We left Copenhagen in the late morning of Day 6, and our next destination was Berlin, Germany. We’d been to Berlin once before back in the late ’90s and only for a couple of days so it was high time to check it out in more detail. Berlin is one of the great cities of Europe with perhaps more relatively recent history than most cities, so there was lots to do and see.
Of course the first step in any journey is to get there and this time we used yet another airline, Norwegian, to get from CPH to BER. In this case it was a familiar to most everyone Boeing 737, the novelty being (to those used to most American airports) going onto the tarmac and boarding via steps and the rear door. Side note – while airport security in Europe is pretty much the same humorless affair as it is at home, the shoes stay on even though Europe is where the failed shoe-bombing attack started. Maybe European x-ray machines actually scan the feet as well or someone high up at TSA has a foot fetish, I don’t know.
The highlight on this flight was the flight attendant that came down to where we were sitting near the rear quarter of the plane and announced that he would like five volunteers to move up to “business class” for the flight as they had space. I’ve never seen my wife raise her hand so fast, she startled the attendant, and he obviously picked her along with four others. With a look that said “See ya, suckers” she disappeared up the aisle…and later told us that there was really no difference up there except she didn’t have anyone sitting next to her. The boys quickly assimilated to their seats again with their screen hack and we were off. It’s only an hour-long flight so as quickly as we ascended we came back down again. Thumbs up to Norwegian!
At Berlin Brandenburg Airport we found the connection to the S-Bahn train that would take us right into town to the station closest to our next Airbnb, got our tickets, sat down in the train and settled in for the 40minute journey. Which was interrupted after 25 minutes when the train stopped at a random station and an announcement came over the public address system that everyone needed to get off as there was a police action happening at an upcoming station and we’d need to transfer to a different line.
We got off along with everyone else and I consulted a local who told us to get on the next train on the next platform to another stop, then transfer to the U-5 U-Bahn (subway) to get close to our destination. It was a little daunting but we figured it out and our ticket was valid for all of it although later I realized I had never validated the tickets after purchasing them which could have turned into a 60 Euro fine for each of us had anyone checked. But nobody did and I was able to carefully validate the same tickets a few days later when we used them to go back to the airport…I know, I know…
In any case we climbed out of the subway at the Alexanderplatz station which is where Berlin’s famous TV tower stands. When built in 1969 it was the fourth tallest structure in the world, is still the tallest structure in Germany, was built by the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and is easily visible from almost anywhere in Berlin so you can always find you way home, (if you are staying nearby, that is) and was inaugurated only a few days before I was born. From there we were were only a few hundred meters from our actual normal stop so we walked there, found the Vietnamese restaurant that had the keys to our Airbnb and crossed the street to that building in front of which was this bad boy:
Achtung Baby, Ich Bin Ein Berliner indeed! This 1971 Plymouth Custom Suburban station wagon was quite the treat to see parked right in front of our building for the next few days.
Berlin is a big city, but this may be a bigger car. Clearly owned by a serious Mopar fan judging by the window stickers, this was a good start to this portion of the trip.
While far from perfect, it’s perfect as a street-parked specimen and carries year-round license plates. As I presume you must if it lives on the street all year (You can buy seasonal plates in Germany that only allows you to use the car certain months of the year which is frankly a pretty good idea).
I wonder how long it ago was imported over here, but ’71 Plymouths are rare enough back home, never mind in wagon form.
The more I look at it the more I like the gold roof treatment with the brown body and the gold wheels. It certainly cuts a nice profile against the usual street iron.
Nexen Roadian NTX outline while letter tires are an interesting touch and I suppose decent stand-in for BFGs or Cooper Cobras stateside. Backing this in though would make anyone grateful for a back-up camera.
The inside’s in pretty good shape, with velour buttoned seats (or seatbacks anyway), the B&M shifter and an aftermarket wood steering wheel.
Business in the front, party in the back. Probably never been sat in.
And even from the ninth floor it still stands out.
We unpacked and as it was getting late and we were hungry, so we wandered around our immediate area near the Hackescher Markt which was the perfect base area for us with lots of restaurants as well as shops etc, to browse along with a large supermarket to stock the fridge with snacks and drinks. Eventually we decided on a restaurant and I ordered a König Ludwig Helles to celebrate our arrival.
My wife though tried the Berliner Kindl Raspberry Weisse which while it looks like a berry smoothie, was absolutely fantastic, quite aromatic and smooth, and extremely tasty. Yes, it comes with a straw. Later on at the supermarket we found it in bottles for under a Euro each so stocked up on a few for the fridge. And yes, kids, quality beer of all kinds is cheaper than soda in Germany whether in a restaurant or in a supermarket which is probably for the better, all things considered. After this and a delicious meal we headed back to the 2-room apartment as we had an early set of train tickets reserved for our day trip.
The next morning we woke up, got ready, headed downstairs to a bakery around the corner, got coffees and various bread products and took the S-bahn from Hackescher Markt to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Main train station). This building has five levels with I believe two levels of U-Bahn underground, then the main level, then two upper levels with S-bahn and regular longer distance trains. It also has at least half a dozen bakery outlets, multiple other places to grab a bite to eat or drink, various shops, as well as lots of other things to see and do while waiting for your conveyance to wherever you need to go. It’s big, airy, well-lit, easy to get around, and feels very safe
While we arrived on one level and just needed to change platforms for our train we had a bit of time so went outside to the enormous front plaza. Back in the day this would have been a long row of Mercedes E-Class taxis and nothing but. Now though while the E-Class is still extremely popular and here we have two of those, we also have three Toyota Prius Plus (our V), a Corolla Wagon hybrid and a van-thing that I can’t quite identify from here which seems to be pretty much the Berlin Taxi mix overall nowadays. All painted in Hellelfenbein (light ivory), the long-time official taxi color of Germany. This was a requirement from I believe 1971-2005 and most taxis still carry the color although some cabs (not here) are wrapped with random advertising that hides that color completely. They used to be painted that color (and you could order your Mercedes in that color most places in the world) but I suspect that many taxis are now just sporting wraps in that color.
Soon enough it was time for our train (not my pic above but similar), so we hopped on, it was an ICE (Inter City Express) which means it’s a bullet train and travels at up to 280kmh (174mph). In our case it only reached a top speed of 255kmh (158mph). Note that this is on the route between Berlin and Wolfsburg, a stretch of some 200 kilometers. While it doesn’t travel that fast inside Berlin proper, once it hits the outskirts it’s hammer down and you get there in just over an hour total, which beats driving by quite a bit.
This does include traveling through some quite small stations; having stood on the platform a few times waiting for other trains there’s an announcement to please step back a bit, and then all of a sudden the train just slams through the station at top speed while you’re a few feet away. It’s quite exhilarating actually. German toddlers tend to firmly hold their parent’s hand. Or perhaps it’s the other way around. From inside the train it definitely doesn’t slow, just keeps going at full tilt. German trains (like most fast trains around the world) are extremely smooth riding and quiet, you could easily play Jenga and not worry about the train causing significant issues.
