The History Of The Mercedes-Benz Museum
Posted by www.eMercedesBenz.com on April 3, 2006
In the mood for some light reading? If so you're in luck, because the
good people over at DaimlerChrysler have published a tremendously in-
depth look at the history of the Mercedes-Benz museum.
From its humble beginnings in the early 1900's to its record-setting
500,000+ visitors in 2004, you can read all about the museum's
illustrious history in the full press release by visiting
www.eMercedesBenz.com.
Below is a sampling of the full article; to read the press release in
its entirety, please visit www.eMercedesBenz.com.
Historic Remembrance: The Museum History of Mercedes-Benz
50 Years of the Automobile – the first Museum takes shape
Postwar reconstruction – cautious new beginning for the collection
Room for automotive history – the Daimler-Benz Museum of 1961
Magnet for visitors in Untertürkheim
100 Years of the Automobile – a new concept for the Museum
The countdown is on – preparations for moving outside the plant gates
The first collections of Daimler and Benz in the early days of their
companies served as internal technical archives in which design
studies or patent research could be conducted on the vehicles
themselves. But the vehicles were more than mere records of formerly
produced models. They stood for the invention of the automobile, for
the originality and history of the world’s oldest car manufacturer.
That is why, around 1900, attention increasingly focused on them as
wit-nesses of the birth of the automobile.
Visitors to the first International Motor Show in Berlin in 1899 were
amazed to see early vehicles from the workshop of Gottlieb Daimler.
The exhibits of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) in the “Historic
Department” attracted considerable interest as witnesses to the birth
of the automobile. Daimler and Benz had invented the automobile 13
years earlier. The comparison between these first automobiles and the
current vehicles of 1899 showed automobile enthusiasts the great
advances in engineering since 1886.
The historical aspect moved even further center stage in 1900 when
DMG displayed Gottlieb Daimler’s Riding Car from 1885 and an 1886
motorboat at the motor vehicle show in Nuremberg. Benz had a
similarly important collection, as “Allgemeine Automobil-Zeitung”
reported in 1903: “In the motor vehicle models of the 1880s,
Rheinische Gasmo-torenfabrik Benz und Co., Mannheim, possesses
objects of great historic value.”
Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft also made use of its historic vehicles
to celebrate special occasions. For example, the 1,000th engine from
Daimler production was presented in late 1895 together with a wire-
wheel car and the 1885 Riding Car for the official photo. A plaque
placed between the two vehicles from the early days of Daimler
production rhymed: (roughly: Long Live the Company! Unity and
Godspeed!). Next to them were posters from international technology
and engine exhibitions testifying to the success of the latest
Daimler products.
The Mercedes-Benz Museum has its early roots in the historic
collections of the two brands. For they not only drew the interest of
audiences at motor shows with high-profile appearances. At company
headquarters, too, the collections attracted high-ranking visitors
who were curious about the origins of the automobile. A photograph
taken in 1910 documents the visit of an Ottoman delegation to the
collection of historical vehicles of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft,
which was relocated to the new factory in Untertürkheim after the
fire in Cannstatt. Despite the losses to fire, the inventory grew
steadily; more and more visitors showed their enthusiasm for the
exhibits. In 1923 a first small factory museum of Daimler-Motoren-
Gesellschaft was built.
To read the full article, visit www.eMercedesBenz.com.