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San Diego Automotive Museum
The renowned automobile collector and racer Briggs Cunningham came up with the idea of creating an automotive museum in Balboa Park. The idea kept floating for many years before a group of automotive enthusiasts from San Diego took the idea of an automotive museum further and in 1979, the San Diego City Council took up the idea for consideration for the first time. Finally in 1980, the Council approved the automotive museum and gave a long term lease on one of the historical building in Balboa Park and this lead to the creation of San Diego Automotive Museum.
The building where the San Diego Automotive Museum is currently housed was renovated and upgraded using nearly $1 million and the museum officially opened in December 1988.
Today the San Diego Automotive Museum has more than 80 historic autos and motorcycles as exhibits. Even Frank Sinatra’s 1967 Austin Petrol Hire Car and Louie Mattar’s $75,000 car are housed in the San Diego Automotive Museum. Every two to three months, special exhibitions are organized in the museum to showcase and display other vehicles and famous autos.
The building where the San Diego Automotive Museum is housed was originally constructed in 1935 and it was part of the California Pacific International Exposition. The building was meant to be a temporary structure which is still standing today. The building has seen many events and has been used for different purposes. During the California Pacific International Exposition, it was used to display goods; during World War II, it was used as barracks for Navy Corpsman training; after the war it was used as a storage place, an auditorium and festive dancing before being put to its present use as the San Diego Automotive Museum.
The parking lot in front of the San Diego Automotive Museum was once the famous and striking Firestone Singing Fountain. The museum is just next to the world-famous Aerospace Museum and across the San Diego Automotive Museum is the Starlight Bowl, the imposing outdoor theater.
- Address: 2080 Pan American Plaza, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA 92101
- Telephone: (619) 231-2886
- Hours: 9 AM – 5 PM daily, last admission is at 4.30 PM
- Website: www.sdautomuseum.org
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