Stuttgart is home to two automotive legends – Mercedes-Benz and Porsche. Both have museums there. The two companies worked closely together in 1991-1994 to produce the Mercedes 500E, the super sports sedan of its era. It was based on a Mercedes E-class designed for a smaller straight-six engine.
Mercedes didn’t have a V8 small enough to fit in the engine bay so they hired Porsche to do it. Mercedes would make the chassis of the car, send it over to Porsche to put the engine in it, then truck it back to Mercedes for final assembly.
I visited the Porsche Museum the same day I went to the Mercedes-Benz Museum, so it helped put the city’s automotive history into perspective. The building is shaped like a smooth, metallic starship, typical of Porsche design on non-car products.
I’m not a giant Porsche fan, but I appreciated seeing bathtub cars in its native city. The Prototyp Museum in Hamburg has an excellent collection of race cars, including Porsches, explaining car development history in Germany. My favourite exhibits were the Le Mans cars, the legendary Carrera GT, and Sally from the Cars movie franchise.
