Marconi Automotive Museum | iDSC054

Marconi Automotive Museum Great Cars for a Great Cause The Marconi Automotive Museum in Tustin, California looks, feels and even smells fast. American muscle – check. Racecars – check. Ferraris and Lamborghinis – check and check. Sportbikes that give you whiplash just looking at them – many checks. Their collection also includes a Gullwing Mercedes-Benz and Rolls-Royce from the 1950’s, a firetruck from the 1930’s and much more. It’s an auto museum that makes kids, both young and old, grin and drool. But it’s also a venue for private and corporate events and all for a good cause. The museum is also a non-profit that supports Southern California organizations that help at-risk children. In this iDriveSoCal Podcast we learn the history of The Marconi Automotive Museum from the museum’s CEO, Priscilla “Bo” Marconi. ***Transcript*** Recording date – April 5, 2018 in Tustin, CA Marconi Foundation for Kids Bo Marconi: Somewhere along the way, Dick decided that he really wanted to put his money where his mouth is. He's always been very philanthropically-minded and so he decided to donate all of the car collection and the building to the Marconi Foundation for Kids. We've got to one-of-a-kind Ferraris here in our collection. We have the 53rd car that Enzo Ferrari built. We've also got a beautiful Gullwing. Ranging from American muscle cars. We've got a Firefox fire truck from the 30s and all the way up to the modern day car, so there's something here for everybody. Tom Smith: Welcome to iDriveSoCal, the podcast all about mobility from the automotive capital of the United States--Southern California. I'm Tom Smith and having a lot of fun with iDriveSoCal yet again today as I'm in Tustin, California at the Marconi Automotive Museum, and joining me is Priscilla "Bo" Marconi of the Marconi Automotive Museum, excuse me, the CEO, actually. Priscilla, Bo--I'm gonna go with Bo--thank you so much for joining me. Bo Marconi: My pleasure. Happy to be here. "We've got to one-of-a-kind Ferraris here in our collection. We have the 53rd car that Enzo Ferrari built." Tom Smith: So the museum was founded by your husband. Bo Marconi: It was, yes. Tom Smith: And it is an adult playground. For anyone that's been here already, they know exactly what I'm talking about. If you haven't been here, you absolutely have to come, and you will see the most fabulous display of high-performance vehicles, race cars. And Bo is going to fill us in on how it became and what it's all about. Learn, Earn & Return Bo Marconi: Well, my husband Dick founded the place in 1994, and he bought this building which was a former solid oil manufacturing facility that had gone out of business. And I can remember seeing it thinking, "Oh this is a terrible place." It was decrepit. I had no vision for what it could be. But Dick is a great visionary, and he put what he calls cubic dollars into it, and he formed this museum, and he moved his open-wheel race car team into it along with his car collection of about 75 cars. And so for a couple of years, he used it as a facility to tune the engines. We had mechanics running around and, because he raced professionally, that was the whole purpose of this building. But once he decided that he wanted to stop racing, he opened it up as a special event facility, and we became very organically. So somewhere along the way, Dick decided that he really wanted to put his money where his mouth is. He's always been very philanthropically-minded and so he decided to donate all of the car collection and the building to the Marconi Foundation for Kids, which is a 501 (c)(3) public foundation. "...so he decided to donate all of the car collection and the building to the M...