The little town of Dietzhölztal-Ewersbach in Hessen, north of Frankfurt, boasts a new attraction: the National Auto Museum, a unique private collection featuring some 150 valuable rarities, a real paradise for car fans.
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00:00 Spectacular race cars, one-of-a-kind models, and vintage classics.
00:10 The new National Auto Museum in the state of Hessen, north of Frankfurt, exhibits some 150 choice vehicles.
00:17 The cars are all authentic, technically all in good condition and all generally roadworthy.
00:23 Now, of course, they're in the museum, so visitors can view them.
00:27 But we maintain them and keep them all in running condition.
00:34 Executive Director Florian Urbitsch has plenty of specialized knowledge and stories to tell about each car.
00:41 This Formula One Ferrari is legendary.
00:44 Michael Schumacher crossed the finish line in it in 2000 to win his third world championship title.
00:50 Of course, Formula One is the highest class of auto racing, and the Ferrari name and Michael Schumacher,
00:57 the all-time greatest racing driver, have a very special place in it.
01:02 What's brought together here is quite exceptional. You won't find it in the classifieds.
01:07 But when you've collected cars for over 35 years, you've made some good contacts,
01:11 you know other collectors, and you can find some true rarities.
01:19 The museum's also known as the Lowe Collection, the one-time private collection of multi-billionaire Friedhelm Lowe.
01:27 For 35 years, he's been on the lookout for very special models.
01:31 An exceptional rarity is this Benz Victoria from 1896, one of the oldest vehicles on display here with all original parts.
01:40 It's no accident that cars like the Victoria and Michael Schumacher's world championship racer are standing here,
01:48 rather than just any old car or just any Formula One racer.
01:52 It was Lowe's love of detail that made the museum what it is today.
01:59 A glance at the museum's own app is all it takes to get a good overview of the vehicles on display.
02:09 It's one automotive dream after another.
02:12 It really is a dream.
02:18 She just pinched me. I told her, "Pinch me. Back there is a Bugatti.
02:24 Cars are standing here that you just don't see every day."
02:27 You end up standing there with your mouth open. It's just great.
02:31 Superb. I have no words for it. You hardly ever have so many great cars in one place.
02:37 The collection's true value is hard to estimate.
02:42 This Maybach Accelero, the only one ever built, is valued at around 8 million euros.
02:48 The 2005 sports coupe set a record of 351 km/h.
02:53 But even that is nowhere near the fastest of the collection's street-legal vehicles.
02:58 Here we have the Bugatti Veyron Supersport, one of only 48 ever built.
03:06 And in 2012, this car was the fastest on earth.
03:09 It made the Guinness World Records with a top speed of 431 km/h.
03:14 But for safety reasons, the production model was limited to 415 km/h.
03:20 A special exhibition honors the 100th birthday of the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans,
03:27 with 21 speedsters chronicling the endurance race's history.
03:31 Every racer stands for a milestone in technological development.
03:35 The museum is a place where you can learn about the history of the car industry.
03:40 Our museum may be exhibiting internal combustion technology for the most part,
03:46 but as a museum, we're not closing ourselves off to electric vehicles.
03:51 We're hoping the German automotive industry here will keep pace and we don't fall behind.
03:57 The National Auto Museum has opened one of Europe's largest private car collections to the public
04:03 and invited everybody on a journey back through the history of the automobile.
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