Porsche Museum; Gmünd, Austria

sarasphotos

Last summer we took a vacation to the state of Corinthia (Kärnten) in Austria. In addition to biking and hiking we paid a visit to the Helmut Pfeifhofer Porsche Museum in the town where the first Porsches were built between 1944-1950. The private collection only has 48 cars and some of them are real beauties. Here are a few:

1) The Porsche 356 aluminium body from 1948. This was hand pounded on the wooden frame you can see in the background.

2) a a contrast - the 1966 906 gull-wing (sorry for the funky angle - the cars are pretty crowded together and I was trying not to get the rope barrier in the picture)

3) they even made a tractor (in post-War Germany and Austria, a necessity!)

4) black beauty

5) this is a 365a convertible from 1959

6) such a nice smile...

black mamba

Very nice, Sara. That #4 black beauty could sit in my garage anytime. A lot of folks don't know that Porsche once made tractors. I've personally only seen one. Stay safe.

sarasphotos

Thanks Tom, when I saw your hand-formed aluminium beauty I immediately thought of these shots.

Stumblebum

Wow some really funky cars! Bravo!

sarasphotos

@Stumblebum said:
Wow some really funky cars! Bravo!

Taz, thanks for stopping by and commenting.Yeah, it was a fun museum visit.

torags

Nice shots Sara... a fun stop...

Why is the museum in Austria?

It might be because Dr Porsche was a Nazi and left Germany after the war to set up a garage in Austria to build cars.

I had a 1952 Porsche club racer built in his garage in Austria.

Mostly VW parts with a Porsche engine block (1000 cc)

sarasphotos

The factory moved to Austria before the end of the war to escape the bombing in Stuttgart. Ferdinand Porsche was a member of the Nazi party but from what I read that had nothing to do with the move. The man who owns the muesum grew up in the town during the time the Porsches were made there and developed a soft spot for the cars. Luckily for him he had the wherewithal to start the museum. It was certainly a fun stop for us and a great way to escape an afternoon rainstorm.

torags

Aha...

Thanks for filling in the history... much appreciated (BTW I'm a Porsche fan - I have a Macan)

sarasphotos

Ah, you have good taste in cars. Here you see lots of Porsches on the road - but usually the more modern ones and not so often the classics.

Thanks for stopping by to comment!

Juano

Wonderful! #2 is sexy!

sarasphotos

@Juano said:
Wonderful! #2 is sexy!

Thanks Cristóbal!

willard3

This is a nice set, Sara, from another Porsche fan.

My son and I raced Porsches for a while.

sarasphotos

@willard3 said:
This is a nice set, Sara, from another Porsche fan.

My son and I raced Porsches for a while.

Thanks for stopping by Willard - glad you like 'em. ...and racing Porsches - I'm impressed!