Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys recently performed at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles for its 15th annual gala. The theme for the evening was "California Dreaming," according to The New York Times.

"We're going to do a series of car songs because this place has a lot of cars," Mr. Wilson announced, before singing some of the group's classics: "Little Deuce Coupe," "409," "All Summer Long" and "Shut Down."

Few groups were as prolific in shoving cars into their lyrics as the Beach Boys, except for maybe Jan and Dean ("Drag City").

But before the gig, Mr. Wilson told AutoWeek that neither he nor his brothers were interested in drag racing.

"No, we never did, never went to the races," Mr. Wilson said.

He added that there was no particular 409 or little deuce coupe. "I didn't know much about cars, anyway," he said.