What's Your Favorite Automotive Museum?

Photo: Craig Hudson for The Washington Post (Getty Images)

We all love automobiles in motion. Track days, drift events, autocross — it’s always fun to see a car being used. Even a parking lot meet hits the same notes, as cars at least have to drive as far as a Starbucks to attend. We all appreciate when things are actually used for their purpose, rather than locked down in climate-controlled garages to preserve some imagined future value.

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But, sometimes, that climate-controlled space is the only way to see an automobile. Maybe due to rarity, or cost, or the fact that a Concorde is a tricky thing to park outside of your local Stop and Shop on a Thursday night. Sometimes, you just have to go to a museum. But which one?

Personally, my favorite automotive museum will always be the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. I had visited it multiple times as a kid, and could never get enough — I could spend hours, days in there, just gawking at every piece of machinery in its halls. And that’s before you mention the second building, the one that houses an actual space shuttle. A shuttle. That went to space. That you can, just, see. Someday, I need to visit again.

My pick for the best automotive museum is Air and Space (because, again, how do you compete with an actual real-life space shuttle?), but your tastes may differ from mine. Are you a Petersen person? A Lane lad? A Corvette comrade? Leave your answer in the comments, and we’ll pick our favorites in a few days.