The incredible and legendary sports cars of the Marconi Automotive Museum

A rather unassuming exterior, belying all the incredible machines within.

For the full story behind this tour, check out The rare and gorgeous sports cars of the Marconi Automotive Museum.

As you enter the museum you're greeted by some lovely two-wheeled machines, like the Bimota YB11 on the left, the Yamaha CBR600F2 along with various Ducati and Honda models.

Many of the lovelies in the main section of the museum.

One of my favorites of all time, the BMW M1. The entrance is next to the Ferraris, but I was drawn to this like a magnet.

Not very lavish for a high-end sports car, but certainly functional. I dig the dog-leg first gear.

Those iconic side strakes are so instantly recognizable as a Testarossa, though this is the later 512 TR of which Ferrari says includes an interior that was "redesigned to increase comfort and ergonomics and the exterior facelift was designed to improve aerodynamics."

Big tires plus a super-wide flat-12 engine results in this. Wide then, and about as wide as the modern big Ferraris. So cool.

A mint 1966 Corvette Sting Ray,

Under the hood is a massive 7.0-liter V8 with over 400 hp.

What a delightful cockpit. I wonder what the engine sounded like in here. Oh, this.

Though 478 hp is almost tame these days, what an absolute monster the F40 was.

That's a 195 S in the background.

More cars should so gloriously show off their engines.

Keeping the weight as low as possible, the interior is nicely spartan.

Compare that to the 195 S race car's interior, 41 years older.

A Ferrari 365 GTB/4 "Daytona" in the only other respectable Ferrari color.

"At no time did we exceed 175 mph."

This is one of the rarest cars you'll ever see. A 1996 Ferrari FX, built custom for the Sultan of Brunei. Powered by a Testarossa flat-12 mated to a then racing-only sequential gearbox. It's the only one not still in Brunei.

Along two of the walls (and on several) are a bevy of race cars. The middle one is Mario Andretti's 1993 IndyCar.

Nice horse. The real stars here are Michael Schumacher's 1996 Ferrari and Ayrton Senna's 1988 Honda.

This was the first Ferrari race car to use a V10.

Slower and heavier than the car it replaced, perhaps the F50 was just a little too much less... crazy?

The interior was still no-nonsense race-car-for-the-street.

Ah the DeLorean. The first car to break my heart. I wanted one so bad (I mean look at it!). But as I learned more about cars, I understood that underneath it's a bit meh.

Those doors though...

Serious Pony car muscle. A 1969 Mach 1, next to '68 and '67 GT350s.

The story here is the red GT350 which was a "little old lady's" daily driver for 24 years. She wasn't from Pasadena, but she did more to Southern California with this car.

Around the corner in the small annex to the main museum room are these two Mach 1s, a 1970 on the left and a 1971 on the right. Peeking out from behind are two Bentleys, a Turbo RL from 1994 and a 2002 Azure.

The annex is largely more racers, of the smaller variety. There are a few more cars on the platform above, but these were too hard to photograph due to the angle and the lighting.

A 6L V8 drags nearly 19ft/5.8m of Cadillac in this 1957 Coupe de Ville.

The 1956 Eldorado looks almost tame by comparison, but it's nearly as large.

No car museum is complete without the legendary 300 SL. Still a beauty more than six decades later.

I think plaid seats should make a comeback. Just me? Hello? Anyone?

The first production car with fuel injection, the 300 SL's system was famously mechanical. Since there was no fuel cutoff, some fuel would enter the cylinders after you turned off the car, but before the engine stopped moving. This would dilute the oil. Oil changes were a recommended every 1,000 miles. Small price to pay for such a car though.

Ah the Countach. The ultimate angular masterpiece. Too bad this 1989 Anniversary Edition still has its ugly bumpers. Such it was in its day, though.

Another rare treat at the Marconi, an actual Cizeta-Moroder V16T. Only 20 were made.

The 81-inch/205.7-centimeter(!) wide chassis was necessary to hold the V16, which was actually two transverse V8s mounted facing each other with the transmission in between (sort of like a "T").

A stately and immaculate Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith.

This custom GMC Sierra was given to Oscar de la Hoya after he won the gold medal for boxing. It has some incredible artwork of the man himself on the hood, bespoke trim pieces, suicide doors and...

...a 24-karat gold sound system in the bed.

The Marconi has a decided sports-car tilt, but there are a few older gems like this Model A. The nearby Automobile Driving Museum and not-as-nearby Nethercutt Museum and Collection offer a wider variety of cars from this era.

A '74 Maserati Bora. This one has the 4.9L V8, but lacks the US-spec bumper nubbins. To be fair, I'd have taken them off too.

One of the museums subtle surprises, a 1981 Ferrari BB 512i, none of which were ever sold (offically) in the US.

Hotblack Desiato would dig this car.

A XJ220 is rare enough, but this example is even rarer. It's 1 of 5 XJ220-S models. 3.3 seconds to 60 thanks to carbon-fiber bodywork, stripped-out interior and a 690 hp twin-turbo V6.

A '73 GTS and a '72 GT.

Though the Espada looks epically wide and long, it isn't compared to many cars today. It's shorter and narrower than an Aston Rapide or Porsche Panamera, for example.

There is just something so cool about deeply recessed binnacled gauges and big manual switches.

Reminds me of a second-generation Honda CRX, with this tinted mini-window on the back of the trunk.

Even more rare than the Espada, the Jarama shared its engine but in a smaller car. Only 328 were made, 250 of them were the 365 hp GTS like this one.

Still gorgeous and totally iconic. How many other cars from 1996 could say that?

I'm not a huge Corvette fan, but Chevy really nailed the C7. What an awesome looking car. This Z06 has been modified a bit (look at those wheel arches!).

And sadly, this is the end of our tour of the Marconi and these amazing cars. For the full story, check out The rare and gorgeous sports cars of the Marconi Automotive Museum.