Stuttgart’s Mercedes Benz Museum is probably the best automotive museum in the world with over 160 vehicles all magnificently displayed in a building designed by UNStudio who also designed the New Zealand Te Papa Museum, which can only be described as art. There are over 16500 square metres of exhibition space with some of the world’s finest examples of Mercedes Benz automobiles. The exhibition starts at the top floor and works it’s way down spiral ramps to the bottom with giant showcases of vehicles on all levels. Amongst it’s huge collection are cars, buses, trucks from all eras of the Mercedes Benz timeline all shining like jewelery in the beautiful displays. One highlight is the Gallery of Celebrities where visitors can get up close to the Popemobile, movie and music stars cars and even a Mercedes owned by Princess Diana.
Toyota City is in the outskirts of Nagoya in central Japan and as the name suggest it is the home of the huge Toyota motor company. The company is trailing these cute little electric cars called the Crayon which can be hired thought the city. For a few hundred yen (a couple of dollars) you can hire them at many locations around the city. They have a cable on the front of the vehicle which has a paddle which plugs into a electric repowering station. The vehicles travel at reasonable speeds and have a range of about 30 kilometers they are quiet popular for getting shopping home and for buisness trips for many of the people who don’t have a car in this tightly packed city. Read the rest of this entry »
The Grand Prix comes to the Portuguese island of Macau next weekend for what promises to be a huge weekend but for those who cant get there for the action there is a great museum you can visit during the year. The museum celebrates the the 50 odd years of racing in Macau and has some great displays. Opening in 1993 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first Macau Grand Prix the centre has some great memorabilia and amazing racecars and motorbikes. For those who want a real bargain and want to see some of Macau’s other great museums like the Wine Museum (which is next door), the Maritime Museum, Lin Zexu Museum and the Museum of Art there is a a bargain joint ticket available.
In Odabia which is the new waterfront technology district of Tokyo, Toyota has a giant showroom come, car museum, come theme park and its really fun for the whole family. There is plenty to do including ‘driving’ the Crayon which is a self driving electric micro car. As you can see in the picture the car is one of Toyota’s latest efforts to revolutionise transport. Reading sensors on the road this car follows the track around the complex. There are simulator rides, an outdoor driving course for people wanting a test drive of a Toyota product and plenty of technology exhibits including Toyota’s cutting edge designs and quite a good display on hybrid and new power plants. The centre also features a beautiful museum where iconic cars from around the world (not all Toyota) are on display and then there’s a discovery centre hall which demonstrates how products are designed to suit as many people as possible. The centre attaches to the huge Pallete Town shopping complex where you can easily find plenty do do for the whole day.
Although the Ute or Utility was invented by Ford in Geelong Australia in the 1930’s, Deniliquin in New South Wales holds the title of the Ute capital of the World. Deniliquin is on the edge of some of the driest and flattest land on earth a farming and grazing region and home to the annual ute muster. In 1999 Deniliquin wrote itself into the history books with the largest parade of registered utes with 2939 vehicles taking place, and since then the number has grown to 6211. People bring their utes from all over Australia to attend and some even transport them from overseas for this huge event. This years event is on this weekend and it promises to be bigger than ever. To celebrate this feat the town has even erected a WB Holden Ute up a pole in all its glory. Read the rest of this entry »
Wolfsburg is a city in northern Germany that is home to the huge Volkswagen factory which produces the Golf. At their factory the company has what could only be described as a theme park called the AutoStadt with attractions, car displays and beautiful gardens plus a great factory tour. Many people flock to the park to pick up their new VW which they collect from a huge 20 story silo which looks like something from the Matrix or some other Sci-Fi film. Here brand new cars are stacked 20 high and giant lifts move up a central shaft placing the vehicle in position; it is quiet an engineering feat. VW have a similar silo at the Dresden factory where they assemble the Bentley and Phanteom luxury range of vehicles. Read the rest of this entry »
Some countries are well known for their crazy drivers, and India is no exception. Our youtube pick of the week is of an intersection in India where cars an motorbikes seem to play chicken with each other. If you intend to rent a car in India make sure you option up the insurance and familiarize your self with where the cars horn is located. Read the rest of this entry »
This 747 Jumbo jet is on display at the Technik Museum in Speyer which is about an hours drive from Stuttgart. It part of one of a few great automotive and aeronautic museums found throughout Germany. The 747 is the real thing it is a Lufthansa aircraft which has been decommissioned. You can climb the stairs and inspect the whole plane including the cargo hold which is quiet interesting. The museum has hundreds of other displays including submarines, trains, planes, cars, boats you name it- if it moves they will have one. There is also a IMax theatre, a really good cafe which serves good food and drinks including some of the regions best beer and wine and of course a gift shop which has got some great things to purchase. Read the rest of this entry »
