Hans-Peter Porsche collects old tin – or more precisely, model trains and toys produced over the past 150 years. And to house his treasures, he created a “dream factory” called TraumWerk.
It’s a monumental world of toys that quite rightly deserves its name. The numbers alone are impressive: 27,000 sq ft for the permanent exhibition of tin toys, nearly 6000 sq ft for the model railroad.
The full range of the collector’s passion is on display in this space – over forty years in the making, though the toys languished in boxes for decades. Now Ferry Porsche’s son has built a museum for his collection, in the district of Berchtesgadener Land of southeastern Germany. Porsche commissioned the Berlin architect Volker Staab to create an exhibition building with a circuit that would follow the outline of a figure eight – the classic shape of a small railroad installation or racetrack.
The first part of the tour takes visitors through the permanent exhibition of tin toys, which comprises 150 display cases of innumerable railroad stations, cars, airplanes, ships, shops, train, and much, much more. The second part invites people into the world of model trains.
The exhibits of automobiles and other modes of transport depict every era and include pieces made by select toy manufacturers from around the world. The oldest piece is a locomotive from 1865. Some exhibits, such as the thimble-sized tin barrel, are practically a bargain at €50. Others, such as the ship as large as a moving box, are worth as much as a terrace home in suburban Germany.
There’s also a large wall exhibit featuring pedal and electric cars for children, including a silver Porsche 550 Spyder. It goes without saying that car enthusiasts will find plenty to enjoy in Mr Porsche’s dream factory.
The TraumWerk repository includes a fine selection from his personal collection: a Porsche 904; the Porsche 356 that made three appearances at the Liège–Rome–Liège rally; the problem child, a Porsche 959 (“It has to be driven every month, it doesn’t do well if it stands around too long”); an Austro-Daimler (“a gift from my son”); the 1-litre XL1 from Volkswagen; a Porsche 914 Targa; a Porsche 944; a Porsche 928; and a pale blue Porsche 912.
Each exhibit in the collection has its own story to tell. The most personal items are in the display case at the end of the first-floor exhibition area, including a toy Mercedes that Hans-Peter Porsche painted as a child.
There’s so much more to discover in miniature: a raised dance floor in Salzburgerland; a pair of lovers in a secluded mountain spot; the welding robots that shoot sparks in the Porsche plant in Zuffenhausen; Porsche’s grandfather’s house on Feuerbacher Weg in Stuttgart, where the first VW Beetle came to life; and even the host of TraumWerk himself, standing on a lakefront and gazing at distant shores. 
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