Visiting the Old Porsche Museum
A trip to the Porsche Museum in 1980 was a worthwhile detour full of interesting surprises
It was our first time traveling to Europe. Lydia and I had bought rail passes allowing us to go anywhere on the continent. As a result, we were setting our travel itinerary on the fly. We found ourselves in Germany, where we had taken a river-boat trip down the Rhine River from Bonn to Mainz and a short train ride to Frankfurt where we spent the night. The next morning we decided to make our way to Vienna and realized that a stop along the way in Stuttgart was workable. Both Mercedes-Benz and Porsche manufactured their cars there and we knew both companies had museums at their plant sites.
Stuttgart proved to be a very interesting city. With the reputation of being a center of industrial design, the downtown core was teaming with design and engineering firms. While walking down a street if you passed what you thought was a retailer’s window display, it was often instead a space showcasing products conceived by a design firm. We were effectively looking at design portfolios under glass. These displays reinforced our impression that we were in a city where most office building were filled with drafting tables.
After receiving directions to the two car museums we were there for, both located in the suburbs of Stuttgart, I recall we took a tram that after a few city blocks above ground suddenly descended into a tunnel which became an underground subway. After a few stops underground we transferred to a commuter train and made our way to Zuffenhausen, the location of the Porschewerks. About two stops before our destination, we noticed right by the train station a gigantic industrial complex, which turned out being the Mercedes-Benz plant. Across the street stood a huge Bosch factory producing among other things, parts that found their way I am sure, into Benz vehicles.
We continued our ride, stepped off the train at the designated stop and followed on foot a sign pointing to the Porsche facility. Unlike the Mercedes-Benz / Bosch complex there was no industry around the train station. The road seemed rural and as we walked on, guided by a street sign pointing towards the Porschewerks, we were not sure the road we were on would lead us anywhere, let alone to a car manufacturer.
Eventually we saw a small complex ahead and there it was, the Porsche plant, much smaller than we imagined, especially after what we had just seen. However, we could hear what was certainly a test track behind the plant. The cars were not being pampered and the unmistakable sound of air-cooled flat sixes at full throttle told us we had reached our destination.
Around the corner stood a single-story building that looked like a house built in the 1920s. It was the museum, a building which Porsche had decided in 1974 to use for that purpose. We entered the building through a typical residential front-door and were met by an old-fashioned office-desk and an unoccupied swivel-chair. The building was one big room with about a dozen vehicles on display. Along the walls, on wall-length, single shelves rested a large collection of racing trophies. With no glass casings protecting them from theft, they were just sitting there. There was no one else in the building. We could have turned around and left with a few Le Mans and Mille Miglia trophies if we had been so inclined.
At one point early during our visit an attendant came in, sat at the desk and resumed reading his newspaper. I walked over, inquired about admission, he replied with the word “free” and continued reading. This is a good time to mention there was no signage in the gallery, nothing identifying the exhibits, no rope barriers keeping us at a respectful distance from the cars, no do-not-touch warnings, no emergency exit instructions. Nothing. Thank goodness the guard walked in because we were not sure this area was meant for the public. The space really did not look like it was a gallery of exhibits.
I recall the first car on display was a very early black VW Beetle with split-screen back window. That was definitely the right car to feature first because the Beetle was the basis for everything else that followed in the Porsche world. Next to that car stood an unpainted open-air 356 whose body work was hand beaten in aluminium. It looked like a prototype.
Displayed next to it was a hard-top version, photographed above. My research has identified it as a 1950, Type-356 Aluminium Coupe, an early car prepared for racing. It is also referred to as a 356 SL. I found two photos of the car in Lothar Boschen and Jürgen Barth’s The Porsche Book, a Definitive Illustrated History. It’s vertically positioned twin tail-lights and one-piece windscreen differentiates it from Porsche’s famous Gmund 356 SL (number 46) that was entered in the 1951 Le Mans and that won its class. Porsche manufactured ten 356 SL cars, most of them used as factory entries in various motorsport competitions. The car I saw at the museum is not identifiable in any racing or rally photos of the period. It would be nice to know the story of that particular car because I am sure it has some stories.
We then saw a few more racing 356s and early 911s that looked a lot like road cars other than having stripped interiors, racing harnesses, wider wheels and numbers on the hood and doors.
The remaining cars were Porsche racing cars of the 1970s, except for a 906 from the 1960s, and what a collection it was. First of all, Lydia and I were astonished to notice that these cars had not been washed. All the cars were endurance racers and they sure don’t look pretty at the end of a twelve- or twenty-four-hour race: dents, scrapes, duct tape, insect remains, road grime, oil, grease and other unidentifiable stains certainly add to their character. We were (and still are) accustomed to automobile museums displaying restored, detailed classics with paint that is better than when they left the factory. We were quick to realize that being close to a car that has finished its last race, transported back to Zuffenhausen and stored untouched in the Porsche collection is a whole different experience. You can practically hear the hot engine compartment ticking and popping after a spirited, long and grueling run.
The first purpose-built racing car I remember was an outrageous 935 with fender extensions, aggressive looking aerodynamics and somewhere under all these bulges and aerodynamic add-ons, you could see signs of a 911 poking through. What struck me, however, was the turbocharger. The late 1970s is when this technology was first adopted in earnest by the automotive industry and the car I was looking at suggested that in racing bigger was better. The BorgWarner KKK Turbolader it was fitted with was massive – seeing it in person was a sight to behold.
I distinctly remember seeing the 1976, 936 Le Mans car, the very first turbo-charged winner of the 1976 twenty-four-hours of Le Mans race. It is an open-air car and I find it incredible how pilots Jackie Ickx and Gijs van Lennip managed to drive it while exposed to the elements for twenty-four hours straight.
We also saw the famous 917 KH, the car that gave Porsche its first overall victory at Le Mans in 1970. It is probably the lowest car I have ever seen, measuring 940mm/37in at its highest point. To put its height in perspective, my 992 – 911 T is 1290mm/50.8in tall. The short tail 917 was such a beautiful version of the 917 with its graceful front end, rounded front wings, low stance and smooth sweeping profile. It really stood out from all the other race cars lined up in the museum.
I was not able to determine the historical significance of the other competition cars displayed on that day. It is difficult to know what cars I was seeing given my interest in the brand was recent in 1980 and the absence of descriptive text did not help. The new museum they opened to the public in 2008 is a different beast altogether given it cost Porsche €100 million to construct, holds their whole collection of cars on site, exhibits 80 of them and charges admission. Astrid Boettinger, Porsche Heritage and Museum Spokesperson stated when she responded to my email that they welcomed their six millionth visitor in April 2024.
1980 was a different time. The whole Porsche complex felt like it stood on the outskirts of a sleepy town giving the impression that hand-crafted artisanship was being created there, not the production of a complicated and sophisticated sports car. The tiny museum we visited was certainly in keeping with that spirit. Ms. Boettinger does not know what the building had been used for before being converted into display space but did mention that it is now being used for customer experiences and a shop. So, it lives on.
After viewing all the exhibits we waved to the security guard, who by then was working on the paper’s crossword puzzle, walked out and made our way back to the train station enroute to the Mercedes-Benz Museum.
Many thanks to Astrid Boettinger from the Porsche Heritage Museum in assisting with my research for this article.
Great article.
Must have been a really interesting visit.
Great article.
Must have been a really interesting visit.