[Langley968]

Spent the day in Stuttgart at the Porsche Museum with the wife and two youngest girls (the wife took the picture).



Also went on the Factory Tour with my wife which was VERY impressive (sorry no pictures allowed). My 13 year old was NOT allowed on the Factory Tour because they have a 16 year age limit (insurance regulation) so she stayed at the Museum with her older sister (who at 17 was dissapointed that she could not see the Factory).



The 968 Cab is a 1995 model, so NO recessed badge (I saw this discussion some time back on the Forum), it has "cubbies" rather than rear seats (North American model?) and from what I could see, it has 56 KM on the odometer!

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[cosimo]

I'm going to see the meusuem and factory in May. I can't wait to see the source of our enjoyment. where did you stay?

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[Langley968]

Since we are here with a party of four, we were not able to find a hotel close to the Porsche Museum that would accomodate a family of four without requiring two rooms.

We did find a Holiday Inn Express close to the Stuttgart airport (about 25 minutes by car from the Museum) that was OK with four people in a room. The hotel turned out to be of great quality, reasonable price (maybe a bit tight for four) and with a fantastic breakfast!

If you do not have a car, there is a metro station about 600 meters away from the hotel, which takes you into downtown Stuttgart. From there a quick transfer to the line that goes to the station directly beside the museum. On the way back you can make a stop in downtown Stuttgart for the same "day pass". If you have a car, there is parking under the Museum for $4 Euro. You need to take the parking ticket up to the ticket office and they will validate it for six hours at that rate.

Here is the hotle address:

Dieselstr. 20

70771 Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Germany

0711 722490-0

We drove today through the Black Forest to Baden Baden, taking as many backroads as we could. The switch backs are just fabulous, the road quality is typically germanic! I need to come back here some day and rent a Porsche (or something more exciting than an "econo" Hyundai) and drive that route again. The small towns and sights we drove through were just great! Do NOT use your GPS when trying to find the good back roads, since the GPS always wants to send you to the freeways (which are interesting for some high speed - also not attainable in an "econo" Hyundai!), but absolutely boring as far as what you see.

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[tamathumper]

Very glad for you - I missed the museum during my last trip to Germany. It especially hurt to see (and pass by) the signs pointing to Stuttgart.

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[Winston968]

That's a great tip about the age limit for the factory tour.

I'm planning to take the family to visit the new museum and factory.

It looks like I'll have to wait 15 years! My youngest daughter is only 1.

Maybe we'll just go to the museum, and come back another year for the factory tour.

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[Sears]

I'm headed there in late April. I would love to do the factory tour as well, do I need to make an appt or anything? Any tips are appreciated.

Thanks,

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[Langley968]

You need to go to the PORSCHE site and book the factory tour online. You can also do it through a local dealer but it worked fine online for me. I would apply ASAP!

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[cosimo]

I made reservations thru the local Porsche club. Did it all thru E-Mails. They said they need 2 months lead time for the factory tour. Good luck.

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[Langley968]

I got it within a week online, but...

They are booked up at certain times of the year, so try ASAP

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[Sears]

No luck for me unfortunately. Two of the three days I'm going to be there they don't offer tours to begin with (Friday and Saturday) and apparently Thursday is full already. I did this all through emails with the folks in Germany after being directed that way by PCA.

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[968Syncro]

One more pic of the 968, a good buddy was at the museum recently, he passed on this picture.



   

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[judge]

I'm just back from a European vacation and took the time to go to Stuttgart to do the Porsche and Mercedes museums. I recommend both highly to anyone interested in either of the two marques or cars in general. Both are easy to get to on the S-Bahn [train/subway], cheap to enter, and extremely well laid out. The audio guides are well worth a few euros and make the experience much more rewarding. A tip if you go in winter: use the free cloakroom service because you will be inside for a couple of hours at least and they keep the place at about 24 dgrees C, so walking around in or carrying your coat is a PITA.



It is also worth getting a 3 day "Stuttpass" for 22 euros because as well as giving you total access to all public transport in the city and surrounds, including S-Bahn to and from the airport, it gives a 50% discount on many of the local tourist attractions, including the two museums!



Both museums are "attached" to the main dealer showroom so after a look through the history you can browse the current offering at your leisure. A particular feature at the Mercedes dealer/showroom is a section of what they call their "Young Timer" classics. These are cars from the 80's and 90's that have been back throught the factory and restored to almost as new condition and are being sold at [mostly] quite realistic prices. Cars like the R129 and R107 SL's, W123 CE's and W116 cars, all like new with full warranties; magic!!



The blue Cab is a US model I think because it has the ugly black rubbers on the rear bumper, and I was told by a guide at the museum that it was the last 968 off the production line. He also said that in Germany they are very well regarded because they were virtually hand built towards the end. He said that because the factory out put was so slow at the time that the management wanted to keep the production workers busy, so slowed the line right down . Any comments on that??



I took some pics, of the Cab but haven't got them out of the camera yet, but I was asked not to take a pic of the chassis number/VIN...hmmm??

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