Forget Collecting Hot Wheels. He Collects the Real F1 Cars!Forget Collecting Hot Wheels. He Collects the Real F1 Cars!

Here's your chance to see 35 years of F1 progress in one place.

Dan Carney, Senior Editor

August 9, 2021

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While most Formula 1 fans must satisfy themselves with collecting Hot Wheels or Matchbox versions of their favorite racers, or with meticulously assembly scale models, Juan Gonzalez, Chairman of the Board of Mission Foods, has the good fortune to be able to collect the real thing.

What’s the good of having such fantastic toys without a chance to show them off to your friends? In Gonzalez’s case, “friends” include like-minded enthusiasts who visit the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

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That’s where he’s sent 11 of his coolest modern-era F1 cars for display in the museum’s Charles Nearburg Family Gallery. The lot includes a 1987 Lotus 99T, a 1994 Williams FW15D, a 1995 McLaren MP4-10, a 1999 Ferrari F399, a 2005 McLaren F1 MP4-20, a 2008 McLaren F1 MP4-24, a 2011 McLaren F1 MP4-26, a 2013 Ferrari F138, a 2017 Scuderia Toro Rosso STR12, and Fernando Alonso's boldly colored 2018 McLaren MCL33.

Gonzalez’s Mission Foods is a McLaren sponsor, so it is unsurprising to see many McLarens in the collection. “Since the 1970s, I have felt passionate about (team founder) Bruce McLaren’s story,” Gonzalez explained. “How he began as a racer, then he built and developed his own car factory and race team, designing and developing Can-Am and F1 race cars.”

Related:Check Out All 21 Switches on the Mercedes-AMG F1 Steering Wheel

The selection of these specific purchases came down to a blend of their drivers’ history and the team’s success, along with technically interesting aspects of the car’s design, Gonzalez said. Plus, there’s plain old fan boy enthusiasm at work. “The F1 drivers that I consider my heroes are Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Mika Häkkinen, Fernando Alonso, Alain Prost, Lewis Hamilton, and Jenson Button,” he explained. All of them but Prost are represented by the cars in this exhibit.

As for the cars themselves, Gonzalez insists that he doesn’t have a favorite, but when pressed admits to putting Ayrton Senna’s bright yellow 1987 Lotus atop his personal list.

One common attribute of these cars from the past 35 years is that they are very narrow, to minimize aerodynamic drag. That’s fine for the young guns who raced them at the time, but isn’t great for older gentleman racers today, so Gonzalez admits that he’s never been able to drive any of these cars because he can’t fit into their cockpits.

No matter, he still has older, roomier cars that he can drive, including a 1973 Shadow DM1. “It is an incredible experience to have the opportunity to drive an F1 car,” he noted. We will have to settle for ogling Gonzalez’s cars rather than driving them. Visit The Petersen Automotive Museum by June 5, 2022 for a chance to see these beauties in person.

Related:This F1 Crash Wasn't Supposed to Happen

 

About the Author

Dan Carney

Senior Editor, Design News

Dan’s coverage of the auto industry over three decades has taken him to the racetracks, automotive engineering centers, vehicle simulators, wind tunnels, and crash-test labs of the world.

A member of the North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year jury, Dan also contributes car reviews to Popular Science magazine, serves on the International Engine of the Year jury, and has judged the collegiate Formula SAE competition.

Dan is a winner of the International Motor Press Association's Ken Purdy Award for automotive writing, as well as the National Motorsports Press Association's award for magazine writing and the Washington Automotive Press Association's Golden Quill award.

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He has held a Sports Car Club of America racing license since 1991, is an SCCA National race winner, two-time SCCA Runoffs competitor in Formula F, and an Old Dominion Region Driver of the Year award winner. Co-drove a Ford Focus 1.0-liter EcoBoost to 16 Federation Internationale de l’Automobile-accredited world speed records over distances from just under 1km to over 4,104km at the CERAM test circuit in Mortefontaine, France.

He was also a longtime contributor to the Society of Automotive Engineers' Automotive Engineering International magazine.

He specializes in analyzing technical developments, particularly in the areas of motorsports, efficiency, and safety.

He has been published in The New York Times, NBC News, Motor Trend, Popular Mechanics, The Washington Post, Hagerty, AutoTrader.com, Maxim, RaceCar Engineering, AutoWeek, Virginia Living, and others.

Dan has authored books on the Honda S2000 and Dodge Viper sports cars and contributed automotive content to the consumer finance book, Fight For Your Money.

He is a member and past president of the Washington Automotive Press Association and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers

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