Although many of the world's greatest car museums are once again open, or opening soon, many have introduced "virtual tours". These are 7 of the best to visit without leaving the comfort of your chair.
1. Mercedes-Benz Museum Stuttgart
The Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart houses one of the world's most important collections. You can view vehicles that represent the invention of the automobile (in 1886) to futuristic concepts. In total 160 vehicles and more than 1 500 exhibits can be viewed in the museum's 9 levels with 16 500 square meters of space.
As you would expect from Mercedes-Benz, the virtual tour is top-notch and easy to navigate. You can also select a virtual reality mode for an extra immersive experience.
- Visit the Mercedes-Benz museum here.
2. The Henry Ford Museum
If your interest in history stretches beyond cars and also includes air and rail transport, then you'll find the Henry Ford Museum a fascinating place. You can now get up close with some of the Museum's most iconic exhibits, using indoor Google mapping, captured in 2015.
Some of our favourites include the presidential car collection and the massive Allegheny steam locomotive!
- Visit The Henry Ford exhibits here.
3. Museo Lamborghini
Again using Google mapping, you can spend hours in this relatively small museum because the exhibits are just so beautiful. You can even get into the driver seats of some of the rarely seen historic models or concept cars - where and how else will you get the opportunity to slide in behind the steering wheel of the likes of the Miura or Cala?
- Visit the Museo Lamborghini here.
4. The Marconi Museum
What the Marconi Automotive Museum in Orange Country, California, lacks in sheer size, it makes up for in variety and colour. You can view anything from a Ferrari F40, to a variety of racing cars (including some F1 machines) and, of course, a healthy dose of Americana... including a Plymouth Prowler.
- Visit the Marconi Museum here.
5. Ferrari Museum (s)
Ferrari has not one, but two museums, one next to its factory in Maranello, and the other in Modena. You can spend a lot of time in the Maranello Museum, using Google Street View, allowing you to step between some rarely seen racers and prototypes.
- To visit the Ferrari museum, go here.
6. The Porsche Museum
A company with as rich a history as Porsche, both on the road and the track, deserves a first-class museum, and as you'll see when taking a virtual tour... it's definitely got that box ticked.
The museum features more than 80 vehicles beautifully displayed against crisp backdrops. Vehicles dating from the pre-Porsche era are also on display.
- Visit the Porsche museum here.
7. Toyota Museum, Japan
- Visit the Toyota Museum here.