Motoring heaven at the Mercedes Benz Museum!

John
Nov 17, 2019
3 min read

Updated: Nov 20, 2019

Stuttgart is the home of Mercedes Benz and we couldn't visit the city without visiting the Mercedes Benz Museum. It is housed in a modern building designed along similar lines to the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum in New York. You take a lift to the sixth floor and gently work your way down through exhibition halls to the ground floor. Cheekily they charge €3 for parking your car, however I was more than happy to provide proof of age to gain senior citizen discount - half price admission. The approach is via a paved plaza and the rotating doors are of course in thee pointed star format!

Having paid our entrance fee there is a small exhibition of prototypes before taking the lift to the top. We were provided with audio guides and as the lift reached the top floor there was the sound of galloping hooves somewhat unexpected and slightly alarming. As you exit the lift there is a slightly threadbare horse (too much petting I guess) and a quote from Kaiser Wilhelm "I do believe in the horse. The automobile is no more than a transitory phenomenon", which he said after the creation of the first Daimler models in 1886.

The Daimler Benz Group is not just a car manufacturer and has always made engines for boats, planes and in both wars military vehicles when the government forced production changes upon the company. The museum represents all types of manufacturing that the Group has or is undertaking.

So why are they called Mercedes and not Daimler Benz?

Well Mercedes Jellinek was the daughter of Emil Jillinek. Emil would purchase Daimler vehicles, modify them, and race them. After establishing credibility, Emil began to work with Wilhelm Maybach to design cars that delivered more performance and reliability. In 1900, the first Mercedes was born. It was a name given to a car that Jellinek modified and it came from his daughter, Mercedes. It had 35 horsepower and was considered to be one of the world’s first “modern cars”.

https://www.mbscottsdale.com/blog/where-did-the-name-mercedes-come-from/

On each level are exhibits from a particular time period and the walk to each floor down a gentle slope provides social commentary about the next period.

It was great to see a rare example of the 1954 300 SL Coupe Gullwing and a particular favourite of mine the 1964 230SL. There are so many interesting vehicles and information about the design and safety features - Mercedes were the first to introduce crumple zones and Anti-lock Braking Systems (ABS) for example - that it is difficult in a blog to detail them all, it would end up more of a dissertation! I hope the pictures give you a flavour of our visit.

There was also a hint of future expectations in the car industry where people will not own cars but will have functionality to call autonomous vehicles as required. I was particularly interested in this video as they demonstrated a driver less Smart car. Summon a vehicle, state your destination and let the car do the rest, sit back and relax or catch up on life admin! I hope to see it someday.

The exhibits are in pristine condition and the amenity of the museum is scrupulously maintained.

It was a morning that we found thoroughly enjoyable, the cafe also made very nice coffee and delicious plum tart!