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Bavarian BeemerBy John Graham and Emmy RoosIf you cannot afford to buy a new car in Munich to drive around Europe before shipping it home as your own, at least you can rent one for your next European vacation. It’s certainly the next best thing and driving is full of excitement when the roads are a mixture of autobahns and tiny curves. Our old car at home had only a year to go on the lease. Furthermore, I had read about driving a new BMW at unlimited speeds on the autobahn before shipping it back to the US, at what I told my wife was truly minimal cost. However, my wife told me that I had no reason to think of buying a new car despite the appearance of a new model on the market. She often does not think quite as expansively as I, unless she is standing before a dress shop. Still, we did have inexpensive air tickets to Munich. So we planned a week's relaxation driving from one Bavarian castle to the next. The rental agency offered a cheaper car but the price for upgrading to a BMW seemed justifiable since I wasn’t allowed to buy one -- so we rented an almost new one for the trip. Let me explain, BMWs are made in Munich, Audis are made in Ingolstadt, as the Mercedes Benzes are made in Stuttgart. You need to merge with your locality. Be careful though because these rental contracts have a remarkable number of adders when you come to settle up before flying home. Compulsory insurance, a 12% service charge, return gas at an exorbitant price, local tax, various insurances, and a final charge more than double the original quotation. Renting a car in Europe is far more expensive than in the US. In retrospect, however, what a disaster it would have been to find us tied to some other make of car during the week. Southern Bavaria is BMW country and from the moment we landed, it seemed that every second car was a Beemer -- there was even one on show in the airport. It is better to be one of the crowd than an outcast.
The terms of the rental told us that we could drive through most of Western Europe had we wished but not into Italy, Slovenia, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia or the Czech Republic with this car. If the car had been one model better it would have been restricted to Germany alone. However, with only Austria and Germany on the itinerary we were fine. As it turned out we went from one country to the other almost without noticing a border. Europe is being united so fast that borders are difficult to find. First, we set off south to Schwangau, close to our first destination, King Ludwig’s Castle Neuschwanstein.
The next day we visited a new Bavarian wonder – BMW, of course. Our rental took us north on rather intermittent lengths of autobahn back to Munich. We happily cruised at over 160 km/hr, but I had a sense that our own car would have been more alert at the higher speeds. We didn’t push it because the outskirts of Munich have fairly dense traffic patterns and driving at a hundred mph requires a little more attention that at 70 mph around Denver, Colorado.
The museum is built as a vertical spiral of exhibits within a flower-vase-shaped building built at the same time as, and next to, the 1972 Olympic park. As you climb the spiral, time advances from the nineteen twenties to the future though not strictly from year to year – some exhibits are grouped. The Mobile Tradition exhibition is called, aptly, ‘Horizons in Time.’ First came the Wartburg 2-cylinder 3 horsepower 500cc motor car followed by early motor bikes of roughly the same capacity and vintage. Then came the racing cars – the M1 of 1979, a '320' Group 5, the March Formula 2 and a '2002' turbo -- all multiple winners in Europe. Ernst Henne’s 500 cc motorbike, on which he set the world record of 256 km/h in 1935, was next. Close behind was, what I believe is the pride of any show: an original silver 1936 328 roadster, which won innumerable races. I don’t believe a more attractive car body has since been designed. The car, exhibited alongside the spiral, simply breathed its racing excellence. What a pity that the car could not be driven in the USA today within the stupid inhibitions of the EPA and the requirements to protect oneself from other drivers.
