Stuttgart is the heart of car country in Germany, and the city is adding to its collection of tributes to car makers with the opening of the new Porsche museum at the end of the year.
Currently under construction in Stuttgart’s Zuffenhausen district, the new museum is set to bring the sports car producer’s history to life more vividly than ever before. Ferdinand Porsche, who once worked for Daimler, invented both the legendary compressor sports car and the sporty serial and racing models – the Porsche 904 Carrera GTS Coupé and the Porsche 911. He also developed the Volkswagen, or "Beetle," in 1936. Designed by Vienna architects Delugan Meissl, the new Porsche museum will house more than 80 legendary cars, some of which have not been seen in public ever. Porsche’s current museum will remain open until the new one is finished. With its close to 20 vehicles on display, it gives visitors a small preview of the upcoming exhibition of more than 100 years of Porsche history.
Mercedes Benz has made its history accessible in its futuristic, double-helix museum building. Two tours show off the company’s complete automobile collection. One follows the chronological development of the legendary brand, the other featuring rare vehicle collections, highlights including the first automobiles developed by Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler, the first serial diesel car, the ‘silver arrow’, which wrote many glorious chapters of the Mercedes Benz racing history, and the Mercedes Benz 300 SL coupe, which became a legend for its wing doors.
Other Stuttgart motor museums include the former workshop of Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach. On display in this converted garden house on the Villa Canstatt in original workshop ambience are drawings, documents, photographs and models, including the first, 1886 motorboat and the Wolfertsches air ship, dating back to 1888.
For more information on Stuttgart and its car museums go to www.stuttgart-tourist.de and www.cometogermany.com.