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Theirs is really a partnership that works and a worthy collaboration, in deed.
But then, those who are not in the know night be asking: How strange! What’s a Porsche 550 Spyder doing in the Mercedes-Benz Museum’s racing corner?
But the photomontage (see picture) of the first racing car from Zuffenhausen surrounded by Mercedes Silver Arrows is an anniversary gesture to the Porsche Museum: “Good friends are always welcome.”
The Mercedes-Benz Museum is combining its congratulations on the occasion of the Porsche Museum’s tenth anniversary on January 31, 2019 with an invitation: we are offering Porsche employees free admission to the Mercedes-Benz Museum for ten days until February 10, 2019. Since 2016, the two museums have been collaborating with discounted admission rates.
Head of Mercedes-Benz Classic, Christian Boucke, said, “We send our sincere congratulations to the Porsche Museum and hope our museum ally continues to be as successful as it has been to date,” adding, “With the Porsche Museum and Mercedes-Benz Museum, Stuttgart boasts no less than two internationally acclaimed automotive museums. One of the vital reasons many visitors from around the globe come to our city to visit both institutions.”
The Mercedes-Benz Museum has therefore invited all Porsche employees on the occasion of the anniversary: on ten of the museum’s working days, from January 31 to February 10, 2019, saying they will be granted free admission to the Mercedes-Benz Museum upon presenting their staff ID.
Both Stuttgart-based automotive museums have been collaborating as part of a close partnership. Just one example is their admission-based collaboration, available since 2016: visitors showing the corresponding admission ticket of the other museum receive a 25 per cent discount on the regular admission rate.
However, the two automotive brand’s link goes back much further than that. From 1906, company founder, Ferdinand Porsche, was the Technical Director at the Austrian Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) and even took on the position of Managing Director in 1917. In 1923, he became Technical Director and Member of the Executive Board at DMG in Untertürkheim. After the merger with Benz & Cie. to form Daimler-Benz AG, Porsche was appointed as a member on this company’s Executive Board in 1926 and assumed joint overall responsibility for vehicle development with Hans Nibel from Benz & Cie.
The Mercedes-Benz Museum’s permanent collection features several vehicles from the era dominated by Porsche. These include the 1924 Mercedes Targa-Florio racing car (Myth 7 room), the 1927 Mercedes-Benz 12/55 hp (Collection 1 room) and the Mercedes-Benz Type SS compressor sports car introduced in 1928 (Myth 3 room).
Since the market launch as an automotive manufacturer after the Second World War, Porsche has also made itself a name in motorsports. Both brands continue to be very successful at various events and also directly compete with each other for the top spot. For instance, in the past, the Porsche 550 Spyder has raced against the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR at Mille Miglia 1955. Porsche and Mercedes factory teams will also be competing against each other in Formula E.
The Mercedes-Benz Museum is open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9 am to 6 pm. Last admission is at 5 pm.