The kids sucked on their juiceboxes and looked out the window while listening to music.
Let’s take this opportunity to detour into juice boxes! While Germany is the home of the Haribo Gummibear, Milka chocolate, and MezzoMix carbonated beverage, like many other countries it has lots of beverage options for those on the go. While as a kid I drank plenty of Capri-Sonne (Capri-Sun) over there in the pouches, regular juice boxes like you might buy for your kids were also a thing which, frankly, are just a little small for adults. Now, however, they have come up with these jumbo 500ml (half a liter or about 17oz) juice boxes. These are the Durstlöscher brand which translates to Thirst Eraser. In this case Sour Cherry – Lemon flavor and let me tell you, they were delicious, we tried many of the numerous flavors on offer and were happy with each one.
A sstated, just over an hour later we entered the Wolfsburg train station. Wolfsburg is not a large city, it has about 120,000 residents with of course other towns and villages scattered around it but not directly adjoining the way suburbs in the US just kind of morph into each other. Obviously its been the HQ of VW since VW’s beginning and the site of its main factory as well as the AutoStadt complex.
You exit the train station, walk about a block and then take a set of stairs or escalator onto a foot bridge that crosses the tracks and the water you see above and delivers you to the entrance of AutoStadt just to the right of the factory across the expanse of water. In the map below the factory is at the lower left and the footbridge is in the lower middle, the entrance building is the large one in the lower center.
This map/siteplan is from the back of the visitor guide we were handed and shows the layout. AutoStadt is VW’s sort of themepark but not like you’d expect, click here for their website; it focuses on VW and its other brands and tries to give some sense of what the companies are all about. It also serves as a major delivery center – about 500 people pick up their new cars here at the factory every day (cars not actually produced here are shipped in), has lodging (a Ritz-Carlton on the premises) and multiple dining options, stuff for kids to do, and is a beautifully manicured space with interesting buildings and displays along with a fabulous museum called the ZeitHaus (time house is the literal translation).
Every brand (well, almost) owned by VW has its own “Pavilion” where that brand can showcase either cars, their history, or whatever they really want. It also changes constantly, almost nothing was the same as when I was last here almost twenty years ago and the Audi pavilion was closed for another renovation when we were there (it has since reopened). The complex shown above sits on 69 acres – for reference Disneyland (the theme park itself, not the parking lots and hotels etc) sits on 85 acres, so this is about 20% smaller but still quite large. Admission is either per person or per family, it cost us 35 Euros for the family.
While you might think that it’s basically like an auto show it really isn’t. Sure there are cars around but not everything that they offer, and not every version. VW owns Audi, Porsche, Seat, Skoda, Bentley, Bugatti, Cupra, Lamborghini and Ducati the motorcycle maker. VW also has its main delivery center in addition to a smaller pavilion, at that delivery center they do have more cars on display than in the other places, for example this VW Tiguan R (not offered in North America, it’s a Tiguan with the Golf R’s 320hp engine). There’s a discreet placard with specs nearby stating that the Tiguan line in general starts at 31,545 Euros, the Tiguan R is about twice that at 63,780 Euros and this one as displayed rings up at 79,700 Euros. Holy Schnikeys! Above the display you’ll see a welcome sign stating the time and date that we were there, in this case Thursday, 3/16/2023 at 10:42am.
Just outside are their car towers, an automated storage and delivery center that stores around 800 cars in two towers, clearly the idea that Carvana copied on a much smaller scale. Each tower is around 200 feet tall. There’s an automated ramp and lift that shuttles cars on trays in and out all day long. It takes less than two minutes to “park” each car.
When a car is called for delivery, the machine gets it from its spot, takes it below ground level and then transports it through a tunnel to the delivery center (where the Tiguan R was) a few hundred feet away. The map shows the towers at the top and the sort of oval building is the delivery center.
The Tiguan was one story up, which is where “normal” visitors go and there are multiple balconies overlooking the ground floor where cars ready for delivery are arranged. In this case the white car in the middle contains the new owner and the VW guy explaining the controls while the person standing is presumably the driver’s friend or spouse or whatever. There are various lounges scattered about for owners awaiting their appointment time, it’s all very nicely done and highly professional and organized. They deliver both regular cars and EVs here.
Since we weren’t picking up a car and had most of the day to spend, we left and decided to visit the Porsche pavilion which was nearby. They had two or three cars on display with an attendant that basically acted as a museum docent, in other words if you asked a question he or she was happy to answer but if not then you were left alone. Porsche only had three cars on display along with a large scale display of everything they’ve ever produced but clearly the Porsche 911 Turbo S is the star of the show here today.
Introduced in 1963, updated and redesigned every few years to decade since and here we are 60 years later and yet a blind person could identify this as a 911 just by facing the rear of it. Magnificent.
Porsche’s latest lighting technology on full display, here the Porsche LED Matrix System, new technology which allows the headlight through a mirror system to see other cars and people and be able to selectively shut down portions of the light output as needed to both not blind oncoming people/traffic and offer the best possible lighting for the driver. At least parts of this are starting to (finally) become legal in the U.S. so hopefully this will be available for us as well eventually. Others here (well, one anyway) can explain all of this in far better detail than I can ever hope to, hopefully I didn’t step on myself already. I don’t even want to think of the cost of one replacement headlight, but if you can afford the car, you can afford the headlight. Eventually this tech will filter down to the Corolla class too (and then hopefully back up to more expensive cars than that one as well…)
VW’s pavilion had a few regular cars and then in a second attached space this VW ID.3 in sort of a conceptual form of what is possible. From what I understand you can’t buy it this way but it all seems quite production ready. (and the ID.3 is of course on sale all over Europe and has been for some time). VW really is embracing EVs, of course after their diesel scandal they don’t have much choice although there are still plenty of internal combustion vehicles being built.
There was more stitching and nicer seats going on here than in the regular model. Screens as in most new cars and quite spacious for its size.
We got in and it all felt very comfortable. The seats were wonderful.
It seems Golf-sized and thus I was confused when VW mentioned that they are looking to make a Golf-sized EV. Say what? The ID.3 is half an inch shorter (less long) than a current Golf, about an inch wider, but about six inches taller. OK, I don’t really see the need for something else about the same size but it’s their company, if they sent an email asking for my opinion it must have gotten caught in the spam filter like some people’s comments…
Heading outside we saw a large glass case with a car inside that reminded of the way that 1:43 scale cars usually come in their little display cases. Here were have a real life Audi 100GL from 1972. I grew up in these cars, we had four Audi 100s on the trot, two in Germany and two in Los Angeles. It seemed the ones in Germany were of higher quality and less prone to mechanical issues but I was just a kid so maybe not. Still, I guess my Dad liked then, then again he was a German engineer which probably helps (although later in life he did venture toward Ford and then a Dodge van, and like many others discovered the charms of Japanese cars.)
Ours were all four door examples, the two door is quite a bit rarer and not to be confused with the 100 Coupe which has a fastback profile.
