Since opening in 2008, the Museum Prototyp in Hamburg has hosted over 30 successful special exhibitions, expert talks and book presentations. The self-imposed bar is high, but Thomas König and Oliver Schmidt and their team have ambitious plans for the anniversary year and the future.
"Ten years ago, we were pioneers in HafenCity, and now this exciting district has grown with many new facets around us," says Thomas König, who opened the prototype car museum together with Oliver Schmidt in 2008. "We are delighted to welcome around 50,000 visitors a year - we now need to build on this success," adds Oliver Schmidt. "This can only be achieved by constantly reinventing, testing and improving ourselves - but that's what our name Prototyp stands for."
The program for the anniversary year includes the presentation of the first and only surviving VW 39 as a new addition to the permanent exhibition in mid-February, as well as a meet and greet with the world-famous Porsche collector Magnus Walker on 21 March. A number of events are planned for the following months in cooperation with neighbors in HafenCity, including a competition together with MiniaturWunderLand, a photo exhibition on the architectural history of the building in the Kesselhaus and a reading of racing driver stories with actor Wanja Mues in the Messmer Momentum. Various anniversary events at the Automuseum Prototyp will set the specialist accents with an expert discussion on the future of the automobile as well as a vernissage with a look back at past events and the upcoming special exhibition, which will present vehicles from the collection that have never been shown before from mid-November and showcase special exhibits, including their stories, with a look behind the scenes.
"A glance at the range of topics covered by our special exhibitions quickly reveals how multifaceted the automobile can be experienced here: for example, we showed top international cars as part of the 60th anniversary of Formula 1 or veterans of German racing from the end of the war to the construction of the Berlin Wall or the world-famous BMW Art Cars by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Jeff Koons, among others," says Oliver Schmidt. "It is always important to us that the history of the vehicle can be experienced and this also inspires our visitors. This will remain our aim for the coming years and we already have many new ideas for the implementation," adds Thomas König.
When the Beetle was still a Porsche: first and only VW 39 still in existence now in the prototype car museum
After detailed research and several years of restoration, the unique pretzel Beetle is now a highlight of the permanent exhibition. Originally, 50 examples of this series were planned. However, due to the start of the Second World War, only 14 vehicles were built for civilian use, as the development of military vehicles had priority. Among the pre-series vehicles of the VW Beetle built by Porsche, this VW 39 with chassis number 1-00003 was a special case: designed by Dr. Designed by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche in 1939 as a high-speed variant and used as a test vehicle by him and his son Ferry Porsche, a more powerful Type 64 engine was installed in the rear, which had originally been designed for the Type 60 K 10 "Berlin-Rome car" and produced 32 hp instead of the usual 23.5 hp.
In preparation for the forthcoming series production at the Volkswagen plant, machine tools such as body presses were used for the first time in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen in the production of the VW 39 pre-series. Prior to this, all pre-series Volkswagens had been produced by hand. As a result, the hood, bumper horns and heating system of the VW 39, of which only 14 were produced in total, were again modified in detail. The type plate identifies this vehicle as a Porsche. The new chassis number was new and characteristic for all subsequent models. It began with a "1" followed by a hyphen and a consecutive five-digit number, which already suggested series production.
"Since 2008, we have been showing extraordinary vehicles in HafenCity and telling their stories. Tracking down the special exhibits is like looking for a needle in a haystack," explain the two museum founders Thomas König and Oliver Schmidt. "The fact that we can present this unique VW 39, completely restored, to our visitors in time for our 10th anniversary is simply a stroke of luck!"
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