REVIEW | Porsche Museum in Stuttgart

July 2022. As a teacher, Steve has the possibility to do a bigger trip in the school summer break. I don’t, or rarely do. After The Hague in 2020 and Utrecht in 2021, we decided to go to Germany for a now more or less traditional three-day weekend in July. Our eye fell on Stuttgart, in the state of Baden-Württemberg.

On the Sunday of our Stuttgart trip, Steve and I visited the Porsche Museum. The museum is located in the Zuffenhausen district of Stuttgart, on the site of carmaker Porsche.

We got there using the controversial 9-euro ticket for regional transport. In 2022, in June, July and August, you could travel on al local and regional public transport for a month, for 9 euros. It resulted in full trains, metros and trams. When decision makers have such ideas, they shamelessly leave the practicalities and coping with reality to others.

The museum is adjacent to Neuwirtshaus (Porscheplatz) station.

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History of the museum

The original Porsche museum opened in 1976 in a side-road near the Porsche factory. It was a relatively small works museum with little parking space and it was only big enough to hold around twenty exhibits (in rotation).

Porsche built the museum as a kind of ‘rolling museum’ with rotating exhibits from a stock of 300 restored cars, many in pristine condition and still in full driving order.

Originally there was discussion that the new museum would be built alongside a new Mercedes-Benz Museum on former trade fair grounds in the Killesberg area of Stuttgart.

After the new Mercedes-Benz Museum opened in the east of Stuttgart in 2006, Porsche went ahead with plans to upgrade and extend its museum in the northern district of Zuffenhausen next to the company headquarters.

The new museum

The new Porsche museum stands on a conspicuous junction just outside Porsche Headquarters in Zuffenhausen. The display area covers 5,600 square metres featuring over eighty exhibits, many rare cars and a variety of historical models.

The museum was designed by the architects Delugan Meissl Associated Architects. The exhibition spaces were designed by HG Merz, who was also involved in the building of the Mercedes-Benz Museum.

The museum opened in January 2009.

A visit

What a different vibe compared to the Mercedes-Benz Museum. While Mercedes opted for shades of grey, a nod to the Silver Arrows, Porsche chose white.

The museum area is smaller and there seem to be more cars per square metre. You can get much closer to the cars, which is nice. Eighty cars is quite a collection and there are a few really special ones.

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The oldest 911 still ‘alive’ for instance. And a lot of racing cars.

The Porsche 956 which led Jacky Icx (Belgium), Hurley Haywood (United States) and Jürgen Barth (Germany) to victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1977.
The 1997 Le Mans Porsche 911 GT1 of Thierry Boutsen (Belgium), Hans-Joachim Stuck (Austria, Germany) and Bob Wollek (France).
The 1994 Porsche 962 GT LM driven by Boutsen, Stuck and Danny Sullivan (US).
The 2015 Le Mans winning Porsche 919 Hybrid of Earl Bamber (New Zealand), Nick Tandy (United Kingdom) and Nico Hülkenberg (Germany).
The 1985 McLaren MP4/2B – TAG Porsche, driven by Alain Prost (France) in Formula 1.

Porsche Le Mans racing cars and a McLaren – TAG Porsche Formula 1. racing car.

But standing out is the Porsche 917/20, racing at Le Mans in 1971 sporting a pink livery and the names of parts of pork meat. It was nicknamed the ‘Pink Pig‘.

So?

The Porsche Museum is a very nice showroom of Porsches past and present. But that is it: a showroom. While the Mercedes-Benz Museum makes a (better) effort at putting its car history into a historic contest, Porsche doesn’t. It’s a showroom.

Car (related) museums

More Formula 1 and other racing

Timothy in Stuttgart 2022

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