If you hold your phone camera just right you can make the back of an Audi 100 look as long and wide as anything Detroit offered in 1972 as well. I don’t recall ever seeing that particular color on a real life Audi 100 but the car was immaculate and the color did work, I assume it’s a factory shade that just wasn’t chosen often.
Seat’s pavilion is interesting as you see this wall at a distance and are wondering what you are looking at…
As you get closer you realize it’s about 500 mirrors looking right back at you. Inside there’s a little movie about the brand’s history and a few cars along with a couple of Cupras, which is VW’s new performance brand based on hotted up Seats. Apparently there is some talk about bringing Cupra to the U.S. which seems a bit odd to me, does VW really need more brands here, especially since they’ve been killing off many of VW’s normal product lines?
Bugatti shared space with Bentley and Lamborghini and I suppose maybe they rotate the usage or something, but entering the space most of it was taken over by a chrome plated Bugatti Veyron set on a chrome surface with chrome walls all around it. Taking pictures ended up just dazzling everyone so we walked on and the only other thing in the space was an admittedly impressive Bugatti 16.4 W-16-engine complete with gearbox and everything else.
8 liters, 4 turbos, 1001 horsepower. Everything seemed tightly connected and there was no oil dripping down from the valve covers unlike on the 1.8 liter, no turbo, 102 horsepower engine in my former ’86 GTI built by the same conglomerate.
We looked at Skoda as well (four cars including what seemed to be a platform mate to the VW ID.4 EV, and found a Ducati Panigale V4 motorcycle in another glass case, yet simply neglected to take photos. VW Commercial pavilion was for some reason locked but had a few commercial vans inside (bummer) as we peered through the windows.
We then got hungry and visited one of VW’s eateries on the campus which offered their delicious Currywurst with fries and a beer (well, a Radler which is half beer and half lemonade although there were other choices). As usual the beer was cheaper than the kids’ water. Did you know that VW actually manufactures their own wurst (sausage) right here in the Wolfsburg factory and it has a VW part number? They produce over 20,000 per day, have been doing so for decades, and apparently it is the single most produced VW part. I recommend it highly but don’t think about the various subassemblies that went into this final part.
Next to our table was a cutaway VW DOHC-16v engine, likely dating from the mid to late 80s, as seen in GTI 16V, Jetta GLI 16V, and Scirocco 16V amongst others. It appeared to be an old display engine from auto shows and such.
There were several other engines on display as well, along with factory photos on the wall. Somehow we picked the one day of the month when there were no factory tours. I’d seen it before though, and it’s around an hour long, they shuttle you through the plant in a little train sort of thing and it is all very interesting. Well worth doing if you’re already there but reserving a spot in advance is recommended if you require it to be in English.
The ZeitHaus museum is on five levels with around 100 cars. Everything is arranged in groups to do with subject matter which seems different than it used to be, although some of the cars were the same as the last time I was here but many were different. It does not just focus on VW or even VW’s brands exclusively, they had displays celebrating design, engineering, trends, and other things. We obviously looked at every car (all of which were exquisite, no missing door panels or crooked trim or patina or anything like that) but I didn’t take pictures of everything so don’t worry, you won’t be here all day. Some highlights are here though…
I believe this little grouping celebrated engineering. Behind this marvelous Tatra is a VW XL1 like Roger just recently wrote about, and another car which you recognize of course as well.
Nothing was roped off, it just all sat on these white mats that were marked to please not step on. People, amazingly enough, obeyed. There were docents scattered about too, perhaps with hidden tazers, I don’t know and didn’t intend to find out.
One of the better-looking logos in the history of cars methinks. Color, design, and typography, all used to very good effect. And the paint on the car, I don’t know if it really looked that good originally, perhaps it did, but nothing today looks like that.
NSU Ro80 which everyone here should recognize. If not, you have some remedial reading to do, use the search box at the above right to find the relevant post(s) please. I believe that’s a Hebmüller Cabriolet behind it.
Matra Djet, I think this was in the lightweight sports car section or something to do with you don’t just need power, other things matter as well, the Lotus in the background reinforces that.
A bone for Detroit! This room had a focus on designers, so the E-Type and Toronado are featured with bios of their designers, as was a ’59(?) ElDorado and various other cars from all over the globe.
This ’77 VW Golf was in the same room, and obviously discussing Giugiaro. It’s interesting that they chose a ’77 instead of a first or last year example but that’s just how it was. And the four-door at that! There was another Golf in another part of the museum, I think a two-door but also not a first or last year example. But in excellent condition just like this one.
It’s hard to convey just how popular the first generation Golf was, especially in Germany. The Beetle was always popular but with some reservations due to its genesis, the Golf did away with that and brought things into the modern era. Golfs back then were like Toyotas in Los Angeles and Fords in Dearborn. Actually they still are immensely popular with a stellar reputation (over there) for reliability and longevity, it’s so weird to me that you can’t even buy a regular Golf in the U.S. anymore.
Most things on this floor were to do with performance and this trifecta covered turbocharging.
1982 Porsche 911 Turbo (930). Nothing else needs to be said.
1964 Chevrolet Corvair Turbo. It’d be nice if all Corvairs still looked this good. White suits it.
Saab 99 Turbo. Unapologetically Swedish and all the better for it, Saab is the brand that really popularized turbo technology in the 1970s and brought it to the mainstream. Or as mainstream as Saabs ever were, but certainly recognized for their performance and safety aspects.
Never mind performance and turbos, the 911 Turbo, Saab 99 Turbo and the Corvair are all kind of odd cars, not really conforming to what was “normal” at their times of introduction. Pushing boundaries with varying degrees of success, fame (or infamy), and legacy.
And if you know me at all either personally or from these digital pages, it won’t surprise you that I included (just one!) picture of my favorite car, the Audi Quattro for every reason in the world.
Okay, I lied. But c’mon, I painted my first motorcycle in this color (Mars Red, code LA3A) in tribute! My wife dislikes the car by the way, “too blocky”…
VW Beetle number 21,569,464 – the last VW Beetle ever produced. In 2003.
After looking at everything on offer (and really, it was ALL pictureworthy), we went back to the main entry building where there were some exhibits on mobility, future concepts and on the top floor, all of VW’s current EV models including the newest one, the ID.Buzz. Yes, this is apparently the rebirth of the Microbus, after teasing it for what, two decades, they’ve finally started producing it. We saw a couple out and about but this was my first opportunity to see it in person and I shall tell you the truth.
I don’t think it’s gonna make it.
No, I don’t. I see a big flash in the pan and then nothing. Excuse my pictures by the way, the lighting combined with the black paint and the light pouring in the windows of the building conspired to make these some of the worst pictures I’ve posted. Sorry. Anyway, the look is pretty much as advertised. Looks like the old bus, but modernized.
Underneath it’s pretty much this like all of the VW ID line-up. Battery in the center under the floor, motor in the rear, and steering in the front. Second motor in the front if AWD, which will be an option on the bus, uh, ID.Buzz.
