There are more than 275 exhibits in the Verkehrszentrum (Transport Museum) of Deutsches Museum at Bavariapark: from carriages and steam engines to the very first automobile. Dr Bettina Gundler, who helped set up the museum, has been its director since 2015 and knows every single showpiece. We combed through the collection together with her, searching for curiosities, record-breakers and the most fascinating stories.
As Dr Bettina Gundler climbs the stairs to the passageway in Hall III, a loud whistle suddenly echoes behind her. The sound comes from one of the historic steam locomotives, which is displayed in all its glory in Hall II, themed “Travelling“. The sound of the steam whistle has an almost magnetic effect on visitors. Many rush past Bettina straight into Hall II – some even run as if they were about to board the train and fear missing their departure. The head of the Verkehrszentrum is not deterred by this. She has something else in mind – an exhibit that, in her opinion, is even more spectacular. The permanent exhibition is subdivided into three themed halls and Hall III “Mobility and Technology”, is home to what Bettina calls the “Mona Lisa of the Deutsches Museum”.
“This is the most historically valuable German car we have.”
She passes a Porsche 911, which looks very robust with its unpainted stainless steel bodywork, leaves an electric truck from the 1920s behind her and finally stops at her destination. It's not the most expensive exhibit at the Verkehrszentrum, she says – that would probably be the historic race cars on display. Bettina won’t reveal their exact value – so as not to give anyone any ideas.
But then, pointing to an exhibit, she shares: “This is the most historically valuable German car we have.” It is the original vehicle that Carl Benz patented as a gas-powered vehicle in 1886 and laid the foundation for the Benz company to develop from an engine manufacturer into the first major automobile producer in the German Reich in the 1890s. “It is definitely a quaint piece,” says Bettina, glancing at the tricycle design. “Our modern idea of a car looks very different to what we see here.”
And indeed: Back then, Benz bought the wheels from a bicycle manufacturer. He actually incorporated several elements from bicycle construction into his vision of a motorised vehicle. It is thanks to a mine and a lot of luck that the original is now standing in the Verkehrszentrum. During the Second World War, the car was stored in a mine shaft. The steering was broken, one of the wheels was damaged, a few brass parts went missing, but, all in all, it survived, was restored and now stands firmly on display in the museum. If you squint and let your imagination run wild, some of its shapes even seem to form a slight smile. Just like Mona Lisa.
The oldest object in the Verkehrszentrum is probably the exhibit right at the entrance to Hall III – and without Bettina's expertise, you might just walk past it. After all, this artefact is nowhere near as huge and long as the steam locomotive from 1912, as fast as the world record-breaking BMW motorbike from 1937 (boasting a record speed of incredible 279.503 km/h) or as eye-catching as the dark green Laubfrosch (tree frog) in Hall II – an Opel 4 hp produced between 1924 and 1931.
The oldest item doesn’t even have an engine. All it has, is itself: a few bones. The bone ice skates on display in the Verkehrszentrum date back to the Middle Ages. The blades are crafted from reindeer, cattle, game or sometimes even pet bones and have been part of the Deutsches Museum's collection since 1925. “They belong to our small selection of artefacts that helped people move faster on their own two feet,” says Bettina.
“Now, let's head toward the American way of life,” says Bettina, making her way toward a pale pink Cadillac road cruiser in Hall II. Double rows of headlights, curved windows, a V8 engine, six metres in length, oversized tail fins, rocket-like, bright red double indicators – the attitude this 1959 Cadillac Series 62 Sedan exudes is: cool, fast, free.
Right next to it stands the automotive personification of the old continent: a rather chubby Fiat 600 Multipla in two-tone blue. Perfect for hauling crates of vegetables or six to eight people. “I think that tells us a lot,” Bettina chuckles. “The USA was always about 30 years ahead of Europe in terms of mass motorisation. Sure, the first gasoline-powered cars were built in Germany, but the automobile really took off in America first.” If she had to guess, Bettina would say the Cadillac is probably the biggest source of CO2 in the collection – with a fuel consumption of about 20 litres per 100 kilometres. “Its rocket-look is almost a bit of an omen,” says Bettina, looking at the pointed tail fins.
Speaking of ways of life: Hall I: “Urban Transport“ features exhibits that have made life easier, wider and sometimes cleaner over the decades. A little further back in the hall stands a street sweeper, built by Krupp in the 1920s – an era when cars started appearing on German roads and street cleaning was to become mechanised. “This thing is a real beast,” Bettina says, pointing to the grey machine with its water boiler and fabric roof.
Its three solid rubber wheels moved at a slow pace – “any faster and it would have just tipped over,” Gundler notes. There was also a need for optimisation in other respects; the sweeper's brushes wore out quickly. “They still shed bristles here and there today,” smiles Bettina. It is the small and big stories behind the Verkehrszentrum exhibits that fascinate her the most.
In Hall II, a few metres in front of the Cadillac, there is a vintage car with two bizarre features, the use of which even experts can sometimes only guess at. The function of the long black device attached to the right-hand side of the brown VW Beetle is relatively clear – it's probably a car-parking system to help with orientation because of the car's rather spherical shape.
“The shield was probably designed aerodynamically to deflect small insects.”
But the small, transparent, bright yellow shield in front of the windscreen? That remains a mystery. “I also only know the legend,” Bettina admits. “The shield was probably designed aerodynamically to deflect small insects.” “There aren't so many insects today,” says Bettina. “But in the past, you’d only drive 30 kilometres in summer and there were insect corpses all over the windscreen.” So it likely served as an insect shield for the car. Stories like this quickly make other superlatives fade into the background – the main thing is that the fly repellent works. At the end of the tour, one thing is for sure: The range from “insect defence shield” to “the Mona Lisa of the Deutsches Museum” is hard to beat.
