Porsche Museum Visit

Typ 64

 As my own personal interests run towards auto racing and military history, southern Germany and northern France are somewhat of a Mecca for me – the former as the home of legendary auto manufacturers Porsche and Mercedes-Benz, the latter as the battlefields over which the Great Wars of the 20^th century (as well as centuries before) raged. So to start off this new blog I'm going to write a few posts about our European trip, from an automotive perspective.

Our own trip started in London for a few days with friends before flying into Stuttgart to begin the Continental tour. We departed from London Stansted airport for the one-hour flight to Stuttgart. We flew on a smaller carrier (Germanwings) at a very reasonable cost – less than 120e for two travelers.  Booking on the Web got us a free meal voucher and a checked bag allowance of one apiece. The flight itself was pleasant and the Stuttgart airport service was efficient – customs involvement was minimal and quick. We had booked a small hotel in central Stuttgart for three nights and since we were arriving late, we had arranged to pick up our rental car the next day at the train station. The taxi ride to the hotel cost a reasonable 30e considering the distance from the airport. We had no problem checking into the Hotel Find, which we had booked using booking.com.

Our hotel was near to the central pedestrian plaza in Stuttgart and it was convenient and pleasant for walking and shopping. Stuttgart isn’t the most beautiful city but the shopping area was clean and pleasant, with a typical European layout – wide central streets with shops located within the old buildings lining the street. Aesthetically quite pleasing, but not quite as efficient for identifying the shops in the interior of the block!

The morning after we arrived we picked up the car (a SEAT Ibiza rented from EuropCar) at the train station and set off for the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen. It was easy to get to but once there, parking was NOT intuitive… we circled the Museum several times and ended up driving through an industrial park looking for parking as it was not clearly marked. The Museum parking turned out to be in an underground lot right below the Museum; if you go, take the roundabout exit that leads between the Museum and the Porsche dealer across the street, and turn in to the left into the Museum block, following the signs to the underground lot.

The Museum itself… what can you say. Opened in January 2009, this eye-catching architectural masterpiece comprises 5,600 square meters of exhibition space. For a Porsche enthusiast this is the ultimate way to spend several hours. For the non-Porsche enthusiast… it’s still pretty cool. My wife fully expected to spend her afternoon in the coffee shop reading a book, but she was pleasantly surprised to find that the recorded audio tour held her interest. Visitors are issued a standard audio-tour device and punch in the appropriate numbers on the plaque in front of a display, and the commentary plays. Most of the collection’s cars had an accompanying commentary, and there were a couple of displays that had a clever “sync” feature where the audio device played along with a video.

The cars are the stars here, of course, and there is something to appeal to most every kind of enthusiast. Fans of early Porsches will enjoy seeing some of the fruits of the Doctor’s pre-war labours, including a beautiful Austro-Daimler “Sascha” (no Auto-Union racers though, unfortunately), the 1939 Typ 64 Berlin-Rome racer in bare alloy, as well as the gorgeous 360 Cisitalia monoposto mid-engine GP car, and of course “Porsche Number One”, the mid-engine roadster precursor to the 356. Production racing enthusiasts will favour the displays including the 550 Spyder, 904 GTS, 911 RSR, and my personal favourite the outrageously flared and bewinged 1974 Carrera RS Turbo 2.1, as well as the beautiful Martini-liveried 911SC “Safari” rally car. Prototype fans will be in awe at the brace of 917s including the famous “hippie car”, the notorious “Pink Pig”, and Mark Donohue’s Can-Am 917PA spyder.  And the famous “upside down” 962, demonstrating the concept that the car produced sufficient downforce at speed that it could theoretically drive along the ceiling!  There are production cars and prototypes too, including a beautiful 1973 911 Carrera RS 2.8, the 924 prototype, the first 930 (aka 911 Turbo), a gorgeous 928 and the sublime 959.

Austro-Daimler "Sascha"

356 coupe

911 RSR

904

550

911 prototype... ugh

Panamericana show car

Carrera RSR Turbo 2.1!!

a happy dude

Porsche Salzburg LeMans-winning 917

can't get enough pics of the Turbo 2.1

upside-downie... demonstrating that at speed, sufficient downforce exists to drive on the ceiling!

Gulf 917

917 "Pink Pig" (notice cuts of pork)

The most-seen view of Donohue's 917PA

Prost's McLaren-TAG F1 car

959

953 rally car

911 SC RS

"Moby Dick"

The iconic Fuchs forged road wheel

"My" 911 ;-)

The theme of the special display area was the evolution of the 911, with examples of each generation up to the current 991 displayed on rotating platforms. I was especially pleased to see that the example of the 1984-89 911 Carrera 3.2 was a Grand Prix White model with black interior, just like my own car! (well, maybe a bit nicer)

As mentioned, the Museum houses a coffee shop as well as a full restaurant (“Christophorus”) and of course, a gift shop… the selection of posters and books was excellent and mostly reasonably priced. Clothing was available but seemed very expensive, even for Porsche stuff. Models were available as well. Across the street is “Porsche Zentrum Stuttgart”, a huge dealership with a showroom containing an example of every model in the range, as well as pre-owned cars. There is also a “driver’s store” there, with a bunch more Porsche-branded swag at premium prices. 

Definitely a must-see for car enthusiasts who find themselves anywhere near Stuttgart... whatever your opinion of Porsches, you can't argue with the amazing history and consistent race success of the marque. 

(a version of this story will appear in "Red River Ramblings", the local Porsche Club of America newsletter)