It’s fairly tall and relatively compact actually.
I can stand under the hatch and that’s a (my) 14 year old in the cargo area. Note there is no third row in this one, however North America will apparently get a longer wheelbase version with a third row. I do not know what that will do to the looks which might make it look weirdly long. It seems this one should have enough room for it, but cargo space would be severely compromised.
This is the second row. It’s fine but nothing special or particularly interesting.
Adequate legroom (I’m 6’1″ with a 32″ inseam and sitting behind my (passenger seat) self here). I did not think to check if the second row seat moves fore and aft, it might and if it does not, then it should. I’ll note I still read car reviews elsewhere and nobody bothers to state their measurements making their impressions of rear seat room useless to anyone else…
Here’s the cockpit. Again, it’s fine, larger but not really large center screen and small dead-ahead screen fulfills the basic requirements. What kills it for me is the absolute cheapness of the plastics and materials on offer. I’m not one of those soft-dash fetishists, but this was all hard stuff that didn’t feel or look particularly good. This is what you’d expect in a decade old pickup truck as far as that goes, but not a semi-premium EV-van that supposedly will be starting at around $45,000 in the U.S. which I suspect will have crept up by the time it’s released for us.
In Germany this starts at 52,770 Euros and as shown here is up to 60,165 Euros which doesn’t represent a lot of optional extras. I know German prices do not translate to US prices, yet I’m not seeing it or at least not if VW intends to make any money on it. Perhaps there will be another, better quality interior for the US? I don’t know, but if there isn’t it’ll be disappointing. As an aside in the US the ID.4 EV SUV starts at $39k (2WD with smaller battery) and tops out at over $55k for the top trim level so a $16,000 spread across the lineup. Using that as a proxy if the Buzz does start at $45k that would top it out over $60k which I don’t know if that’s going to fly.
The above video is the promo that was playing on a big screen across the room, so I recorded it. It shows it in a far better light than how I saw it in person.
There’s a fair amount of buzz about the Buzz, and a lot of hype. I think VW expects big things from it, but I’m not seeing it, at least not based on this example. It delivers (maybe) on the cute/nostalgia factor but it’s also somewhat overexposed and been teased for FAR too long and while it’ll likely EV like the rest of VW’s EV lineup that doesn’t seem particularly special overall and neither does the experience once inside this thing. Perhaps I’ll be wrong, my prediction is a decent first year pop as long as VW can supply enough of them and then a very quick drop in volume.
People will like looking at it and seeing the first couple of dozen they see, but as far as their wallets go I don’t get who the market will be, there are precious few minivans already in my neighborhood filled with kids, many older people that grew up in VW busses are anti- or scared-of-EV or don’t need something this voluminous and VW may not have many people willing to pony up the $60k-65k or so that I predict a 3-row awd version with most of the trimmings might cost. And some people are still pissed at VW for the diesel thing.
And with that, we bid AutoStadt a fond “Auf Wiedersehen”, walked back to the Wolfsburg train station, and blasted back into Berlin on another 155mph ICE. All travel everywhere should be that good. No security lines, no traffic, big seats, lots of legroom, no fear of a speeding ticket, time to chat or read or just stare out the window, a restaurant car, and all the while knowing you’re getting closer faster to your destination.
Once back in Berlin there was apparently another police action with Zoo Station shut down for some reason and huge police presence as we rolled through in the train. Lots of police Sprinter vans and even some armored vehicles! I don’t know what was going on, it didn’t seem too many people were troubled by it.
I think the German police can hold their own. Just over an hour after leaving Wolfsburg we were back at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof, transferred to our S-Bahn for a couple of stops and got back to our place around dusk.
Our daughter and her roommate had flown up that afternoon from Barcelona to stay with us for the next few days as they realized they’d have a place to stay as they went clubbing in Berlin in the evenings and we had a ton of extra space in our place. Here are the ladies enjoying their liters of beer at Weihenstephan’s Beer Garden near us where we went for dinner, although we sat inside on the huge wooden benches. Weihenstephan is the oldest continuously operating brewery in Germany (since 1040, yes 1040, no typo), and is based in Bavaria making this one of the few places that serves Bavarian-style beer in Berlin.
My older son got in on the action as well, the waiter asked him if he was 16, he said yes of course (but barely), and okay then what size beer would you like? (Beer is legal at 16 in Germany). Lots of selfies went back to his buddies that evening….And that concludes the second part of day six and all of day seven as we rest up in order to see more delights curbside and beyond on day 8, hopefully you’ll join us and until then a hearty Prost!
If you missed any part of this series and would like to catch up here they are in order:
You packed a lot in, so lots to notice. First, I love the Plymouth Suburban (of course) but suspect that those seats have been imported from something else, given that the door panels and carpets are black. But they do look pretty comfy.
Second, you remind me again of my brief unrequited crush on the Audi Coupe GT in the mid 80s. And I am loving the VW sausage. I work near a VW dealer – you should have published the part number so that we could perhaps order one from the parts counter here locally.
Finally, your video is marked Private. Are you sure you didn’t accidentally use Brunilda Does Dusseldorf or something similar? That could be embarrassing.
Oops, video fixed, sorry.
Part number is 199 398 500 A , but not available in US as apparently the US doesn’t allow import of fresh foods, must be processed and filled with chemicals to be sold here 🙂 For our health, you see. It can however be found in some supermarkets and soccer stadiums across Europe, sold in a 5-pack like an inline-5 Audi, long stroke, narrow bore…
Does the Reinheitsgebot also apply to Bratwürste?
I bet Jay Leno could get some of those sausages
Found those two in a (very) used car lot in Berlin a few weeks ago !
I love it! My very first car was a 1981 Audi Coupe, so the rare sight of one brings back lots of memories.
Yeah, I had an ’84 CGT, those there have the later (’85 – ’87) bumpers and the Euro angled composite lights, which were the thing to have for big bucks over here as compared to the flat ’85s which we had or the earlier sealed beams.
Great colors too, I think that’s Oceanic Blue on the closer one.
Outstanding post; as always. I will re-read this and enjoy the photos at least a few more times.
On a non-car note, that last building with the four smokestacks, looks to be somewhat akin to the famous Battersea Power Station in London, although inline and not in a block configuration.
Yes! It kind of does, doesn’t it? That’s the old VW factory building (still in use) and weirdly the Battersea station looks more like a flat-4 configuration with the VW one being an I-4.
Battersea is a bit like an upside down wooden table (made of brick).
Never a fan of most Chrysler styling – Exner or fuselage. It’s all ghastly to me – but its like a car crash so I cant help looking. But that 3/4 rear view brings home the corporate influence on the once ubiquitous Australia Valiant wagons of the early 1970’s.
That beautiful blue colour on the Audi 100 was fairly common in Europe and a lot of the 100 Coupes were in that shade.
The colour was available in Australia and a 100GL sedan was tested by “Wheels” magazine in this colour and made a cover appearance.
