ROLLS ROYCE MUSEUM - DORNBIRN
World’s Largest Rolls-Royce Collection
Austria might not at first blush be the place you’d think to find the most iconic of British luxury cars. A short drive from Lake Constance, the town of Dornbirn lies along the Rhine River, just across the border from Switzerland in the Vorarlberg region of Austria, near Bregenz, and it is here you can find the world’s largest collection of Rolls-Royce cars, tucked away in a former textile mill in a narrow forested mountain valley popular with hikers and mountain bikers. The Rolls-Royce Museum of Dornbirn (actually in Gütle) spread on on three floors, with restored vehicles in 3000 square meters of exhibition space, crammed full of some of the most important and beautiful examples of the luxury car with the winged angel, perhaps the world’s best known hood decoration.
The Rolls-Royce Museum in Dornbirn was founded on one of the largest private Rolls-Royce collections in the world. The collection officially began about 1982 and with a search for a home for the public, opening in the Dornbirn location in 1999, guided by the vision of car restorer enthusiast and a farm boy turned businessman, Franz Vonier, whose fascination with the beautiful cars began with wealthy hunters coming to the hills with their expensive sedans and phaetons. The museum focuses especially on the early cars designed and built under the influence of Frederic Henry Royce. The cars are presented in rather a garage-like fashion befitting a private car restorer, rather than museum, but with a pure dedication to the brand.
F. H. Royce built his first car in 1904 following his guiding principal, "Strive for perfection in everything you do. Start with the best and improve it. If it does not exist, create it. Accept nothing nearly right or nearly good enough." Charles Stewart Rolls was an automotive importer primarily selling French and Belgian cars to the upper crust in Edwardian London, but Rolls was determined to develop a superior British car designed and manufactured in his home country. The two formed a partnership and built their first car in a factory in Manchester in 1884. The museum in Dornbirn features a recreation of the original Rolls-Royce Factory and the exhibits display the beauty of the hand craftsmanship that went into the cars from English coach builders, Hooper, Barker, Park Ward, H.J. Mulliner, James Young, Rippon,
In the museum’s Hall of Fame on the first floor are some of the most recognized cars once owned by royalty and celebrities. Here you’ll find a personal car of F. H. Royce, three classic Rolls-Royces owned by the Royal Windsors, a Safari Touring Car owned by King George V, and sedan belonging to his son Edward VIII before his abdication, a Landau of the Queen Mum, a Phantom II sport model ordered by Prince Aly Khan, a Rolls Royce created for land speed record holder Malcolm Campbell in his signature blue (see Campbell Bluebird), a Rolls owned by Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, and the Rolls Royce used in the movie “Lawrence of Arabia”.
A visit to the museum can be rounded off with an afternoon tea the tea room on the second floor, surrounded by rosewood furniture, and showcases of exquisite tableware, Rolls Royce original parts, with the atmosphere of the 1920s and 30s in the heyday of the Rolls-Royce aristocratic lifestyle.
Visiting The Rolls-Royce Museum
By car the Rolls Royce Museum is toward Gütle from the center of Dornbirn, follow Gütlestrasse from the A14. There is parking for museum patrons. By public transport take Bus 7 from the Dornbirn Rail Station. Open Hours from 10am to 6pm Tuesday through Sunday most of the year and every day in July and August. Closed December and January, except for some days around the holidays. Admission is €9 Adults, €9 Seniors, €6 Students, and €4.50 Children. A Photography ticket is €10 including a poster. Nearby, across the parking plaza, the Christmas Nativity Museum (Krippenmuseum) is also worth a visit (see Nativity Museum Dornbirn). © Bargain
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Rolls-Royce Museum
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