02:30 ... Half past two in the morning; who on earth sets off on holiday at that time?! Answer: John (Phillpotts), Michael (Midgeley), David (Jones) and your truly, that's who! We crossed the channel via the Chunnel and by late afternoon had pulled up outside our overnight stop in Stuttgart. Our objective the next day was to see the Porsche and the Mercedes museums.
The new Porsche Museum, designed by Delugan Meissl with exhibition spaces designed by HG Merz (also involved in the building of the award winning Mercedes-Benz Museum) is just outside Porsche Headquarters, in Zuffenhausen, with a display area of 5,600 square metres, featuring many rare cars, a variety of historical models and with rotating exhibits from a stock of 300 restored cars; many in pristine condition and still in full driving order.
Some of the cars in the Porsche museum were just stunning ...
like this Porsche Type 718 RS 60 Spyder that in 1960s beat competitors with much larger engines to score its first overall victory in the 12 Hours of Sebring in Florida, USA, one of the most prestigious long-distance sports car races. Then there was the 356 Speedster ... what a car?!
In the year of my birth (1952) this little beauty was launched as the 356 model 1500 S (1488cc, 70bhp/51kW) ... this one James Dean raced (quite successfully) before he got the Porsche 550 "Little Bastard", serial number 550-0055, which is best known for being the car in which he was killed on September 30, 1955.
The 356 dates back to the Second World War when Ferdinand "Ferry" Porsche, (who died on 27 March 1998 at the age of 88), started work on development number 356 - the first design drawings were completed on 17 July 1947 and from 1950 - 1965 an amazing 78,000 of the 356 model Porsche No 1, a mid-engined roadster, were made/sold.
The next photo is of the 1986 Porsche 962C, driven by Derek Bell, Hans-Joachim Stuck, and Al Holbert, that won the Le Man 24 Hours ... 367 laps of a 8.406 mile circuit - 3,089.917 miles!
Next up we went to the Mercedes Benz museum, also in Stuttgart.
See http://www.mercedes-benz-classic.com/content/classic/mpc/mpc_classic_website/en/mpc_home/mbc/home/museum/overview_museum.html
The Mercedes-Benz museum is a pretty impressive site - based on a unique cloverleaf concept using three overlapping circles with the center removed to form a triangular atrium. The building was completed and opened in 2006 - there's even views of one of Mercedes' test tracks!
Stuttgart is home to the Mercedes-Benz brand and the international headquarters of Daimler AG. The current building, which stands directly outside the main gate of the Daimler factory in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim, was designed by UN Studio. It is based on a unique cloverleaf concept using three overlapping circles with the centre removed to form a triangular atrium. The building was completed and opened in 2006.
The Museum’s sophisticated geometry means the exhibits can be viewed while descending from the top of the Atrium - following two main paths that unfold chronologically as they descend through the building. The two main trajectories, one being the car and truck collection and the other consisting of historical displays called the Legend rooms, spiral downwards on the perimeter of the display platforms, intersecting with each other at several points allowing the visitor to change routes. It's very clever and well done ... designed by UN studio's Ben van Berkel & Caroline Bos out of Amsterdam.
The building's height and "double helix" interior were designed to maximise space, providing 16,500 square metres of exhibition space on a footprint of just 4,800 square metres. The museum contains more than 160 vehicles, some dating back to the very earliest days of the motor engine.
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