DIETZHÖLZTAL, Germany, 23 July —  Two years ago, the Nationales Automuseum opened its doors. Since then, the multi-award-winning collection in Dietzhölztal-Ewersbach in central Hesse has welcomed 170,000 visitors from all over the world. The museum has also established itself as a popular starting point, stopover, or destination for classic car rallies, orientation drives, club meetings, and as an event location. It has also become an economic factor: to date, around 80 jobs have been created in the museum and its immediate vicinity.

More information: http://www.nationalesautomuseum.de/

Altlussheim, Germany, 5 December, 2024 – First of all, visitors to the Museum AUTOVISION, which is known for its numerous special exhibits, do not need to fear encountering a bad-tempered, free-running crocodile when entering the exhibition halls! 

One of the two newly acquired exhibits enriching the Wankel exhibition is of course not a live large lizard, even though its capabilities appear to be identical in many respects. The second new addition – a Hover Hawk hovercraft with three rotary engines – is just as spectacular, almost exotic and hardly known even in specialist circles.

Universal Vehicle With Wankel Engine
A Wankel-powered all-terrain vehicle developed in Switzerland can now be marvelled at in the automobile section of the rotary piston exhibition, lined up between legendary vehicle models such as the Mercedes C 111 or the Citroën M35. CroCo AG in Kägiswil developed this extremely manoeuvrable four-wheel drive vehicle of the same name in the 1970s, probably originally for military operations. And the model name even had a double meaning: the company name stood for ‘Cross Country’. It is also the abbreviation for ‘crocodile’. This was a perfect fit, as the wadeable off-roader not only had four-wheel drive but also four-wheel steering, a swivelling chassis and even the ability to float – all features that enabled the CROCO to move on similar terrain to the reptiles of the same name. Nevertheless, series production for the army never took place, as its Wankel engine could only be operated with pertrol fueld. A prerequisite for military use, however, was a diesel engine, as these have much more flexibility in terms of replacement liquid fuel in an emergency. Nevertheless, the rotary piston engine from the Israeli licence holder SAVKEL had one special feature: its housing was air-cooled and the piston was oil-cooled.   

CROCO went into series production in the ‘Ländle’
After the Swiss cross-country company was taken over by the Luxembourg-based TAG Group, the CROCO went into serial production after all, albeit for civilian use. At the time, the all-terrain universal vehicle was built in Rheinstetten near Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg by the company VMB-Vesta. From there, it was marketed as an ATV (All Terrain Vehicle). In the end, however, only a total of 60 vehicles were built – which was all the more reason for the AUTOVISION museum management to preserve this extraordinary off-roader for posterity as another example of a special Wankel vehicle in the exhibition!

Almost floating over the Nordic ice and snow tracks

Another new addition to the Wankel exhibition is the HOVER HAWK Wankel hovercraft. It was originally used several times by postal delivery services in the far north (Norway, Sweden, Finland). When the usual routes on the water were iced over in winter, conventional postal boats without icebreakers had no chance of reaching locations which were sometimes fairly remote. Here, the Hover Hawk offered the great advantage of being able to seamlessly alternate between travelling on the water or simply on the ice cover on partially icy sea routes. Two Wankel engines from Fichtel & Sachs were used for propulsion. A third motor of the same design permanently filled the air cushion to provide the necessary buoyancy.

The two new additions to the world’s only permanent Wankel exhibition at the Museum AUTOVISION prove once again how versatile the rotary piston technology was once used. The Wankel engine was the first choice wherever little space was required with a lot of power! 

EINBECK, 19 March, 2024 —  PS.SPEICHER is now presenting its “collections” to visitors. The classic car museum thus replaces the previously used term “depot”.

With the start of the summer season, PS.SPEICHER is changing its communication. In June 2016 and the summer of 2020, the classic car museum made its depots publicly accessible at great financial and construction expense. These four other locations have developed over the years into an important pillar of the largest classic car museum in Europe.

“We started with the idea of giving our visitors an insight into our exhibit storage – i.e. our depots. Due to the great interest right from the start, we have developed these into independent exhibition venues with the support of our founder, numerous donors and a lot of voluntary commitment. “The term ‘collection’ now seems more appropriate to us,” says managing director Lothar Meyer-Mertel. Since its first opening, the PS.SPEICHER has increased the size of its collections by several thousand square meters and many hundreds of historical exhibits to show the complete variety of its vehicles.

