Years after our first visit to the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart we revisited this special place for Mercedes-Benz and automotive fans alike. Divided over nine levels and 16,500 square meters of floor space the Mercedes-Benz museum presents over 160 vehicles. The vehicles on display vary from boats and trucks to concept cars and race cars. Enter the museum and the elevator takes you back in time to the late 19th century with the very first automobiles and engines build by Benz, Daimler and Maybach. Making your way down through history you will come across the first Mercedes-Benz car and other highlights from Daimler’s 125-year history.

The Mercedes-Benz Museum offers two tours: The first of the tours consists of seven Legend rooms which narrate the chronological history of the brand. The second tour groups the wealth of vehicles on display into five separate Collection rooms, which thematically document the breadth and diversity of the brand portfolio and collection. The visitor can switch from one tour to the other at any time. Both tours finish at the banked curve entitled Silver Arrows – Races & Records. The exhibition is rounded off by the Fascination of Technology display, which offers a glimpse into day-to-day work at Mercedes-Benz and also presents topics concerning the future of the automobile.

Its not just the exhibition itself that made a visit to the Mercedes-Benz Museum worth our while, also the architecture designed by UN Studio is worth the trip. The building’s interior is inspired by the double helix structure of the DNA spiral that carries the human genome. This in turn illustrates the Mercedes-Benz brand’s philosophy – to continuously create radically new products to advance the cause of human mobility.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Mo7Kg7jaxA[/youtube]


Special Exhibition of the Nardo Record Mercedes-Benz 190 E 2.3-16

Back in 1983 Mercedes-Benz set a number of exceptional records, some of which still stand today, at the Nardo high speed test track in Italy. Three road-legal Mercedes-Benz 190 E 2.3-16 from the W201 type set off to drive 50,000 kilometer virtually non-stop. Goal was to set new endurance records on the 25,000 km, 25,000 miles and 50,000 km distances. And they did!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybNEtdDcFUI[/youtube]

The cars were only slightly modified with a different fuel tank to allow faster refueling, protection of the headlamps used during the day to limit bug damage to the headlights and addition of non-metal parts to the engine so mechanics wouldn’t burn their hands when performing any emergency repairs to the engine. As per regulation all spare parts that they could need for their record run had to be carried in the car. The cars were also marked with three different colors to make them identifiable to the crews in the pitlane with stickers and colored lamps.

After nine days team red finished settings the average speed over 50,000 km to 247.939 km/h. A record that still stands today. The white Mercedes-Benz 190 E that crossed the 50,000 km marker a while after team red is now on display in the Mercedes-Benz Museum. It has not been cleaned since the record attempt in the 1980s so it shows the wear and tear that 50,000 km of high speed driving did to the vehicle.

Opening Times

The Mercedes-Benz Museum is open Tuesdays to Sundays 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Museum Winter 2013/2014

From the 26th of November 2013 until the 16th of March 2014 the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart is also home to the Museum Winter with special winter activities. We enjoyed dinner in the St. Cannstatter Hütte, a typical Alpine hut with culinary delights found in the Alpine region. Down the hill you will find a curlingbahn available to play a round of Curling. The museum also organizes a lot of special events during the entire Museum Winter period; check out their website for the event calendar.

Previous articleDealer Visit: AR Cars in the Czech Republic
Next articleOfficial: Eagle Low Drag GT

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here