It all started with 1000 motorcycles. Today, Karl-Heinz Rehkopf's "PS.Speicher" in Einbeck is one of the most important vehicle collections in Europe. The foundation has just celebrated the museum's tenth birthday.
The cake arrived on the back of a Piaggio Ape. It was so gigantic that the Ape went into its springs, and everyone got a slice. The donor gave one of his entertaining speeches: "My name is Karl-Heinz Rehkopf," he began. As if anyone present didn't know who this charming older gentleman was. He likes to flirt with the fact that nobody used to recognize him on the street. Since the "PS.Speicher" opened ten years ago, that has changed - and how.
The "PS.Speicher" was originally a completely different idea; Rehkopf had actually envisioned it differently. "I had written in my will that a museum should be created after my death." Rehkopf had collected 1000 motorcycles by then, and his original aim had been to depict the history of the German motorcycle industry as completely as possible: DKW, Victoria, NSU, Horex, Zündapp and many others. The discreet hobby of a successful businessman. But the executors refused. Instead, they suggested to Rehkopf: "You start, and we'll join in."
They set up a foundation; then Rehkopf and his wife Gabriele, an art historian by training, went traveling. They spent a year visiting technology museums in Germany and neighboring countries. They studied exhibition concepts and soon knew how they didn't want to do it: "The garage principle," she says, "one vehicle next to the other." What the couple also soon learned was that they would never be able to show the entire collection. "280 to 320 exhibits. No visitor can see more," says Gabriele Rehkopf. It was only in Zwickau, at the August-Horch-Museum, that they immediately liked the concept. The exhibition organizers there, Eva and Matthias Kaluza, became partners for the "PS.Speicher".
But there were further headaches: Rehkopf's collection did fulfill its goal of depicting the history of the German motorcycle industry. But would the visitors to his museum be as passionate about it as the founder himself? Hardly. Rehkopf is an open mind. And he was lucky. A large collection from the Rhineland supplemented the exhibits with Italian, Japanese and American brands from a time when the car was replacing the motorcycle and the latter was becoming a leisure object. People wanted a roof over their heads.
The history of motorization begins with motorcycles, but continues with the car. Rehkopf took over the Störy small car collection, which had been neglected for years, and a few more. The most spectacular acquisition, however, was the commercial vehicle collection of Emil Bölling in Sittensen near Hamburg, which "PS.Speicher" took over in 2015. A YouTube video documents the logistically challenging move to Einbeck on the move. Rehkopf docked empty factory halls in Einbeck onto the "PS.Speicher". The collections for which the museum is too small can now be seen there. There are 2500 exhibits in total, 500 of which are in the museum itself. 2000 are in the depots, which are now also open to the public.
And these cars are also driven: Over the past few months, chief mechanic Michael Marx and his team have prepared around 40 examples from the collection for the eighth "PS.Speicher" rally. In total, more than 210 vehicles took part; the route covered 162 kilometers through Lower Saxony and Thuringia.
The little half-timbered town of Einbeck has spruced itself up since the "PS.Speicher" was founded. While it previously suffered from structural change with plenty of vacancies, today people come here who would never have found a reason to leave the Autobahn 7 between Göttingen and Hanover without the outstanding vehicle collection. One million people have visited the "PS.Speicher" since it opened ten years ago. The founder himself and his work are far from being old hat. "I'll soon be 88," said Rehkopf during his short, witty birthday speech at his historic warehouse, which somehow also applied to himself, "but I feel like I'm 87."