Finally, the spiral entered, at the top of the building, the range of concept cars, alternative fueled systems, new interiors, and plans for computerization unlimited. Coming down to the ground again gave us the opportunity to buy models, accessories, and the enticing opportunity to do it all over again. My wife, with visions of Munich dress and shoe shops in mind, had to drag me away – retreating as slowly as if I was a small boy on his way to school. Still, once on the way again – the little rental car satisfied my urge for BMW fulfillment. We briefly visited Himmler’s Dachau built not long after the magic castle of Neuschwanstein … the disastrous change of culture took just 38 years. On our return south we took the ‘Romantische Strasse’ – a windy picturesque path through the Bavarian countryside. This is where the rental excelled – it was fast and tight round the narrow curves onto a short straight to the next set of curves. This is where driving is driving, shifting down from gear to gear and up again. My wife found it far more satisfying than the autobahn. She reveled in the manual gearing against our own automatic back home -- and the Alpine cows in the meadows alongside were an appreciative audience. I felt they almost applauded. Unfortunately, this wonderful world is full of other small cars – as well as, in this countryside, farm vehicles. They added to the driving challenge. The week went by quickly amid sun-lit green countryside, towering rocky peaks, more castles, decorated Alpine chalets, lunchtime stops at wonderful restaurants and evenings spent contemplating each day’s driving over another glass of wine. ‘Tough life’, we told each other. On the return to Munich airport at the end of the vacation, we took as much autobahn as we could. Unfortunately, south of Munich, there were autobahns shown on our map, which were not yet -- they were merely two lane highways with slightly wider passing areas. Even the autobahns, which existed, had lengths that have not yet been connected, so the idea of tearing along at superlative speeds for an hour or more is impossible. Still, we pushed the speed just slightly towards 200 km/hr on occasion and then settled back with the needle stuck on what would have been the 100-mph mark if the dial had been marked for the US market. The speed felt comfortably in tune with the average speed on the road. It was then, while I was driving, that we experienced a true measure of the difference between driving in Germany and the US. As I was tooling along at the 100-mph mark and feeling good, a small delivery vehicle passed us and disappeared into the distance a good twenty to thirty miles an hour faster than we were going. It seems that the bread was being delivered fresh that day. Knopf Mapguides Munich |
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TM
The
silver car awaiting us was basic -- no sports package -- no computer -- not
even the ability to open the trunk from inside the car -- and like all
Europeans, it had no cup holders. Still, it was the right car with
performance to match and only 5,000 km on the clock. We looked forward to
seeing what difference a liter less capacity might make versus our car back
at home.
Eccentric
Ludwig is known as ‘Mad’ King Ludwig, principally because he was the victim
of a family and political campaign to stop him spending money on beautiful
mountaintop castles. (Nowadays he would have bought performance cars and the
family would have begged for a ride.) His family eventually managed to get
him committed by a doctor who had never met him. However, on the day that he
was taken from his residence to the asylum he was allowed a walk along a
lake accompanied by that same doctor. They were both later found dead and
the family announced that he had drowned. I fancy he exacted his revenge
before committing suicide. At any rate, his castle Neuschwanstein on a small
peak among lakes at the edge of the Alps is a wonder worth visiting. Our
hotel had a glorious view both of it and the next of Ludwig’s castles at
Hohenschwangau from the balcony of our inn where we sat sipping local wine
each evening.
We
found the museum easily. It is at the base of the company’s triple
cylindrical office blocks whose roundel logo one can see from miles away.
Parking was easy and we recognized a couple of the company’s public
relations productions in the car park. They are hydrogen fueled.
The
spiral continued through a series of engines, for both cars and planes, many
of which had established world endurance and speed records. At each grouping
on the spiral there are slide shows in multiple languages for more detailed
information about. 
The
British Austin Dixi, which started the Munich motor business, was next and
the company’s original car, the four-speed “Ausfuhrung Munchen” of 1932.
Then, more motor bikes and a host of beautifully preserved models, some of
which I recognized: the first six cylinder '303', the '315' sports, the
'326' touring saloon, the V8, the Isetta, the '507' and a '700' with
rear-mounted engine. A 740i cut in half through suspension, cabin, engine,
and even tires was worth spending time with. I recognized most of the
numbers even though they meant nothing to my wife. Furthermore, I lusted
for all of them (as Billy Carter said he did of beautiful women).