Technik Museums of Sinshiem and Speyer

The industrial towns of Sinshiem and Speyer in Germany are home to two extremely impressive auto and technical museums. The collections include numerous cars, motorbikes, scooters, trains, aircraft, ships, submarines, a space shuttle, military hardware and even a chainsaw collection. Housed in vast hangers, with giant aircraft suspended overhead, they are truly amazing. Even though Shelly was initially a little dubious, we spent a several hours at both museums and it was quite overwhelming.

Of the two museums, I felt Sinshiem was the better. The collection was better presented and the auto section was much larger. Both cities are about two hours drive south east of Frankfurt. For more details, check their website: https://sinsheim.technik-museum.de/en/

This set of photographs primarily covers the scooter and microcar collections at both museums in 2008, when we visited. There is simply so much on display that the other collections will be have to be posted separately.

The Scooter Collection

A Heinkel Perle moped

The beautiful Zundapp Bella

Another Bella with a Stieb sidecar

Lambretta TV

NSU Prima V. NSU became the licensed manufacturer of Lambrettas in Germany but found the Lambretta 'insufficiently well engineered' to suit German tastes. Once the license had expired they developed their own series of much more advanced scooters.

The Heinkel collection at Speyer. Having been banned from aircraft manufacturing after the war, Heinkel turned to scooters and microcars. https://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2009/01/heinkel-scooter-story.html

More scooters in the microcar display - Zundapp Bellas, Adler Junior, and a Goggomobile

Vespa fender-light https://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2009/10/piaggio-museum-pontedera.html

IWL Berlin and a Vespa 125 https://dkwautounionproject.blogspot.com/2019/09/east-german-iwl-scooters.html

Adler Junior

Cheating a bit - this is actually from Brussels Auto Museum - A Goggo

A prototype Piaggio 3-wheeler. The MP3 has come a long way

German microcar royalty - Messerschmitt and Heinkel

NSU-Fiat 600. NSU began building Fiat cars under license again after the Second World War under the name of NSU-Fiat. The NSU-Fiat plant at Neckarsulm was split off from NSU so that the company could focus on motorcycles. However, by the late 1950s, NSU had begun designing their own car, the NSU Prinz. The two companies then became rivals in the small car market. To avoid confusion, NSU-Fiat changed their name to Neckar.
Hanomag were a truck, tractor and steam engine company but in 1924 introduced the Hanomag Kommissbrot budget car. This little two-seat budget car is important for reintroducing rear-engine mounting for cars, inspiring a raft of engineers in the 1930s.

The iconic BMW Isetta. This small, egg-shaped microcar was designed by the Italian refrigerator and scooter company, ISO. BMW was in a desperate financial state in the 1950s and purchased a license to build the Isetta in Germany. It proved to be the salvation of the company. https://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2023/01/bmw-isetta-saviour-of-company.html

A line up of 1964/65 Goggomobile Coupes

NSU Prinz Spyder

Nothing says "bubble car" like an Isetta

Except maybe a Heinkel...

A 1957 Goggomobile T-250 sedan

1955 Kleinschnittger F-125 https://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2024/07/kleinschnittger-f250.html

Zundapp Janus

The ultra cool Messerschmitt https://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2023/05/fmr-messerschmitt-mokuli-delivery.html

The Mercedes-Benz 170 H was Mercedes' attempt to develop a "volkswagen" during the late 1930s. The first model with a rear-engine was the 130 of 1934, but the placement of a four-cylinder water-cooled engine the rear gave it poor handling. In 1936 the much improved 170 H was introduced with double acting shock absorbers on the rear. Handling was still tricky for the unwary and the car was never the success they hoped it would be. https://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2025/02/1936-mercedes-benz-170-h.html

The east and west German "volkswagens" - Trabant and Beetle.
The Volkswagen Saga: https://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2012/03/volkswagen-world-beating-peoples-car.html
The Trabant: https://dkwautounionproject.blogspot.com/2017/07/trabant-east-german-peoples-car.html

More photos from our visit to Speyer and Sinsheim
Speyer aircraft and military: https://militarymuseum.blogspot.com/2020/05/speyer-technical-museum-germany.html  
Sinsheim aviation and military: https://militarymuseum.blogspot.com/2020/05/sinsheim-technical-museum-germany.html
Motorcycles: https://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2009/08/auto-technik-museums-at-sinshiem-speyer.html
Microcars: https://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2009/08/sinshiem-micro-car-collection.html
European cars: https://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2009/12/speyer-and-sinshiem-auto-collection.html
American cars: https://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2009/12/sinshiem-auto-collection-american-cars.html

Scooter update and a new purchase

On Sunday 24th July 2009 Shelly and I will be flying off to Germany for three months of random travels across Europe. Needless to say there won't be much to report here on the scooter restoration front. I do hope to visit a few scooter and motorcycle museum on the trip and I'll try and post some pics if I can. We shall see. For anyone interested, here is a link to our blog:
http://paulymx4.travellerspoint.com/

So, here's a wrap up of the Scooter situation....

The Troll is still broken down. I'm fairly confident that the rings have gone. I've found a source for pistons and rings but won't order until I have the confirmation of the damage. Ivo is going to pick up the Troll in the next week or so.

In the meantime I've been riding the Vespa - although not very often as it's been pouring with rain here in Perth. The Vespa feels very uncomfortable after riding the Troll. It really is only suitable for short rides. It doesn't have any guts, acceleration is poor and second gear is hopeless. I think a total rebuild of the engine and clutch is called for but I really don't want to spend any more money on it right now, especially as there will be a bill coming for the Troll.

The Heinkel is still parked in my shed. I haven't done anything more on it since I got the parts from the Heinkel Club and it doesn't look like much more is gonna happen this year. Partly, this is because I ended deciding the spend the 'Heinkel restoration fund' on an Ariel Leader. As I have mentioned before, I made some enquiries about the Ariel Leader earlier in the year. I wasn't especially serious at the time but things just took on a life of their own. I don't remember actually committing to buy the bike, but the seller became convinced that I was the guy he wanted to sell it to. About three weeks after I'd made my first enquiry the seller, Barry, called me out of the blue to advise that someone else had been around to visit him and was interested in the bike, but he told them firmly that he was selling it to a guy in Perth - me. I was a little surprised and told him that I didn't have the money (I didn't - I bills coming out of my a*se!) but he was okay with that. I could just pay him a bit at time, whenever I had some spare cash. Time and money were not an issue. After I had had time to think this over I decided - why not!? Opportunities like this don't come along often. So I paid him off over a couple of months. On Friday I got a call from the transport company - the bike is in Perth and ready for collection. Unfortunately I won't be around to pick it up, but my brother will kindly take care of that for me. The bike has been in storage for 10-15 years, but it was test run before it was sold. I've heard the engine running - it sounds rough, but what do you expect. It's almost road worthy, needing only new tyres, brake light and a new battery (and a tune up won't go astray!)