and joy. Little did I know the role that both that car and K&N would have in my life years later. Along with my friends, Bill (who had a 300zx at the time) and Jason (with an E36 M3), we developed a real passion for the emerging 1990s tuner car culture and attended new friends from the world of sports car soon emerged including Chris (a fellow MR2 owner), Pete (at the time, a tech at the leading BMW tuning shop, Dinan) and more.

The public period of the MR2’s life began as I stopped practicing law with the dotcom bust of 2000 and focused my energy on the emerging tuning car scene instead. In this chapter, the MR2 took on a prominent (many might say, overly so) role in my life and a powerful turbocharged engine from a half-car that I imported from Japan took the place of the anemic engine it originally came with. Before long, the body panels were replaced by carbon fiber ones that I worked to help prototype, the roof was painted black, and a racing cage was fitted inside.

The Petersen Museum was founded by Robert Pertersen, the man behind the Petersen publishing empire, including all of the popular tuner car magazines of the day (later these were all acquired by Primedia). As my car gained notoriety during the public chapter of its life, it would grace the pages of nearly all the leading tuner mags including Sport Compact Car, Turbo & High Tech Performance, SuperStreet, Modified, Import Tuner and more. It would also grace the cover of my own book, Car Hacks & Mods for Dummies and feature in video games and tuner culture movies both here and in Japan. Here's the latest article from MotorTrend last year.

As the years and decades progressed, the car never grew tacky or stale, like so many cars of its era. It remained tasteful and relevant and had one of the longest runs of a feature car that I can remember from the early 2000s all the way into 2022. However, despite having undergone and extensive restoration and refurbishment in recent years, it was more a functioning trophy than it was something I actually drove on a regular basis. With a heavy heart, I knew it was time to let it go, and when the Petersen expressed interest, I couldn’t think of a better coda to its journey. Over the years, I had people tell me that they used to have pics of my car in the middle school lockers and I wanted for the MR2 to be accessible to them as part of their history too – a reminder of a point in time when tuner cars were the pinnacle of adolescent existence.

Now, bringing Liam and Isaac to the museum it was a treat to be able to have Liam stop the tour to point out his dad built the car that everyone was looking at and giving me the opportunity to share some of the car’s history with the guide and the rest of the tour group.

I know that Liam and Isaac are likely not going to be car guys, and that’s perfectly fine with me. Beyond their dad’s pride on display, their highlight was the video game section more than the actual cars, but times have changed. As Liam told me when he was 5, by the time I’m old enough, cars will drive themselves – and indeed they do.

Nonetheless, it felt like I had closed both the private and public chapter of the MR2 on the highest note possible and I felt a sense of closure and satisfaction leaving L.A. with that experience. I'd like to thank Ren for suggesting and organizing our family pilgrimage (Thanksgiving reference intended) to the Petersen although my feelings about being her "trophy husband" are still a bit mixed.

#Petersenmuseum #pilgrimage #mr2 #carguy #familytime #qualitytime #trophyhusband #powercouple