In the automotive world, only a handful of carmakers qualify for pantheon status. Porsche is certainly one of those. As a deity of sorts to mere mortals like us, we expect to be able to pay homage to one of our favorite brands in a proper house of worship. It’s almost sacrilege to think that the company once housed its treasures in the equivalent of a community chapel. Fortunately, that modest temple has recently been replaced by a higher and mightier structure – a cathedral if you will – just a few blocks away on the holy ground of Zuffenhausen, directly across the street from the main Porsche werks.

For years the Porsche museum was a simple, one-room hall on a side street just outside the factory grounds. When we toured it back in 2005, we were surprised by the sparse accommodations given the grandeur of the company’s history. Literally two rows of cars, all parked at ground level and resting behind basic chain stanchions, the museum took up less floor space than your average Walgreen’s pharmacy. We struggled to spend much more than a half hour, despite some pretty significant machinery before us.

Little did we know that plans were already in motion to build an all-new museum, one that would allow this most vaunted of marques to tell its story and fully engage visitors; a place where owners and fans could immerse themselves in the history of the company that Ferdinand Porsche created. That new museum opened this year on the last day of January, and when we were recently in Germany we made a point of visiting the new place for ourselves.


The new museum is impossible to miss; no longer tucked away on a side street, it sits proudly at the same corner in Zuffenhausen that once was home to Porsche’s design office, directly across from the main gate to the Porsche factory and the Porsche Zentrum customer center. The building itself is a 100-million-Euro work of structural art – a sculpture in metal, concrete and glass in the modern German idiom – that appears to hover over the street below.

Unlike the old museum, the new one is so much more than just a collection of parked cars and a gift shop. It was designed to be a true cultural attraction with world-class dining, a visible museum workshop, and an archive of historical documents. There are even special event facilities for everything from business conferences to concerts. Of course, there is also a collection of parked cars – nearly 54,000 square feet of exhibit space holds more than 80 of the most important Porsche road and race machines ever built – and a gift shop.


Visitors are delivered to the exhibit level on the second floor by escalator, where they have the option of following the chronological history of the company or simply wandering the many individual displays at will. Translator headsets narrate the different exhibits into English, French or Japanese.

It’s impossible to list the exact lineup of vehicles on display as the collection rotates regularly, with some of the cars seeing road duty in vintage rally and concours events around the world. Only twenty percent of the roughly 400-car collection is ever on static display. Needless to say, everything on the museum floor is worth seeing. On our particular visit, we saw everything from a four-door 928 prototype to a collection of 917s to a Volkswagen Beetle prototype with a diesel engine. Describing the cars is pointless, which is why we took so many pictures for OUR GALLERY.

We took nearly two hours to peruse the upstairs exhibits before taking the long escalator ride back down to the main level. Downstairs we grabbed a Coke and a pastry at the café and had a seat next to the museum workshop, peering through the floor-to-ceiling glass wall onto the factory technicians who were busy restoring a handful of Porsches for future exhibitions, as well as performing maintenance on some of the other museum pieces. With the workmen donned in their blue coveralls, the workshop so tidy and organized, and the cars such perfect examples, the whole scene looked like the kind of picture-perfect diorama you might expect an anal-retentive twelve-year-old Porsche enthusiast to build in miniature in his basement.


The team consists of a master mechanic, three technicians, an upholsterer and a customer advisor. Believe it or not, the same crew that restores and maintains the museum collection can also do the same for your classic Porsche. For a price, naturally.

Above the workshop is the archive, yet another living history element to the museum, also visible through glass walls from the main level. Here, owners and enthusiasts can research the company’s historical documents, literature, books, videos and photos. A visit to this very special place requires advanced notice and registration, and naturally none of the materials can leave the archive area. Still, there’s no better source of information than factory documents, and it’s a testament to Porsche’s commitment to its owners that they make such resources so freely available.

In addition to the café, a full-service restaurant resides on the main level, serving a variety of local and international dishes. Across the atrium is the museum shop, with the requisite collection of die-cast models, books and memorabilia, but also great personal accessories from the Porsche Design collection. Beyond these free public areas, the lobby of the museum also serves as the origination point for factory tours, which are arranged in advance by language group. A reservation is required for the factory tour, which takes a little over an hour as you visit the engine assembly area, the leather shop, and the main assembly line.

Should you find yourself in the southern part of Germany, a trip to the museum is a spiritual journey for any car enthusiast, even if Porsches somehow aren’t what you typically worship. Plan to get there early, as you could easily spend the better half of a day walking the museum and the Zuffenhausen grounds. The factory tour is the perfect way to round out the museum visit if time allows. Even if you don’t have time to walk the museum, the main level is free to use; you can still stop in, have some coffee and a sandwich while you check out the activity in the workshop, and grab a souvenir on the way out. Either way, a trip to the new Porsche museum is sure to be a religious experience.


USEFUL FACTS

- Porsche is located in Zuffenhausen, a small village on the outskirts of Stuttgart, about a one-and-a-half-hour drive from Munich.

- Stuttgart is also the home of Mercedes-Benz, who also has an excellent museum just twenty minutes away. It’s entirely possible to do visit both museums in the same day if you start early.

- The museum is closed on Mondays, but open Tuesdays through Sundays from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Ticket counter closes at 5:00 PM.

- Admission costs €8 for adults, €4 for seniors, children and students.

- On-site parking is available for €2 per vehicle.

- Plant tours are free, but require reservation (they can be arranged by your local Porsche dealer). If you do the plant tour, you must be prompt or the tour will start without you (it’s Germany after all).

- If time permits, walk across the street to the Porsche Zentrum customer center to see the latest Porsche models and an even more extensive boutique of Porsche Lifestyle Collection and Porsche Design accessories.

MORE INFORMATION

Porsche Museum
Porscheplatz
D-70435 Stuttgart, Germany
Phone- 0049 (0)711 911 24026
Web- www.porsche.com/usa/aboutporsche/porschemuseum

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