I would love to visit the VW factory and museum and sample the sausage……
Sadly I’m not a fan of beer.
I always thought the wagons were the best looking version of the 70s Vals, aside from the Charger of course, but I am a bit biased, my Father brought one in about 72/73, I loved it when he demonstrated the power of the 245 automatic, it was a revelation after our old EH 149 manual to a 10 year old, and Dad too.
Fantastic post covering what seems like an epic trip.
I am always fascinated by the love that some Europeans apparently have for gigantic American cars, when so many Americans would rather have the decidedly more practical European offerings. I guess the grass is always greener, as they say. Having piloted the Chrysler equivalent (in pretty much the same base color, we never thought of a gold roof) of the Plymouth in your lede photo around American roads, I can’t imagine trying to get that around Berlin. It must take some amount of advance planning. And pretty deep pockets for the gas.
I could spend a couple of days I think in the VW museum. Do you know if they maintain all of those cars in running condition?
The Audi Coupe GT is definitely cool. I knew an engineering professor back in the day (mid-80s) who had the first of those I’d ever seen. It was his pride and joy and I often listened to his discourse on all that was wonderful about that car. I think I appreciated all of it except for the actual styling…which I agree with your wife about. Very 80s. The one I knew was black, and I think black made the car look even more blocky and kind of evil.
Thanks, behind the blue VW Golf was a small movie theater where a continuous loop plays of what seems like every car in the collection being driven and discussed by the curator of the museum. We watched about four of the movies which are about five minutes each and then left but that included a 911, the Matra Djet, the Audi, and an older car I forget which it was already…So yes it seems they do drive them on occasion and then take a lot of time to remove the bugs.
That was an Audi Quattro, not a Coupe GT (Quattro came first), it’s full time awd with a turbo-five as opposed to the fwd NA-5 in the CGT.
Yeah, I meant Quattro. That’s what the guy I knew had. It was the quattro and turbo 5 (“5???” I thought) part that he was especially all about. That being 1985 or so.
I would love to take that blue Golf out for a spin 🙂
Fuselage Mopars are popular collectors cars in Europe, especially Germany and Sweden. For C bodies only site has stories of cars sold and shipped there, and car shows.
Jim – that 100GL two door sedan is sure handsome; it really caught my eye (as it did yours). Wonderful color and no, I don’t remember any shade like that in the US on those cars – brown or gray I do remember.
When that car was new I was a student at DU and a friend there had one of these two doors. He bought it under a European delivery program. The car seemed very European to me – orange with a very nice brown cloth interior. It was an odd car for a law school student to own and it did make an impression on me. Eventually I did own an Audi 4000 but it was ordinary compared to the nice 100 that I remembered.
I too had an Audi 4000 (a 1980) and while I well remember my Dad’s 100s I definitely preferred the 4000 !
I see where Chrysler was going with the Plymouth fuselage loop bumpers in having a kinship with the Chryslers, but the grille insert on the Plymouths just doesn’t come off as well.
As to the VW ID.Buzz, yeah, the more I see and read about it, the less enthusiastic I am. For the exorbitant amount VW is undoubtedly going to want for them, I’m just not feeling it’s going to be much of a success, at least in the US.
IOW, while surely going to have good sales in the beginning to early adopters, aging boomers, and a few Pacifica Hybrid owners, it won’t be sustainable. There will be an initial peak but the novelty is going to quickly wear off.
Great stuff. I particularly like the VW sausage official part number. Yes best not to think about the sub components, Ikea had quite a scandal here recently about what sorts of critters made it into their meatballs.
The video of the ID.Buzz sure looked better than your photos, maybe it just looks bad in black? And speaking of buzz, the first legal drink is always a memorable occasion.
Also, how did your German hold up in Berlin? My parents left the Netherlands as teens and were told when they visited 30 years later that they spoke Dutch like elderly folks.
The Buzz didn’t do it for me in black at all, it’s just not that kind of a vehicle. We did see one in traffic that was the same yellow and white as in the video as well as an all white one, both were better with the two-tone being by fat the better way to go. I was mainly let down by the interior and think the overall thing won’t age well, kind of we’ve seen this thing before with the New Beetle, but the second time will wilt even quicker….
My German takes me a couple of days to get back into the swing of things but I’m alright speaking it, apparently I have a very strong American accent now. Where I grew up there was a strong dialect (Badisch, think Alabama vs San Francisco) and while I speak normal Hochdeutsch (formal German), when I fall into the dialect with the American accent it apparently makes people really wonder what’s going on. It’s apparently sort of like imagining listening to a British person speak with a southern U.S. accent as the best analogy to describe it.
Great report. I spent a little over two years in Germany years ago in the Air Force and was back 3 years ago with my wife for a few days and some business trips as well. Germany is organized, mostly spotless and predictable. I can read the signs pretty good as we got around in a Ford Mondeo rental car. The Polizie are all business and strict. Back then they had green and white cars and some Porsche 911 cream colored for Autobahn work. Their unmarked cars before the EU had “AA” letters on the tags. To make a stop they would hold up or place out of the window a plastic “stick” with an encircled red light and “Halten Sie” printed on the circle. Very basic. Yes curriewurst und pomme frites mit bier is their main light meal. Sounds like you had a great trip. Our squadron group was able to tour the Mercedes plant in Stuttgart and ate in their automated employee cafeteria. This was circa 1983 at the apex of the W-123 series Mercedes.
I toured Mercedes 20 years ago, it’s massive and a great tour as well. We actually toured Porsche on the same day on that trip and that’s wild seeing the differences back to back. (Porsche being mostly all by hand assembly, the other just massive halls of robots).
Growing up most police where green/white with some still the old solid forest green, nowadays it’s mostly blue/silver with lots of high-vis. You don’t want to get pulled over on the Autobahn, it’s usually a large ticket and they take cash or credit card on the spot and will give you a receipt.
Great write-up with interesting pictures. I have only been to Berlin once, in 1964 when my family spent the summer in Europe. It was a very different city then, with the fairly recent Berlin Wall and its Checkpoint Charlie. We did go on a tour of East Berlin and my main memory was of the streets being empty – few vehicles or people. The damage from the war was much more evident than it was in the West Zone. However, some things have not changed, such as the Berliner Raspberry Weisse, although the glass is different.
The famous Checkpoint Charlie, just like in the movies,
Checkpoint Charlie has been preserved pretty much like that, everything else has changed significantly! Good to hear the Raspberry Weisse is the same though!
Now I don’t have to go to Autostadt!
That Audi 100 seems to be sitting a bit high, especially the rear. But what a fine car. They came out the year I was in Austria and were the hot thing in the press and such.
The Beetle was always popular but with some reservations due to its genesis,
I’ve never picked up on that, both from when I lived in Austria in the ’50s and later. Until the mid-60s, VW was constantly production constrained, and couldn’t meet the demand. Since exports brought in more money, Germans had to wait in line, essentially. They bought every one that was available.
