1953: Eight years after the end of World War II, the world looks ahead - Josef Stalin dies, Tito becomes President of Yugoslavia and Elizabeth II is appointed Queen of Great Britain. The "GDR" declares 1953 "Karl Marx Year" and experiences the largest popular uprising in its young history on June 17. Eisenhower becomes the 34th U.S. president, the Korean War ends, while the Soviet Union detonates its first hydrogen bomb. The New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary conquers the 8848m high Mount Everest, Alberto Ascari becomes Formula 1 world champion and the 1st FC Kaiserslautern German soccer champion. And what is happening in the automotive industry? In 1953, Germany breaks the one million mark. At the beginning of the economic miracle, around 1.13 million cars are registered in the Federal Republic, which is only four years young. Opel presents the "Olympia Rekord", BMW introduces the "Isetta", while Mercedes-Benz heralds the departure from the baroque pre-war design with its "Ponton" 180 model. In general, design trends and the tastes of the "New World" USA set the tone in the "Old World", and this was especially true of the automobile. And: The scooters à la Messerschmitt Kabinenroller are booming and manifest the incipient transition of the Germans from motorcycles to automobiles.
As part of RETRO CLASSICS® Stuttgart, delicacies on two and four wheels will be presented; they are all "guests" of the 70th birthday of the automobile vintage 1953, including, for example, a Heinkel Tourist motor scooter, an NSU Ur-Quickly, and a Mercedes-Benz 170 S. The show continues with a Bautz Schlepper AS 120, an Opel Kapitän, which beautifully demonstrates how US design found its expression in Europe, and a DKW RT 200 H. Other highlights among the "guests" are a French Ford Comète V8 with an elegant coupé body by Facel Métallon (later active with its own vehicles under the "Facel Vega" brand) and a Brit in the shape of an Austin A 40 Sommerset Drophead Coupé.
Find the "birthday guests" of the 1953 vintage along with other surprises in Hall 3 .
