Art & Inspiration Petersen Museum Update

Excellent, no BS, outline of Petersen changes.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/...1/L-car-culture-museum-set-dazzling-face-lift

 

Around 100 vehicles that had been donated have or are being sold.

Sounds like B.S. to me.

 

I'm sure the people who donated cars to the museum so they would be preserved and seen by the public will be thrilled to hear their donation has been sold to god knows who.

Glad my stuff is in the JB and NHRA museums.

 

Wouldn't there be some legal recourse? I mean, if I donated something to a museum, isn't it just on loan or does it depend on the agreements each individual made?

 

A person donates to give control of said piece to the museum board to do with what they please, in return the giver gets a tax credit equal to the appraised value for the donation. Giving to an en***y ON LOAN is a different matter

 

No. That's like asking -- If don't like the way my friend uses the birthday gift I gave her, can I ask for it back?

Yes, it depends on the donor's agreement with the museum... but most museums will not accept a donation with strings attached.

 

Well, that's a bummer. Hopefully, the cars sold went to good owners or other museums.

 

I guess Mullin needs new place to park his French Art Deco cars, you know, like all the southern California hotrodders drove back in the day

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Actually, that's exactly what they need/want. "They" being the board of directors of the museum. I believe that this has been discussed on this board previously, but the majority of the Petersen cars that were auctioned off had no hot rod historical significance. Please note I said the majority, not all.

The fact of the matter is that it's the Petersen Automotive Museum and not the Museum of Southern California Hot Rodding. Much of the museum has been dedicated to the history of hot rodding and will continue to be so the world is not coming to an end. The board of directors have chosen to expand the scope of what the museum offers and increase display space along with a facelift. Doesn't sound all bad to me. Some museums that have too much inventory end up being mausoleums for a lot of the vehicles. I don't have a problem with some cars seeing the light of day again and getting back on the road in the hands of private collectors.

And yes, once you DONATE a car to the museum you are giving up all rights to it. As stated above, you get your tax deduction and the museum can display, store or sell what was formerly your vehicle. LOANING a vehicle works entirely differently.

 

Very well said.

 

This happens all the time, in all kinds of museums. It is called "deaccessioning". There have been some amazing works of art that have been auctioned off, out of some pretty fancy museums. Sometimes it adds to the provenance of a piece, other times the piece vanishes into a private collection. Doesn't matter if it is a snooty art gallery, a car museum, or your own garage. You can't keep everything forever.

 

I, for one, am excited about the new museum. It was indeed time for a facelift.

 

went about 4 years ago and loved it. seeing Clark Gables personal car worked for me.
The bug was also on display.

 

At the very least the cars should have been offered back to the people who donated them.

 

I bet a lot of the prices they took for their tax deductible donations were a bit higher than the cars would have actually sold for in the real world.

 

IRS won't allow that. they could bid on them with everyone else.

BTW--as a museum person, after the last thread about this I expected to open this an be irritated,but it looks like everyone commenting here "gets" the process even if they don't like it.

here's hoping this whole process will make the peterson a better museum for everyone in the long run--sounds like that's what they're shooting for.