Scooters: Size Doesn’t Always Matter at Petersen Automotive Museum in LA

By April MacIntyre Jun 22, 2011, 5:39 GMT

1958 Rumi Prototype. Photo: Courtesy of Mario Artavia.

The Petersen Automotive Museum’s latest exhibition Scooters: Size Doesn’t Always Matter reveals a fascinating chronological tour of motor scooter development beginning with the simple Autoped of the mid-1910s to the alternative power vehicles of today.

The museum announced that over 90 vehicles are on display in this colorful and quirky exhibit of miniscule motoring. The exhibition runs through May 28, 2012.

Smaller, more affordable, and easier to maneuver than motorcycles, motor scooters offer an efficient and stylish means to run quick errands and travel short distances. Scooters shows how this genre of motor bike has evolved from simple tube frames with motors to the sophisticated, comfortable, aerodynamic vehicles of today.

The exhibit also illustrates how scooters have been adapted to business and industrial uses, how they have been utilized by the movie and television industry, and how Southern California was once a major scooter manufacturing hub.

Wild or tame, foreign or domestic, old or new, scooters continue to offer a viable and economical alternative to other more traditional vehicles in our motoring landscape and provide a desirable means for free spirited motorists to boldly express themselves without saying a word.