Berlin Auto Nirvana
Anyone who knows me knows I enjoy cars, especially of German origin. There’s just something magical to me about a classic Mercedes in silver. I’d read about a mysterious place in northwest Berlin where craftsmen restored vintage cars and meticulous owners placed them for safekeeping in an old brick warehouse.
It was a bit of a trek from the nearest U-bahn station but as soon as I walked inside, I knew it was worth it. A worker was restoring a 1950s Mercedes 300 SL with gull-wing doors in the first bay. It looked as if it was ready to fly.
The warehouse featured elevated platforms for owner storage surrounded by various bays focused on restoration of classics from specific parts of the world. It was an informal place and no one bothered me while I wandered around.
Can you guess the country for each bay?
With no one to hurry me, I spent several hours examining the vintage cars up close. This Porsche 550 spyder, dripping in bright red paint, was the inspiration for the Porsche Boxster convertibles I owned several years ago.
Of course I got as close as I could (without touching, danke) and appreciated the details. With standardized European Union car tags these days, owners (sadly) don’t have to indicate their home country with the oval sticker anymore (“D” for Deutschland).
I’ve owned and worked on many used German cars and there were plenty of examples here that reminded me of previous projects.
Of course the magic continued and there was a Biergarten right outside…
The Germans love their fests and enthusiastically rally around themes no one else would build a party around. Remember the onion fest we attended in Esslingen? Walking back to the U-bahn, I came across a poster advertising a fest I knew Dad could get excited about:
The Germans pronounce Berlin “BEAR-LEAN” and there are images of bears throughout the city, even on the official crest. Although the etymology of the word “Berlin” doesn’t indicate bears, it’s obvious the city just ran with it.
It’s unusually hot here in Berlin and a city this far north (think Calgary back in North America) doesn’t have much air conditioning. I’m planning an escape to the countryside tomorrow on Deutsche Bahn to some little town. Who doesn’t like a good train ride?
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