But the interest in them waned rather quickly over there in about 1965-1967 or so, as it suddenly looked too old fashioned compared to the rapidly growing number of newer competitors. That didn’t happen in the US until later.
It will be interesting to see how the Buzz does. Of course I like the format, as a fan of tall boxy vehicles. I was expecting a bit more pizazz in the interior.
I’m not sure the Buzz is very practical, unlike its air-cooled predecessors. Range, interior volume and usability, cost. So I don’t think it will gain traction with commercial users (not that it’s marketed as such). And while VW’s seem popular with young people in the US, I’m not sure they will click with its retro style. On the other hand it might be a good winter counterpart to the electric cargo bike for active young parents on the school/daycare/grocery run in certain places (like my town).
Thank you, makes for a very interesting read, to see my own home town through another CCer’s eyes!
Unbelievably, I have featured this very Plymouth in one of my posts from a few years back:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-outtakes/cc-outtakes-berlin-2019-2020-part-1/
It used to be parked close to my home then a lot, so some 5 miles from where you were staying.
I’m excited for your other posts of your European trip !
Thanks, wow, amazing we saw the same car and that it’s been there that long! Yes it seems he moved, we were on Rochstrasse, it didn’t move the whole time we were there.
Berlin was a blast, what a great city.
Those are some very nice pictures and some really cool cars. Looks like a good time and great food.
Loving your travelogue. The Audi 100 Coupe (love that color) and the Quattro are favorites, as I am a bit of an Audifile, particularly their cars of the 70s and 80s. which I did own. The Plymouth opened memories of the arse clenching view in ones Rear View mirror as it filled with that visage of Brown Plymouth as that was the color of the St. Louis county police cruisers at the time. My friends and I being youthful longhairs. knew the feeling.
Thanks! Me too, mainly 80s and early 90s Audis for me as seen in my COAL series and the drive of the SportQuattro…
That’s a great report and I look forward to the next parts. Regarding the huge police presence: on that day the Israeli prime minister Netanjahu visited Berlin.
Ah, that explains it, thank you for clarifying what was up! I didn’t adjust my news feed to local so had no idea…
I’m no Audi Coupe expert, but it appears (just based on the headlights) that this one is US-spec, which seems odd. Didn’t the European spec cars have composite lights?
No, the early cars had US sized lamps (but not sealed beams). This pic is from Geneva 1981 where the Quattro was introduced.
Later years got various composite styles but from what I understand the US setup is a popular retrofit as the surrounds and brackets work but presumably people swap the lenses/assemblies.
Thanks, Jim.
I’ve been looking all over town for a Plymouth, any Plymouth, to photograph for a CC piece that I’ve been working on for months. And you find one in Berlin!
Yeah, you can’t be looking, you’ll never find one. Just stop and it will come to you…
A very nice report! Good to see you like Berlin. Never been there but will go there beginning of September for a concert, will add a few days to visit the town.
The Buzz does not do it for me either. The original has a cuteness which is lost by the new one by being just too big. Two tone light happy colors help, a dark sombre monotone does not. Yes, the Buzz front is nice and a bit of modern version of the old, but it is not just the front face that makes the old bus so charming. Being an expensive luxury toy does not help either.
Impressive Plymouth. The bubbles at the lower bottom of the rear door seems to suffer the fate that many import USA cars have: rust. Usually imported from rust free USA states, their new European owners forget that these rust free cars will rust very quickly if neglected.
Volkswagenland seems huge. Too big to visit? I get easily bored with modern cars, those classics seem very nice though.
Yes, definitely add a few days, tons to see and do and very easy to get around, just get 24hr S-Bahn and U-Bahn passes.
AutoStadt is not too big, as you can sort of directly walk all over as opposed to Disneyland where you are funneled in random circular paths and everything seems much larger than it is.
The museum you can do in great detail in 2 hours, and then ten minutes for each pavilion, half an hour to eat and an hour for the plant tour. Get there at 10am when it opens (so leave Berlin HauptBahnhof at 8:30ish) start with the Zeithaus, eat, then the pavilions, check out the delivery center and towers (you can take a tour and go up), an hour for the factory tour, and you’ll catch the mid-afternoon train back. Very manageable and not overly crowded and not at all like they are pushing you to buy a new car, just a very well done celebration of the company. Reserve the tour in advance as it fills up, it can all be done on the website.
Thanks, Jim, for the travel details. This all seems a very doable day trip from Berlin and would allow me to tick another must-do off my bucket list. I have read extensively about AutoStadt and have long wanted to make a visit.
At this point, are there any VW models sold in North America still produced in Germany? Perhaps one of the new EVs? I recently spent considerable time inspecting the new ID.4 at the Chicago Auto Show and could easily see myself owning one. If possible, I would consider taking delivery in Wolfsburg.
ID.4 is built in the US, and the Buzz will be as well. ID.3 isn’t available here.
I believe the Golf R is the only model sold in the US that is still made in Germany, most now hail from Mexico.
Jim, this was by far your best installment of the series. I felt as if I were with you every step of the way. Travel writing at its best, with lots of detail about transit, food and drink, the museum, et al. The high speed train reminds me of my first time riding the TGV in France in the late 80s – so fast and quiet, the only unpleasantness being cigarette smoke everywhere! Although I spent time in Copenhagen during the same time period, I’ve never been to Germany and now more than ever want to go. That Plymouth looks so out of place! I remember having the same reaction seeing a very nice early 70’s Buick Skylark convertible near London’s Grosvenor Square in 2014.
If you haven’t already read it, I highly recommend a recent book on post-war Germany, Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945-1955 by Harald Jähner. The section on the initial creation and later rebuilding of Wolfsburg, a planned community with a somewhat fanciful history, is quite interesting. The book is a revisionist history and challenges some long-standing assumptions about what really occurred during those years.
Thank you, and there is more to come yet…Yes, similar to the TGV and smoking is far rarer than it was at any time in public, and not allowed on the trains anymore as far as I could tell.
Thanks for the book rec, I remember reading a short series of books (in German) about a boy growing up right after the war in East Berlin and how things were changing and eventually they got to the West and how that was with the huge cultural shift of that transition. All set in the late 40’s/50’s and maybe very early 60’s, interesting as I was the same age as the protagonist at the time but not overly familiar with all of the history at the time…
Great report on what sounds like a trip that is getting better and better. Walking tot he aircraft, rathe rather than using an airbridge is an almost universal signal in Europe that you’re on a low cost carrier. Lufthansa at Brandenburg will have airbridges.
Interesting to hear your take on the VW Buzz – we’re starting to see them around now and I think they’re cool, and look capable. Perhaps, it’s because that they’re the first (almost) clearly uniquely electric van/minivan is part of that; part of it is a bit of nostalgia. You suggest the New Beetle as model for its trajectory; perhaps also, we could name the MINI or Fiat 500 as role models. But, you’ve looked up close and I haven’t.
Can anyone you explain how a €52k product in Germany is only $45k after being shipped 5000 miles?
