The new Porsche Museum in Stuttgart is a striking modernist building situated opposite the factory and a very large Porsche dealership.
Porsche Museum
Entering at the ground level ticket office (where there is also the ubiquitous cafe and shop) you take a long escalator through the heart of the building to the Museum floors. At the top of the escalator the first car that you see is the aluminium shell of the pre war prototype Beetle designed by Ferdinand Porsche. The future lines of the Porsche 356 and 911 are clearly apparent.
Porsche Museum
Prototype Beetle
The Museum has a relatively small selection of cars on show but each is absolutely pristine and of great historical importance. Near the prototype Beetle there is the first 356 Roadster and near that the first 911 coupe. The basic design architecture of the 911 has changed little since the first model. That it still works so well is testament to the design genius of Porsche. At some point I would like a 911, preferably an air cooled model. A 911 S from the early 70’s on Fuchs alloys is about as pure a 911 as there is but sadly they are now beyond my reach financially. maybe I’ll get a T from the same period or maybe a 993 S. The latter would make a great everyday classic.
Porsche 356 Roadster No 1
The first Porsche 911
Among the racing machinery on display are a smart Porsche 904, the fantastic Porsche Salzburg Porsche 917 in which Richard Attwood won the rain soaked Le Mans 24hr in 1970, and Alain Prost’s 1986 turbo charged McLaren TAG MP4 -2C . This is the car Prost used to snatch the world championship from Mansell (who had been leading him by 7 points) after the latter’s Williams suffered a 180mph tyre failure on the Brabham Straight at the Australian GP, the last race of the season.
Porsche 904 Coupe
Richard Attwood’s 1970 Le Mans winning Porsche 917
Alain Prost’s 1986 Title winning McLaren MP4/2C TAG Porsche
It’s a great Museum but you can see it in less than two hours. Its definately worth a visit but you would not want to come to Stuttgart just for this museum. Luckily there is another bigger car company in Stuttgart with a much bigger and more interesting museum..
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