When my wife came to me a few months ago with an inexpensive flight package to Europe and a gleam in her eye, I couldn’t say no to a week long vacation to the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium. I only had one stipulation, that I was able to visit the Porsche museum in Stuttgart. After a few days in Amsterdam ambling through art museums and checking out some amazing restaurants. Then it was the long slog on the Autobahn in our rental Volkswagen Tiguan Diesel (with a manual) to get to Stuttgart for a couple days.
There is the Mercedes museum in town, which is worth checking out, but it doesn’t hold a candle to P-car Headquarters. This is perhaps the most impressive automotive museum I’ve ever visited, and I’ve been to many. Porsche has such a long and storied past that this museum holds a little something for everyone. From such humble beginnings to now, Porsche has grown into a massive multi-generational sports car hero for many, and this museum manages to capture each era in perfect light.
When you’ve been to as many vintage racing museums and private collections as many of us Porsche superfans have, it seems like just another museum wouldn’t be all that interesting, but this one is. There even managed to be a small handful of things I’ve never seen in person before. Things like the 909 Bergspyder and the 16-cylinder 917, just to name a few, are so unique that it’s only possible to see them with a 13 hour trans-Atlantic flight.
Of course, after a lovely morning walking among the greats of Porsche’s legendary history, we had to stop in to the museum gift store. I purchased a grille badge for my 912E, a tiny flip book of Walter Rohrl doing a big dirty slide in a 911 SC/RS, and a book about Porsche’s transaxle cars.
There were a number of other things I could have purchased, like this Playmobil set, or THE BEEFER.
And then, because we were there, we ate lunch in Porsche’s cafe, Boxenstopp. I have taste tested the new Taycan, and it’s pretty delicious.
And final piece to note, our hotel in Stuttgart even featured Porsche-based art on the walls of the hallways and our room. Strangely, there was also a disco ball in the bathroom.
See you next time, Germany. I am glad to be home.