Seeing a 60-80s American car in the UK, such as the Plymouth, and in daily service is so rare, and always was, that I cannot recall it. Was it sold by a returning US serviceman perhaps?
I’d have that Tatra though…..
Can anyone you explain how a €52k product in Germany is only $45k after being shipped 5000 miles?
It’s going to be built in the US. And there’s no VAT (19%). And prices have to reflect market realities. And…
Roger, we don’t have VAT but we do have sales tax in most states which is charged on a vehicle by where it is garaged at the time of purchase. Oregon is one of the few states that does not have a sales tax, but if I bought one where I live in Colorado I’d have to pay another 7.5% sales tax. If I lived outside of the city limits it’d only be 2.9%. If i was in Los Angeles it’d be 9.5%. It varies across the country… but on average that $45k will be closer to $50k once all is said and done including the “destination charge” which is flat fee that average the cost if transportation to any dealer across the country, usually between $1000 and $1800 or so, always in addition to the advertised price. Of course then the federal and depending on location state and local incentives kick in due to it being an EV which will bring it back down again somewhat….
Most cars here (even if built in Europe) cost less here than they cost in Europe if you compare them equipped identically.
If I’m correct, the VAT is still added at every stage of manufacture. VW pays the tax on the value of the raw materials they buy [like steel]. They pay VAT when the subcontractors sell to VW. The subcontractors pay VAT for every small piece they use to assemble the products they sell to VW.
I don’t remember if it was said about VAT in the UK or Germany, but Henry Ford claimed that almost 70% of the cost to build a Ford from raw materials to the finished vehicle, was from all the levels of VAT Ford Motor Company paid. .
Business-to-business: you pay the whole invoice, so VAT included, to your supplier. The supplier pays the VAT to the tax authorities, while the buyer of the goods (or services) will get a VAT refund from the same authorities.
In the end, it’s the private end user (read: the consumer) who really pays the VAT, because no refund.
Glad you didn’t get any cooties from that seat back on the plane.
Another great post. Finding that Plymouth wagon reminds me of the occasional old MOPAR I see here in Japan.
Like you, I’m a converted fast train guy now – I don’t think you had a chance to ride the Shinkansen during your last trip but very similar to your German experience. Fast, roomy, always on time, and you arrive right in town…
Maybe your next trip over you can take it from Tokyo to Nagoya to visit the Toyota Museum.
Thanks, Brophy-san!
I’ve taken the Shinkansen the first time we were in Japan from Tokyo to Kyoto and yes it was great, fast trains are far preferable to flying when you consider teh time savings from being able to take it from a city center, they are almost always on time, no needing to arrive at the departure station hours early, and the lounge-like room can’t be beat.
You had me at the Plymouth. What a gold mine. Thanks for logging all these photos for you to display for us. Great job!
Hello Jim, Your posts from your trip to Europe are just great – thank you so much for sharing your experiences. I very much envy your visit to Wolfsburg as I’ve never been able to go there myself, despite being a VW fan from way back. (My Dad a beetle back in about 1954 and they were part of the family scene for about the next 20 years.) By the way, if you get anywhere near Ingolstadt, try to see the Audi museum there: well worth seeing. I’m greatly enjoying seeing your photos of cars, both past (especially Matra Djet, Tatra) and present (Toyota Mirai, T-Roc cabrio). I live in Queensland and we’re way behind the EV trend, so seeing all the electric vehicles on the streets of Europe is amazing. Dacias: I share your enthusiasm – my wife and I drove one for two weeks around Romania a few years ago and it was brilliant in coping with the often rough road surfaces we encountered. I also shgare your thoughts, unfortunately, about the likely prospects for the VW ID Buzz – nothing like as exciting as it was touted to be. Finally, as a keen Cit 2CV fan, having owned two here downunder, it was super to see one in excellent condition in Copenhagen – I agree that grey suits them, though I loved my bright red one!
All the very best to you & your family!
Hey Mark, thank you for enjoying the posts, there are a few more yet to come!
Almost 20 years ago (when our daughter seen in the second to last pic was just four months old) we did a trip that included touring the factories and museums of Audi/Ingolstadt, Mercedes/Stuttgart, Porsche/Stuttgart, and VW/Wolfsburg/Autostadt as well as some laps on the Nurburgring along with testing the upper limits of our Audi A4TDI rental car on the Autobahn. I started the trip with a couple of friends and then my wife and daughter joined us towards the end when we visited relatives in several countries over there.
Ingolstadt and the Audi Museum are fascinating and we also toured MTM (Motoren-Technik-Mayer) just down the road being heavily involved in Audis back then.
In the Audi Forum museum I have especially fond memories of literally crawling under an actual Audi Quattro rally car on display to see how large the turbo actually was (it was huge) when the docent left the area and seeing the stillborn future Audi Group B mid-engine replacement for the SportQuattro that never came to fruition.
Here is the link to one of the better pics we took on the streets of Ingolstadt the day we were there in September 2003:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/uncategorized/kessel-run-outtake-the-millenium-falcon/
I am late coming to this series but have been enjoying the trip vicariously as the Kleins make their way across Europe. It really helps add perspective, particularly about the widespread adoption of EVs in places that, in North American eyes, would seem to be a tough go for electric vehicle ownership (urban environments without garages to recharge). It all makes the goal of boosting EV sales to more than half the US total by 2030 seem eminently doable.
It’s been a while since I last was in Germany, but even in the early 2000s, enthusiasm for big 1970s and 1980s Detroit iron was abundantly evident, with some recent imports still sporting American dealer stickers and team and college decals. That big Plymouth, though a jarring sight in modern Berlin, seems to be in keeping with the German penchant for all things automotive.
Nice article…
A few things to point out:
The vehicle’s price in Germany is inclusive of 19% sales tax.
Radler is made with beer and lemon-flavored soda like Sprite, not lemonade.
Durstlöscher is correctly translated as Thirst Quencher, not eraser. German word for eraser is Radiergummi, Radierer, Löscheinrichtung, etc.
ICE 3 (as in the photo above) does go up to 320 km/h on LGV Est section between Paris and Strasbourg in France and 300 km/h on some routes in Germany. The other ICE trains (1, 2, 4, and T/TD) go between 230 and 280 km/h.
Plymouth has license plate with H at right end side, meaning it’s historical vehicle (same as antique or classical car in the US). The owner pays flat fee of €190 per year and can drive it all year round. The seasonal license plate has two two-digit numbers on the right end of plate: upper month as starting date and lower month as the ending date.
Thanks for the info.
I’d use (and most beer makers would as well) a sparkling lemonade to make a Radler not something like Sprite. There is a definite distinction between the two. Think of the “fancy” italian sparking lemonades you can get at Trader Joe’s or similar places in the larger glass bottles.
