nurdlinger...
Yes it is, and you are right, I have misspelled it. It's Petersen. Since I live here and have been there a number of times, you would think I would get that right.
The only museum I remember in Orange County--and I could be wrong, was the small but wonderful Briggs Cunningham museum in Costa Mesa.
Try this and see if it jogs your memory:
http://www.river-road.net/oldcars/cunningham/index.htm
They had a number of Cunningham cars, and a bunch of others. It was essentially one big room. It closed years back.
Here is a fun story. I went with my dad before they closed. (we had no idea that by the next year they would be gone). We were admiring a Duesenberg Model J when an older gentleman approached us, and was just a fountain of knowledge. I thought he was just a bystander. He went into elaborate detail about how that car could lube all its points by turning a switch on the dash. He took us through every control on the engine turned dash.
Then he just said let me show you something, and took us back into the shop, where no one was allowed but workers. They were in the process of completing another Duesenberg and the paint was amazing. I remember I kept nudging my dad to STOP! touching the cars. He was like a little kid in there.
The gentleman said that there was also an opportunity, but only if I was committed. They had a small group of volunteers that adopted one of the cars. When you adopted it, you were responsible for waxing, detailing and maintaining the signage for "your car". This included wiping up any drippings when you came in, the total package. Just keep it super nice. The amazing part was that every month you were also responsible for starting your car, and driving it around the parking lot (he told me they cheated and would drive them down the street and back) to keep the cars in driveable shape. You could also help in restoring cars.
Of course like an idiot, I never signed up for it. As we were leaving this very special, spur of the moment tour, I shook hands with the gentleman and he told me he was John W. Burgess. I knew his name was familiar, and he mentioned he had written for Road and Track.
Later research showed that he was a contributing editor for years at R & T, had written books about Cunningham, and I believe had been a friend of his.
And I blew getting to know him more and adopting a car.
This was right up there with a gent at the Flying Museum in Chino telling me I could help with the restoration of their N-9 flying wing, and I never got back to him.
http://www.warbirdforum.com/n9m.htm
:-(
http://www.petersen.org/
.
