If If you ever find yourself in Stuttgart with some time to spare, you’ll find you have a number of options for things to do – you could go for a walk around the Koenigstrasse area, check out the shops, as well as indulge in a more than decent steak at a reasonable price. Both the Scloss (castle) and the Schlossgarten are worth a visit. One could also visit Stuttgart’s TV tower, which is a tourist attraction, as it’s the first TV tower in Germany. But if you’re a petrol-head like me, and a Mercedes and Porsche fan to boot, then their respective museums should most certainly be on the agenda.

Mercedes Museum
Several years ago, I visited the Mercedes Museum at Bad Canstatt, and it was a fun day etched in my mind, particularly as I didn’t know if I’d ever get the chance to visit the museum, or Germany again for that matter. A longing made stronger recently, since the Mercedes Museum is housed in a new premises – one that’s bigger and better in every way.
 
Well, thanks to Mercedes India that chance came once again. Unfortunately, as time was limited, I was only able to spend a couple of hours – unlike my previous full-day visit years ago. But what a museum it is. The architecture itself is astounding – immediately after entering the museum, and purchasing the eintrittskarte, you’re faced with what must be one of the most amazing atriums you’ll ever see.

The idea behind the museum layout is to take the visitor along a timeline through more than a hundred years of automotive history. This is achieved over nine floors and 16,500 square meters of floor space of exhibits – titled ‘Mythos’ or ‘The Legend.’ In addition to this, five of the eight floors have additional themed exhibits in special Collectionsräume (ko-leks-eon-roy-mer), or Collection Rooms.

First, one is taken right up 34 metres to the top floor in a lift that’s designed to look like a time capsule, so in effect you are travelling back through time to 1886 – the very beginning when Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz started it all. Step out of the lift, and the first thing you see is a very lifelike recreation of a horse – the method of travel that existed before horseless carriages took over. The first room is dedicated to the pioneers and the invention of the automobile. Apart from the very first car, this room also has other examples of transportation, including boats. Then the journey begins on a downward spiral through the floors. The next floor is about the birth of the Mercedes marque, and what’s most interesting here is the Simplex-Mercedes. The first Collection room is on this floor too – titled Galerie der Reisen, the exhibits are about transporting people in numbers, and it’s interesting to see how buses developed through the years. A floor down from there takes you into the advent of diesel engines, and also how Mercedes took to the Kompressor – supercharger – as a way of life. The second Collection room is the Galerie der Lasten or cargo/goods carriers – trucks, trailers developed and manufactured through time, including a very interesting three-wheeled Rennwagen (racing car) cab and trailer.



Now, you find yourself on the fifth floor, where the exhibit is all about restructuring after WWII. This is also where one sees the famous 300SL, amongst other exhibits and the Galerie der Helfer collection – vehicles involved in public service like ambulances, fire engines, and even a truck with a plough attached to its front. The fourth floor is titled Sicherheit und Umwelt, or safety and environment. In keeping with the consumer movement, the exhibits here show how Mercedes has been progressing in terms of providing cars that are safe for all road users. Due to the lack of time, I skipped a collection room, or two, because I wanted to spend a little time with what is very close to my heart – the exhibits titled Silberpfeile or Silver Arrows, which were all the racing and sports cars that Mercedes has made over the years. DTM cars, touring cars in other series, Indy Cars, F1 cars, even trucks, and of course the earlier cars that made the Mercedes marque famous all over the world thanks to the exploits in racing and rallying are all there. The final exhibit is a gallery of cars exhibiting several technological innovations including concept cars like the F400 Carving.

The Mercedes Museum, which certainly warrants a return visit of a longer duration, also has a great museum shop and restaurant (where I was treated to a superb lunch of regional specialities). The Museum is at Mercedesstrasse 100, 70372 Stuttgart, overlooking the grounds of VfB Stuttgart, the city’s representative in the Bundesliga, and is open on all days, except Monday, from 9am to 6pm.