When I learned German as my first language “loeschen” was certainly correct as a form of erasing. In that case it had to do with erasing ink (Tinte) as opposed to pencil which you would “radier”, i.e. rub out with a radiergummi, i.e. rubber eraser. Your examples for erasing actually uses “loesch” in one of them. But whatever, the point probably got across, different parts of Germany may use different terms…
I’m very far from a beer expert; my yearly alcohol consumption rounds down to zero. Nevertheless, I’ve had a radler or two in my life, and I’m going to just leave this here.
Easy to get one’s hopes up like this, because of all the factually unsound “Yay, now we’re gonna get the adaptive lights Europe has enjoyed for years!” stories flushing around, but…no.
What we’re talking about here is ADB, adaptive driving beam (sometimes called glare-free high beam, and not the same as “adaptive headlights”). ADB is a camera-driven system which detects and keeps track of the presence and position of other traffic participants and dynamically shadows them out of what is otherwise a high-beam light pattern. Theoretically (and practically, outside the United States) it is a long-needed resolution to the century-old headlighting conflict between seeing and glare; it provides high-beam seeing with low-beam glare—but the U.S. standard deliberately, artificially retains the constraints inherent to fixed, nonadaptive high/low beam headlighting systems.
Low beams are flatly inadequate to the task we ask of them (and so pedestrians die at night), but high beams are too glaring to use when others are around. The whole point of ADB is to finally resolve that conflict by making those constraints obsolete, and yet here comes NHTSA to preserve them, on purpose, after an indefensible amount of delay. This can only be called regulatory malpractice.
Several years ago, NHTSA asked the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Lighting Systems Group to translate the rest-of-world ADB technical standard into terms compatible with the US legal system and regulatory framework. The SAE LSG did a highly outstanding job of that, in record time. Then NHTSA sat on it for years before rejecting it for reasons that do not withstand informed technical scrutiny, and instead releasing their own severely problematic technical standard as a proposal. Everyone howled in protest—parties often in conflict were all on the same side this time; there were no conflicting interests for NHTSA to resolve as well as possible. All they had to do was say yes. They failed to do so, just kept dragging their feet.
Then last year (’22), the U.S. Congress passed the Infrastructure Act, which contained blackletter language ordering NHTSA to allow ADB in accord with SAE J3069. NHTSA disobeyed this direct order and adopted their own standard, which they justified by claiming it is ‘more stringent’ and thus better than the SAE standard, and therefore, they say, their action complies with the intent of the congressional directive.
Again, to underline what happened: Congress gave NHTSA a direct order to do it right in a highly specific way. NHTSA disobeyed the order with numerous pages of spurious rationalization in the preamble to the final rule. I do not foresee corrective action of any kind—neither to undo NHTSA’s noncompliance with a Congressional directive, nor to overhaul or replace NHTSA.
The NHTSA standard is not more stringent (which would mean it requires better performance in one or more ways), it’s more restrictive (which means it imposes constraints and requirements on system design and performance without concommitant safety benefit) . So much so that it kicks the legs out from under ADB. It requires a more costly, less performant system than is allowed everywhere else in the world. It amounts to “Sure, go ahead and put ADB on your cars, as long as it’s not ADB”. A system designed to the NHTSA ADB standard—if such a system can be devised without violating other provisions of FMVSS 108, which is not at all clear—cannot provide much (if any) of the benefit ADB was devised to provide. To give one example of how poorly conceived the NHTSA rule is, there are such conflicts between the ADB requirements and the static/fixed low beam requirements (all of which must be met by an ADB-capable headlamp) that the current consensus among automakers and headlamp manufacturers is that technically extreme solutions would be needed to comply with both, such as installing a levelling motor on each headlamp—not to maintain correct aim despite vehicle load, as in Europe and the rest of the world, but to tip the headlamp aim down during certain vehicle operation conditions, such as certain steering wheel angles, to eliminate the ADB/fixed-beam requirement conflict. This is an enormous amount of cost and complexity to add to a headlamp, just to comply with a faulty requirement, and with absolutely zero safety benefit.
Also, NHTSA’s thoroughly defective ADB standard still maintains the high beam intensity limit NHTSA set in 1978 after doing questionable research with small rectangular sealed beams and finding that a higher intensity wasn’t possible without losing control of the beam focus. That rulemaking in ’78 brought the U.S. limit up(!) to about half the European/rest-of-world limit; now that same U.S. limit is about 20 per cent of the rest-of-world limit (because the rest of the world doesn’t live in 1978).
Result: U.S. pedestrian kill rates, which have been growing alarmingly versus the rest of the civilised world, will carry on growing.
And all of this while the rest-of-world UN standard has been working beautifully and without creating new problems for years in, erm, the rest of the world.
Even in Canada, where regulations are generally kept nearly identical to the US rules because of the deep integration of the two countries’ auto markets and manufacturing sectors. Transport Canada, eager to unlock for Canadian motorists the significant safety benefits offered by ADB, grew tired of NHTSA’s foot-dragging and legalized both the SAE and the rest-of-world UN ADB standards in 2019. This has created its own interesting situation: real ADB is legal in Canada, but not in the States. US ADB is the only kind legal in the States, and isn’t legal in Canada. What [i]should[/i] happen is that remains the case. What probably [i]will[/i] happen instead is that Transport Canada will amend CMVSS 108 to also allow US ADB, which would mean Canadians mostly won’t get functional ADB, because automakers strongly prefer to minimise the configurational differences between U.S.- and Canadian-market vehicles (except when they can leverage such differences to thwart crossborder commerce in vehicles, but that’s a different topic).
Jim, any chance you visited the private VW museum not far away from VW Stadt? It’s called Stiftung AutoMuseum Volkswagen I believe, and from what I’ve seen, it’s a MUST SEE for any VW enthusiast.
Will you have the opportunity to visit the Technik Museum Sinsheim? I’ve been there several times and it’s got to be the finest non-government run museum in the world.
No, I wasn’t able to see the other VW Museum, I hear it’s very good but there’s only so much I can take the family to per trip…I believe some of their cars used to be at AutoStadt, the Zeithaus was definitely missing some VW heritage cars that I am quite sure were there on my prior visit.
I’ve been to Sinsheim, the last time was probably around ’98 or so. It’s definitely excellent as far as having all kinds of stuff and not just cars (highly recommend), Beaulieu in the southern UK though is amazing as well especially if also into motorcycles, and I also enjoyed the Coventry museum (all on other trips). I still need to check the Schlumpf off my list but all things considered I *really* enjoyed the Lane in Nashville that CC visited, I had been the year before by myself and as a shameless CContributor willing to namedrop also got a private tour of the underground storerooms – as an overall museum with a huge variety of historically interesting and also CC-worthy cars it ranks among the best. I took too many pictures at that visit which stymied me on how and what to write up…
The colour of the 2-door Audi 100 (the one in the box) was called “Tourquoise metallic” (code L95B). It was new in MY 1972 and a one year wonder only, as far as I know. It was available for all MY ’72 VAG cars. You even could get a Beetle in “Tourquoise metallic”. At least if your order was a 1302 instead of the base 1200.
By the way : The Wolfsburg “factory” with the four chimneys is the plant’s ancient power station indeed.