The Adventures of Dave & Cass: Fun times with Fast Cars

Somewhere between the storm that lasted all night and this morning the German summer disappeared. It was chilly today – as in long pants and a jumper and Dave even had to ditch the thongs for shoes and socks (although he remained stubbornly in shorts).

Luckily today’s activities were indoor ones. We set off for the city of Stuttgart further north of the Black Forest. It was here that Dave would find his sightseeing heaven – the city’s 2 car-making companies Mercedes Benz and Porsche having created rivalling car museums.

Oh Lord wont you buy me...

We started with the Merc museum. A 9 story building devoted to the history of man and machine (particularly the Merceded Benz brand).

The space age interior of the Mercedes Museum - these were the lifts to the start of the exhibition

"I'm EXCITED!"

Even I, who knows relatively little about cars found the place fascinating as we travelled from the invention of the gasoline engine by Carl Benz and the Daimler Maybach firm – each creating from thaty their first versions of the car (as well as planes, motorbikes, boats and more crazy things).

Just to prove i was there too

Dave with Daimler's 1st car

The first car made by Benz

The first Beer Truck!

The museum then followed through paralleling the development of both the Benz and Daimler Maybach (later called Mercedes after one particularly successful version of their engine) brands with that of historical events over time.

Dave with the gull wing

Another famous MB - THE POPE MOBILE!

Eventually economic pressures forced the companies to merge into the Mercedes Benz brand we know today.

The Germans see MB as one of the success stories of WWII as it was only one of the only companies to survive it and in fact thrive after it – despite having heavy Nazi ties they grew and expanded internationally.

Racing cars and racing trucks

The evolution of the Mercedes racers

Wedding at the Merc museum

...and yet another wedding

We were impressed by the whole place and planned to finish the tour with a simulator ride, however the ride was long and we still had to get to the Porsche museum.

Mulder hanging out with his Porsche friends

Dave out the front of Porsche

Over the other side of town Porsche were doing their thing. Creating winner after winner of the 24hour Le Mans race as well as the famous sports cars we see today, all bearing the customary Porsche fastback shape.

Dave's fav

Here's another view he demanded I also include

He said i could have the pink porsche

While they were at it they went onto create the people’s car – The Volkswagon, and in particular the Beetle. Interstingly the Beetle was used extensively in WWII (again by the Germans) with amphibious versions even built.