PS.SPEICHER is constantly working on its collections, regularly replacing vehicles and enhancing the customer experience. The most recent example of this is a special exhibition in the motorcycle collection on the subject of “two- and four-stroke engines”. This is already included in the entrance fee.

In addition, PS.SPEICHER will soon equip the motorcycle collection, the small car collection and the automobile collection with so-called “self-service terminals” where visitors can print out their own tickets. Tickets are available on site at the Truck + Bus Collection.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, 6 June —  Step into the history of the Zandvoort Grand Prix during the unique exhibition of F1 Legends in the Louwman Museum. The exhibition opens on 1 July and ends on 4 September, the day on which this year’s F1 Grand Prix will be held at Zandvoort. On display are Eight F1 cars of legendary drivers that took part in the Dutch Grand Prix between 1948 and 1970.

F1 Legends Ascari, Fangio and Clark

Highlights of the special exhibition are undoubtedly the winning Ferrari 500 F2 (1952/1953) driven by Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio’s victorious Mercedes-Benz W196 (1955) and the winning Lotus 33 (1965) driven by Jim Clark.

Ascari won the world title in 1952 and 1953 due in part to both victories at Zandvoort in his Ferrari 500 F2. In the 1953 season he had no fewer than seven successive wins, a record that stood until 2013. Alberto Ascari was Ferrari’s first World Champion.

In 1954 and 1955 Juan Manuel Fangio became the F1 world champion. In 1955 Fangio in his Mercedes-Benz W196 claimed the only win for Mercedes-Benz at Zandvoort to this date. Juan Manuel Fangio is widely regarded as the best racing driver of the 1950s. His record of five world titles in Formula 1 stood for 46 years.

In 1963 and 1965 Jim Clark became F1 world champion. He won at Zandvoort in 1965 in his Lotus 33 with the Coventry Climax V8-engine. Clark holds the record of four wins at Zandvoort and is regarded as the best racing driver of the 1960s.

More F1 Legends

The Talbot Lago T26C (1950/51) driven by Frenchman Louis Rosier, the BRM P25 (1959) of Swedish driver Jo Bonnier and the Lotus 49 driven by Graham Hill who all won Grand Prix races at Zandvoort are also on display at the exhibition. Louis Rosier won at Zandvoort in 1950 and in 1951 when the Grand Prix did not yet officially count towards the F1 championship. Jo Bonnier won the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix in a BRM 25. It was the only F1 victory of Bonnier’s career.

F1 Legend Graham Hill

The Lotus 49 of two-time F1 world champion Graham Hill is also on display. However, it was actually Jim Clark who won the Lotus 49’s debut race at Zandvoort in 1967. The Lotus 49 was a revolutionary design. The new Ford DFV-Cosworth V8 engine formed a structural part of the chassis, a technology seldom seen before that time. Between 1967 and 1983 no fewer than 155 Grand Prix races were won by a car powered by a DFV-Cosworth V8 engine.

Dutch F1 Legends

The HWM – ALTA (1952) of Dries van der Lof and the Porsche 718 (1960) of Carel Godin de Beaufort complete the grid. Dries van der Lof was, together with Jan Flinterman, the first Dutchman to compete in a F1 race. He took part in the 1952 Zandvoort Grand Prix in his HWM – ALTA but retired from the race and was not classified. Carel Godin de Beaufort finished in sixth place at Zandvoort in 1962 scoring his first championship point.

Technology

The F1 Legends exhibition offers an excellent overview of the technological development within Formula 1 between 1948 and 1970. Just as today, rule changes influenced for example maximum engine displacement and whether or not a supercharger could be used. Visitors can observe the evolution from the conventional space frame or tubular chassis to the more rigid monocoque chassis and also the location of the engine which moved from the front of the car to the rear.

Louwman Museum

The permanent collection of the museum is open to the public during the F1 Legends exhibition. The museum presents every aspect of the history of the automobile and cars from all eras. Over 250 motor cars produced by more than 100 different manufacturers provide an overview of the wide variety of coachwork and numerous technological developments, particularly from the last century. The extensive collection of automotive art, including posters, sculptures, trophies and paintings, puts the automobile into an historical perspective.