You were there: Porsche Museum 2009
Just as you would expect from Porsche, the Porsche Museum is special. Designed by the Viennese architectural firm Delugan Meissl, the building is a masterpiece. It dominates the Porscheplatz and the surrounding area and dramatically transforms the somewhat staid industrial landscape. The crisp architecture beckons. When inside, you quickly notice that every detail and every piece of furniture follows the design style… and everything is built with the outstanding quality of Porsche, using the very best materials.
There are two hundred and sixty car spaces in the car park. There is a snack bar and coffee shop all in the unmistakable architectural style. So too, for the smart minimal, administration area and the merchandising shop. The shop is stocked with a range of reasonably priced items. Not as many items as one might imagine but something for everyone. No one could possibly walk out without the official Museum book ‘Die Autos’ priced at a very reasonable 16 Euros.
The Museum opened in January 2009 with eighty cars and two hundred small exhibits. It is very obvious that Porsche will use this magnificent facility to display achievements, victories as well as cars, in the future. The Museum is very visitor friendly…you can walk right up to every exhibit. Quite obviously, the Museum will be the focal point of many Porsche exhibits in the future.
Highlights of the Museum were many, but the following stood out:
1. A 917 engine in exploded form…with the components held in space by fine wires.
2. The original hub motors from the electric Lorner Porsche vehicle of 1904.
3. A newly made type 64 shell…hand made from aluminum with an unmistakable Porsche DNA. This aerodynamic Porsche was originally made in 1939
4. A Porsche 915. No, not a gearbox but a stretched 911 as a possible four door vehicle. You look hard and realize that the rear window is ‘wrong’ and then you see that the wheel base is longer than a 911’s. Not quite the same result as the Panamera.
5. The Boxster concept car. Shorter than the final product and much closer to the 550s which inspired it
6. The 904 fibre glass shell. Quite beautifully made in fiberglass and displayed without paint and so thin that it is transparent.
7. Six 917s in a row. Each one famous in its own right from that fabulous early 70s period.
8. Working models of Porsche mechanisms such as the 356 Carrera Four Cam valve mechanism and the 908 lightweight titanium fuel sphere.
9. The type C88 Chinese small sedan. A prototype vehicle for manufacture in China designed by Porsche.
10. Three ‘sound tubes’ where you can stand and listen to the ‘noise’ of various Porsche models being driven as they were intended. Even the floor vibrates.
11. A lovely lounge, roughly half way through the exhibit, where you can relax and watch videos of famous drivers talking about their Porsche experiences.
12. A superb full sized graphic of 911 profiles showing how they relate to each other. In turn, each model comes to life in colour and its position in the family is easily seen.
13. A stunning exhibit of all the 911 turbo models…
14. 356 B 2000 GS Carrera GT…Porsche typ 754 T7…959…Typ 360 Cisitalia…718 W-RS Spyder…935/78 Moby Dick…cutaway Carrera GT…etc …etc
15. Beryllium copper brake discs on the 910/08 Bergspyder hill climb car.
16. A 917 upside down…and you can walk under it.
There are many more displays to feed the Porsche mind. The only way is to go there…often.
When hunger calls, you may visit the ‘Christophorous’ Restaurant. This is the only part of the Porsche Museum that was not designed by the principal architect. Its architecture is classic European with service and food appropriate for the Porsche Museum. You must have a meal at ‘Christophorous’.
