I visited the Automuseum Melle on the return trip from Wolfsburg, making maximum use of the last 15 minutes of its opening hours. The extreme speeds on the autobahn were not taken without reason. The Automuseum is located a bit off-course, in Melle near Osnabrück. Had I not make it, it is quite unlikely that I would get a chance to come around that area any time soon.
The Automuseum Melle was founded in 1984 but only moved to its current residence in 1997, to the premises of the former furniture factory Melchersmann. In the historical building of this old furniture factory, Automuseum Melle occupies nearly 3,000 m² of exhibition space on three floors, to showcase about 250 – 350 vehicles from the early epochs of the automobile to more recent exhibits or historical significance.
Automuseum Melle follows an interesting concept: the preservation of technical objects usually require regular usage. Vehicles exhibited in the Museum shall be used regularly, and thus rotated periodically. The Museum usually presents 200-300 cars, but during its existence, it hosted over 2000 vehicles lent to the Museum in rotation.
The Museum is organized in the form of a non-profit company, and the 27 members of the board include the city of Melle. The Museum is run with volunteers only, and the reviews all highlight the enthusiasm and knowledge of the volunteers. Arriving on Sunday evening, 15 minutes before closing, I certainly put that enthusiasm to the test.
To put this in the bigger picture, Automuseum Melle is located in the middle of Germany where punctuality is key. One day earlier, I arrived at the PS Speicher an hour before closing, and I was warned already by the cash desk, that was liable for the full ticket fee, and in no way can I stay longer than the closing time. I had thus a good 10 minutes (plus a bit of an extension) to see the chambers of Automuseum Melle.
The selection is quite impressive, encompassing all époques and categories.
There are carriages from the early 1900s to the cars from the ’80s, cheap three-wheelers Velorex and Honecker’s Revenge Trabant to the luxury Tatra, Hispano Suiza, and Aston Martin.
Unique cars like the East-German Melkus race car or the Renault Alpine that scored the very first WRC championship title,
Unfortunately, the lighting conditions were suboptimal, seeing from photos available on the web, the Museum is much more photogenic at daylight. Thus I have another good reason to plan another northern route and revisit this site at a more appropriate time of the day.
