Los Angeles Petersen Museum Japanese Car Cruise 4/27/25

[The1DoubleN]

Entering into the event for the rally cruise, is anyone else planning on attending? I guess I'm also in the "show" with my nearly stock Supra!

https://www.petersen.org/events/jap...DqXsoKuMMKSuqwKX1o_aem_MNhH9NSp7SFfJQAplfPe2g

Here's some additional details I got from the organizer.

* Could you provide a general overview of the rally course? I understand the exact route is confidential, but I'm curious if it includes challenging canyon roads or stretches on freeways like the 101. Do you have an estimated total mileage for the rally course?

As it stands - the route will officially begin offsite in Frazier Park. We will be taking a back road over the mountain to the 33 which will take us into Santa Paula. This route is canyon road heavy - two lane highways, winding roads. As of today, the roads were slightly dirty with rocks/pebbles and dirt from nearby construction, so please keep this in mind. This is a longer route - about 180 miles, takes about 2.5 hours depending on speed/traffic/construction. This route is subject to change slightly before this weekend.


* Is the rally primarily an organized cruise, or are there other activities planned throughout the day? If possible, I'd appreciate a general sense of the day's schedule.

Rally participants should aim to leave the cruise-in about 10/10:30 AM for the meeting point in Frazier Park. Do the drive - arrive about 2:30/3 PM for a late lunch and small collection tour. Everyone departs on their own from there.

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[Sithlord84]

I’m a BIG maybe. If I do, I’ll probably "show" my car too.

 

[Dven11]

I'll be attending. Wont be doing the cruise but heading down to cruise Malibu.

 

[The1DoubleN]

Hey everyone,

Wanted to share my $.02 for anyone considering attending next year...

The show itself down at the museum was okay. Pretty big turnout with hundreds of cars, but honestly, I only spotted maybe 4-5 MkV Supras there, including mine. In hindsight, probably wouldn't have bothered entering my car just for that part.

Now, the main reason I shelled out the $120 was because you had to buy the combined Show + Rally package deal to get access to a private car collection out in Santa Paula. And yeah, that collection visit was definitely cool – the highlight for sure, and glad I got to see it.

The "rally," though... that's where it kinda fell apart, especially since it was mandatory for the collection visit. Calling it a rally was a real stretch to begin with.

• Organization & Execution: The actual event felt pretty disorganized. There was no route map given out beforehand, no waypoints, no timing, nothing structured – it seemed like they were making the route up as they went along. It ended up being just a follow-the-leader drive down Hwy 23 -> Mulholland -> Kanan -> Latigo. The leadership itself was lacking; the leader couldn't keep completely on his side of the road through most blind corners (we are fortunate nothing happened), showing a noticeable lack of experience in guiding a group drive. On top of that, running Latigo downhill isn't the ideal way to enjoy that road. Only about 10-15 cars even participated out of the several hundred that attended the show at Petersen.
• Description vs. Reality: Beyond the execution, the rally description provided ahead of time was completely inaccurate and misleading. They really should just call it a "group drive" or "spirited cruise" next time to set proper expectations. The advertised route, mileage, and time estimate were way off from reality. For instance, the description mentioned a meetup point in Frazier Park and driving Hwy 33 through Ojai – neither of which happened. I was actually specifically looking forward to driving Hwy 33 again, which added to the disappointment.

On the plus side, I didn't take any pics myself, but the official Petersen photographer seemed cool and got some good running shots of my car during the drive part. He mentioned the museum would send these out to participants, so definitely looking forward to seeing those!

So, overall? While the private collection was neat, forcing people into the $120 bundle with that lackluster, disorganized, and misrepresented rally, plus the long day it took (7 AM to 5 PM for us), just didn't feel worth the money or time compared to my usual Sunday morning canyon carving sessions.

Bottom line: Cool private collection, but because of the mandatory bundle and the weak, inaccurately described rally execution, I won't be paying to participate again under this setup. If I go next year, it'll probably just be as a free spectator at the main Petersen show.

 

[downshift00]

Hey everyone,

Wanted to share my $.02 for anyone considering attending next year...

The show itself down at the museum was okay. Pretty big turnout with hundreds of cars, but honestly, I only spotted maybe 4-5 MkV Supras there, including mine. In hindsight, probably wouldn't have bothered entering my car just for that part.

Now, the main reason I shelled out the $120 was because you had to buy the combined Show + Rally package deal to get access to a private car collection out in Santa Paula. And yeah, that collection visit was definitely cool – the highlight for sure, and glad I got to see it.

The "rally," though... that's where it kinda fell apart, especially since it was mandatory for the collection visit. Calling it a rally was a real stretch to begin with.

• Organization & Execution: The actual event felt pretty disorganized. There was no route map given out beforehand, no waypoints, no timing, nothing structured – it seemed like they were making the route up as they went along. It ended up being just a follow-the-leader drive down Hwy 23 -> Mulholland -> Kanan -> Latigo. The leadership itself was lacking; the leader couldn't keep completely on his side of the road through most blind corners (we are fortunate nothing happened), showing a noticeable lack of experience in guiding a group drive. On top of that, running Latigo downhill isn't the ideal way to enjoy that road. Only about 10-15 cars even participated out of the several hundred that attended the show at Petersen.
• Description vs. Reality: Beyond the execution, the rally description provided ahead of time was completely inaccurate and misleading. They really should just call it a "group drive" or "spirited cruise" next time to set proper expectations. The advertised route, mileage, and time estimate were way off from reality. For instance, the description mentioned a meetup point in Frazier Park and driving Hwy 33 through Ojai – neither of which happened. I was actually specifically looking forward to driving Hwy 33 again, which added to the disappointment.

On the plus side, I didn't take any pics myself, but the official Petersen photographer seemed cool and got some good running shots of my car during the drive part. He mentioned the museum would send these out to participants, so definitely looking forward to seeing those!

So, overall? While the private collection was neat, forcing people into the $120 bundle with that lackluster, disorganized, and misrepresented rally, plus the long day it took (7 AM to 5 PM for us), just didn't feel worth the money or time compared to my usual Sunday morning canyon carving sessions.

Bottom line: Cool private collection, but because of the mandatory bundle and the weak, inaccurately described rally execution, I won't be paying to participate again under this setup. If I go next year, it'll probably just be as a free spectator at the main Petersen show.

Here is the link to their photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1tHfowYCLhtL4V8XAg044tiKCdXOGHlgY

I was able to check it out while I was in SoCal this past week. Was a decent turnout, but like you said there weren't very many Mk5s, which I kind of expected since maybe people condsider it not a Japanese car?.. What I was really shocked about was that I didn't see any Mk4s at all, unless I missed it? There were more MK2 and 3s though.

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