Germany's Car Culture on Display in Stuttgart
Mercedes and Porsche Museums a Must for Car Buffs
Car connoisseurs will be in heaven during a day devoted to all things auto. Begin with the Mercedes-Benz Museum. Known as much for its stunning architectural double helix designed building as it is for the cars it houses, the average visitor spends five to six hours (if you believe the marketing material) exploring the eight levels of car nirvana. The museum takes visitors on a journey through the history of Mercedes-Benz set against the bigger picture of what was happening in world history and other automotive innovations of the time. It’s this comprehensive approach that makes the museum so compelling (and will hold the attention of non car buffs as well).
The museum is set up into Legend and Collection rooms. In the Legend rooms. Visitors can admire a dizzying array of pristine automobiles spanning Mercedes-Benz’s 120-year history including a 1936 500K special roadster, a 1955 300 SL Gull-wing and a 1955 300SLR. The Collection rooms showcase different passenger and commercial vehicles organized along a theme like travel, freight transportation and celebrities.
The museum houses the first cars produced by the company and a multitude of its award winning racecars. Guests will also learn about some of the innovations pioneered by Mercedes including the creation of crumple zones in cars, telescoping steering, airbags and ABS brakes.
From the Ultimate in Mercedes Luxury to the Consumate Sports Car at Porsche
The Porsche Museum opened its doors in January of this year to showcase Germany’s smallest and the world’s most profitable car producer. The museum was created to highlight the history of Porsche through both its passenger and racing cars.
Porsche was born on June 8, 1948 with the first prototype. Founder Ferry Porsche said of the car, “It all began when I was looking around but couldn’t find the car of my dreams anywhere. So I decided to build it myself.”
The exhibition is segmented into three areas; Porsche Idea, Product History and Thematic Islands. The Porsche Idea section centers on the trailblazing technical achievements the company made to the history of the automobile. Product History presents a timeline presentation of the Porsche cars from its start in 1948 to present day. Thematic Islands delves into important aspects of Porsche like the evolution of the iconic 911.
Unlike most museums, the cars at Porsche aren’t merely eye candy. For example the 550 A Spyder will compete in the 2010 Mille Miglia and the 356 Carrera Abarth GT will compete in Australia’s Classic Adelaide. It makes perfect sense—a Porsche was made to be driven!
A vintage sports car at Mercedes Museum
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Mercedes race cars
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Porsche Museum
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