If you have an interest in anything powered by some form of internal combustion, then there’s an oasis hidden away in the German countryside that deserves at least one pilgrimage during your life. Yes, I’m talking about the Auto & Technik Museum located in Sinsheim - a museum containing over 3,000 exhibits spread across 50,000sqm of display grounds. The buildings and outdoor areas are a paradise of anything related to transport - planes, cars, tractors, tanks, helicopters…you name it, it’s here.
It also holds the unique title of being the only place in the world where a Concorde and a Tupolev TU-144 are on display in the same location - the only two supersonic transport aircrafts to ever enter commercial service. Visitors can also enter each aircraft, and get an idea of what it was like to travel on these futuristic (for the time) aircraft.
To get to Sinsheim, I flew into Stuttgart, and caught various trains to eventually get deposited at the dedicated Sinsheim museum train station. Conveniently, the museum has a nice 4-star hotel located right outside, so if you're coming from far away (like myself), you have a place to stay. Sadly, I arrived quite late in the day, so decided to wait until the next day in order to get the full museum experience. I was staying at the hotel for two nights anyway, so no great loss.
The next morning, I was up with the excitement of a kid on Christmas morning. I mean, there’s an enormous museum next door, with over 3,000 cars and aircraft on display - wouldn’t you also be excited? So, without further ado, I’ll let the photos do the talking, with some small captions thrown in for good measure.
A big slice of American steel, the Cadillac Fleetwood sedan. Can you see the pimped-out interior, as well as the huge fins on the rear? Awesome stuff.
There’s also a Delorean DMC-12 tucked away in-between the exhibits. All they need is a cutout of Marty McFly to complete the display.
Chrysler New Yorker V8 Convertible. I have no doubt that Prius drivers hate this car.
There’s also a large collection of F1 cars inside the museum. Apparently, it’s the largest permanent collection of F1 cars in Europe. Worth a visit for all you racing fans then.
The Imperator Mobile - I had no idea what this was, so I did some searching, and only came across this YouTube video . It seems to exist solely for the purpose of being incredibly creepy.
I was being serious about this place being stuffed full - just look at all those planes.
There were no Veyrons or Chirons on display, but Bugatti was still well represented. Parallel parking this particular Bugatti in Knightsbridge could be a bit of a nightmare.
A few rallying legends were also scattered around the museum. Sadly no 22B’s, but Subaru can’t be everywhere in the world.
As if a regular SLR wasn’t good enough, here’s the racecar version instead. Casual.
A rather rare Lamborghini - the LM002. I’d never seen one of these before inside or outside of a museum.
As well as all the old school American muscle on display, there was also a newer Ford GT in the area - not sure why it was a blue underglow though.
The tiny BMW Isetta. I can’t help but think this looks a bit like Nigel Thornberry at a quick glance. Don’t believe me? Do a quick Google search and see for yourself.
The Mercedes-Benz 600…favoured by dictators worldwide - and Jeremy Clarkson.
My inner child was very excited to watch the trains in this fully functioning model town. No train crashes to report either.
One of my favourite cars of all time - the Mercedes 300SL. I’ve been lucky enough to spend a bit of time with one of these cars outside the museum, and it was certainly a memorable experience.
The Concorde...
And the Tuploev TU144. As mentioned earlier, you can go inside both these planes. I went and had a look, but the photos I took were pretty average. However, I can confirm - it's very small inside there.
Perhaps the most expensive pop-up headlights car of all time? The Ferrari F40 had a prime spot in the centre of the museum. It was my first time (and still only time) seeing one in person, just like the LM002.
Take a look at the glorious weave coming through in the F40 paintwork. Don’t want to imagine how expensive this panel would be to replace.
This rocket on wheels is the Jaguar D-Type - all the way from 1954. Powered by a 3.4l V6, Stirling Moss took one all the way up to 270kmh - must have been a terrifying experience in 1954.
I could honestly keep the pictures coming for days, but I think this amount will be sufficient to keep your inner petrolhead satisfied. So, if you’re ever in Germany, or planning a trip, I can’t highly recommend this place enough. One day wasn’t much time to see everything - guess that’s just a good excuse to plan another visit.
Until next time Sinsheim...
DISCLAIMER: All photos were taken by myself.