The Erwin Hymer Museum is coming out of lockdown with a new exhibition program: "Plastic Fantastic?" takes young and old into the world of plastic car bodies. Highly modern and the latest craze, plastic found its way into the caravanning industry almost seventy years ago as "glass fiber reinforced plastic". Manufacturers enthusiastically molded not only the roof or front, but in some cases also entire car bodies from the supposed "miracle cure", whose pitfalls quickly became apparent. Today, GRP is a material that can be found on almost every camping vehicle if you look closely.
On a tour of discovery through the exhibition, visitors can explore numerous caravans and motorhomes from the 1950s to the present day, on which the initially new material was tested, later developed further and used in a targeted manner: From the chic Fahti Luxus and the spacey Windspiel, whose extraordinary bodies were molded entirely from plastic, to "Hobbyplast" caravans from the GDR and the first motorhomes with GRP bodies, to vehicles from today, which often no longer show the material at all.
Highlights include two huge molds in their original condition, in which the GRP shells of the Fahti Luxus were created in the 1960s, and a DeLorean DMC-12 with a plastic body under its stainless steel cladding.
The exhibition program clearly shows what plastic is, how it is processed into torsion-resistant vehicle parts with the help of fibres and how a caravan is made from it, and why GRP is considered the material of the future today - but also has many sceptics. "Visitors will gain an exciting insight into a part of the history of technology that will amaze them and make them think," say museum director Susanne Hinzen, collection manager Markus Böhm and project manager Isabell Heinzelmann.
"Plastic Fantastic? Composite Caravans" is now on display in the permanent exhibition of the Erwin Hymer Museum. The museum is open daily until further notice.
All information on visiting the museum and the current exhibition program can be found on the website or at the museum ticket office on +49 (0) 7524-976676-00
