I'd been in the Petersen Automotive Museum's basement once before, many years ago, illegally, and thanks to an old Volvo P1800 key that magically fit in an elevator. But that was in the dark, and avoiding the gaze of a security guard. So when I got the chance to get a real tour of the vault, I was pretty excited,…

The Petersen Museum is a gem for car lovers, preserving and displaying some of the world's most important and interesting cars. Below the museum is "the vault" a.k.a. the Fort Knox of the automotive world. It's where they hide the collection's fascinating mobile artifacts in between exhibits and store cars they don't…

This is a story about how I found the basement for the world's most storied auto museum with a key from an old Volvo and realized I loved something more than cars. Specifically, how I loved the woman who would end up with the questionable honor of being my wife.

Crawling around behind-the-curtains at The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, one of the first cars I noticed was a bright yellow De Tomaso Pantera. But this wasn't any Italo-American exotic. It was Elvis Presley's Pantera and it has the bullet holes from The King's revolver to prove it. Here's how they got…

You know it's a true Cadillac when it makes you hear Patsy Cline and dream about long, oak-lined boulevards. Housed at the wonderful Petersen Musem. [Photo Credit: Thomas Hawk]