Video display illustrating how an aircraft engine works.
BMW was established at the end of the First World War as an aircraft engine supplier. After the war, BMW built mostly motorcycles with car production only starting in 1929. BMW is the acronym for Bayerische Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Works). The company’s blue and white emblem was derived from the colors of the Bavarian flag but is often described more poetically as the movement of an aircraft propeller (and BMW is quite happy for people to think that).
Germany has many car museums with some of the best collections on display at the factory museums of major manufacturers. Two are in Stuttgart: the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen and the large Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim. The BMW Museum in Munich is adjacent to the Olympiagelände where the ill-fated 1972 Games were staged. The Autostadt in Wolfsburg is a very popular destination but far fewer visitors look in at the nearby Volkswagen Museum covering only the VW brand. Major museums in Germany with significant car collections include the Verkehrsmuseum section of the German Museum in Munich (the first Benz car produced), the German technology museum in Berlin, and the technology museum in Sinsheim. The latter also has many military vehicles as do the Museum of Military History in Dresden and the German Tank Museum in Munster near Hamburg.
