Zeithaus Museum

ABOVE: This view of the Zeithaus (left) has the Volkswagen factory's historic Kraftwerk as a backdrop. INSET BELOW: a three-wheeled car in a 1950s gas station, and the millionth Volkswagen (a VW Beetle 1200 built in 1955).

A five-story car museum

The ZeitHaus, or "Time House," is a car museum in two sections: one designed for the analytical side of your brain, and the other geared to your brain's creative side. (If your brain is wired backwards, don't worry; you won't be tested during your visit.)

After entering the museum, you'll take an escalator to the fifth level, where exhibits on the "creative" side show the history of the automobile from the late 1800s througt the 1930. (Across a bridge on the "rack" or car-collection side, you can see a 1922 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, a Bentley, a Bugatti, and restored vintage luxury cars.)

As you work your way down through the ZeitHaus, you'll move forward in automotive and social history, with examples of cars from many different eras and manufacturers along the way. (Don't miss the Millionth Volkswagen with its whitewall tires and rhinestone-encrusted bumpers, the first mass-produced Golf a.k.a. Rabbit, a 1950 VW Microbus, the NSU Ro 80 with its revolutionary Wankel rotary engine, and the Millionth Mini from 1965.)

On level one of the museum, you'll find more attractions such as the Werkstadt or Workshop with technology exhibits, a movie with dramatic car-racing clips, a shop, and a restaurant.