gest streetcar depot 100 years ago, is the
“Meilenwerk” – a mecca for all lovers of clas-
sic cars (www.meilenwerk.de). They’ll find
everything they need to make them happy on
an area 16,000 square meters in size: low-cost
parking spaces, workshops for restoration,
maintenance, upholstery work and electro-
nics, dealing and rental of vintage and veteran
cars, technical inspection service, shops for
accessories, a bookshop for car literature,
club/conference rooms, special event areas
and restaurant/bar. To ensure that not only the
owners but also visitors are lured into the
hall, the initiators have designed the “Forum
for Driving Culture” to be as transparent as
possible, the aim being to make it a center for
experience. The 90 parking spaces therefore
comprise glass boxes that permit study from
every angle. Unlike in a museum, visitors do
not pay an entry fee here. The same applies
for the workshops too: the restoration work by
the specialists can be watched closely through
large windows. This makes the “Meilenwerk”
almost like a township for classic cars – not
just for the purists.
Michael Drosten
edwin 02
|
2003
27
offers not only an extensive collection of clas-
sic vehicles and modern racers, but also a rea-
listic race simulator and a multimedia show
in a separate cinema. The largest and also one
of the most important collections of sports
cars in the world is in the Automuseum
Rosso-Bianco near Aschaffenburg
(www.rosso-bianco.de): the vehicles exhibited
come from over 50 manufacturers in all.
NOT JUST FOR THE PURISTS
The Dortmund Automobile Museum Dort-
mund (www.oldiemuseum.de) is particularly
proud of its collection of celebrity-owned
vehicles, including the Jaguar MK V B of oil
magnate Rockefeller and the Jaguar MK I of
Heinz Rühmann, the German film star. More
than 200 veteran and vintage cars can be
admired in the museum of Fritz B. Busch,
housing one of the biggest private collections
(www.automuseum-busch.de). Among its pri-
zed exhibits is the original Cadillac of Hans
Albers, another well-known German film star.
A project that’s probably unique in Germa-
ny was implemented in May of this year in
Berlin. In Moabit, in what was Europe’s big-
A PLETHORA OF
PLATES
There is even a museum dedi-
cated to license plates. The
international museum for
license plates, traffic and regis-
tration history (www.num-
mernschildmuseum.de) shows
the history and the develop-
ment of license plates. In addi-
tion to historic license plates
and documents from Germany,
from 1890 to the present day,
license plates from more than
170 other countries and terri-
tories are on display.
Incidentally: since 1997, the
fans of classic cars have en-
joyed tax privileges if they
choose historic license plates.
A license plate of this type
requires that the car is at least
30 years old and that the
vehicle is used first and fore-
most for the preservation of
our engineering heritage. A
prior inspection by the TÜV or
Dekra inspection organizations
is necessary.
