AN ELEGANT HOME, INDEED; Mercedes-Benz erects a museum befitting its vast collection.(News)

Byline: ROGER HART

Mercedes-Benz has long had one of the greatest collections of historic cars on the planet, with hundreds of vehicles from its rich 120-year history. With the opening last month of the Mercedes-Benz Museum, the company now has one of the greatest car museums in the world-and maybe the greatest museum building in which to showcase these vehicles.

Located alongside the B14 and B10 highways just outside the gates of Mercedes' main plant in Stuttgart-Unterturkheim, this architectural masterpiece houses 80 passenger cars, 40 commercial trucks, and 40 racing cars and trucks along with more than 1500 displays. The exhibit space measures 54,120 square-feet on nine levels. (By contrast, U.S. supermarkets average around 45,500 square-feet.)

Planning for the new facility started in 1999, with construction getting under way in 2003. Construction costs ran [euro]50 million ($65 million).

The museum is a multi-sensory journey through time: Visitors begin the tour by taking an elevator up through a vast atrium to the top floor, then exit the elevator to the sounds of clopping horse hoofs, sounds that set the stage for the invention of the automobile. The centerpiece is the 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen, the first car built by company namesake Karl Benz. Visitors then choose one of two routes that spiral down through the company's milestones.

The first route features seven Legends Areas that tell the chronological story of Mercedes-Benz. These include Pioneers: The Birth of the Automobile, 1886-1900; Mercedes: The Birth of the Brand, 1900-14; New Departures: Diesels and Superchargers, 1914-45; Wonder Years: Form and Variety, 1945-60; Pioneering Ideas: Safety and the Environment, 1960-82; Worldwide Mobility: Global and Individual, 1982 to present; and Silver Arrows: Races and Records.

The second route takes visitors to five Collection Areas that show the variety of vehicles that wear the Mercedes-Benz badge. These include the Gallery of Travel, Gallery of Loads, Gallery of Helpers, Gallery of Names and Gallery of Heroes. These areas are self-explanatory; buses and taxis fill the Travel section while Pope John Paul's Popemobile is in the Heroes area. Several galleries show Mercedes' line of commercial vehicles; this facility can easily house the firm's mammoth buses and trucks.