1973 Factory Tour

[Kane k]

[reedminor]

well we were in transit to the factory
jrlondon911E.jpg

[epilot]

well we were in transit to the factory
jrlondon911E.jpg

Oh for the days of big hair and real fur ...

[reedminor]

My Mum still has that coat!!!!!

JR

[e72phil]

Watching the video brought back quite a few memories for me as I have been fortunate to have visited the factory many times, especially before a lot of changes have been made and many of the old parts of the factory and production line, were still in use. In the video at 4.40 mins, it shows one of the special areas with the terra cotta tiled floor where special cars wee built and at 6.30 it shows the engine assembly line where I stood next to workers hand assembling 911 engines.

Nowadays, that engine assembly area is mostly done by robots with few worker present and then you can only observe from behind glass windows standing outside of the building. Unfortunately when I toured thru the factory, cameras were not allowed so I only have the memories of the visit. The video certainly helped me recall walking through many areas of the factory and the various production processes. Sadly tours like this these days are very limited and you are kept well clear of work areas and the cars. I was even able to see the area where new 911's were put on the dyno before road tests. It was all fairly rudimentary yet amazing to consider the cars they produced at the time.

I still recommend anyone visiting Stuttgart/Zuffenhausen to visit the factory and Museum, but also try to get a factory tour of the Mercedes Benz factory in Zindelfingen - but make sure you book and English language tour. The Mercedes Museum is also a must and they give you a multi language audio guide as part of the entry fee that guides you through the building and exhibits.

Hopefully one day soon, I will be able to visit Germany again to see these places one more time.

[patrick911]

I've only been at the factory once, back in 2006 or so I think. They still had the old, small but intimate museum with only ~15 cars or so on display.
I remember lifting the hood of RSR 0020 to check if we could read the serial-number (it was shown as the Targa winning #8 with a confusing note at the time) only to have the lady come over to tell us sternly that it was 'watching - no touching'.
Anyway, the most memorable thing was that at the end of the standard production line, where they did all the final checks, I asked the tour-guide how cars could be taken off the line there in case of failures, as that didn't seem possible.
The guy looked perplexed after which I asked the question again, slightly different this time, after which he finally got it and said:
"that never happens. we do the checks here because they are mandatory, but our supply chain is that good that we never have failures here".
I still use that as an example when setting up processes and projects. It shows an incredible level of commitment to quality and perfection.

[e72phil]

Hi Patrick, you were also lucky to tour the factory at that time because so many things have changed. At that time, they were still using many areas that had not changed in years and evidence of the old buildings were still prominent (such as the old style floors so common in many German factories). I liked being able to stand in some areas I had seen in so many Porsche poster shots where many cars were photographed in an area of Werke 1 that I believe is still there today.

On the day I toured production, it was raining yet the test drivers were still taking cars out for their 20 km run through the streets of Zuffenhausen and as I was with a mainly American tour group, I commented that the Turbo that had just driven by might well be delivered to an enthusiast who would vow to "never drive it in the rain" and would never know its first outing was in fact in the rain !

The old , small museum was also still there and they had the tour groups assembled in a room next that the small display of cars before walking across a laneway into the factory and straight into the engine production area. And yes they were tough on the "look but dont touch" comments for me too. In the new museum, you also get up close and personal with most of the cars there so perhaps they have relaxed their comments, but I feel most enthusiast that visit have plenty of respect for the cars on display.

Whilst I want to go back to Germany again and re-visit these places, I worry it wont happen for years to come.

some pics of the original Museum.

P museum 02.jpg