By José Antonio Pérez
Twenty-five years ago, the idea sparked to develop a “car museum” in Puerto Peñasco to house classic and custom automobiles, bringing together historic cars and other antique objects. The collection, which includes at least 25 sport and classic vehicles, is now free and open to the public and located at Calle Cipreses and Blvd. Eusebio Kino (near Números). The automobile display is further complemented by antique radios, bicycles, lamps, toys, and jukeboxes, among other objects.
Museum creator, and doctor by profession, Jaime Rodríguez Gómez explained that ever since he was a student he was interested in antique cars, either to fix them up or modify them. As soon as he could, he bought his first classic car, which soon became a habit.
He detailed his collection grew over the years, at one point reaching 30 vehicles, and he is constantly rotating these as he buys and sells as the opportunity merits. He explained his museum has transcended its own existence, to the point that some of his cars have appeared in movies, videos, or on television series.
Rodríguz Goméz recalled having first built the building just to store his cars, but finally converted it into a museum, which has not ceased to grow in recent years – both with cars and other antique objects.
He detailed the Peñasco Automobile Museum is free and open to the public, providing yet another attraction for Puerto Peñasco, though visitors have been mostly foreign tourists. It is an option to get to know classic cars up close and ride around in them, as many of the cars are available to rent for special events, along with chauffeur. The museum creator also emphasized that more than a collection, the automobile museum aims to provide a family environment while instilling an interest in automobile culture among youth, particularly for the classics.