Merks Motor Museum

The Merks Motor Museum stands in the Schafhof quarter of north-eastern Nuremberg. It occupies a former window factory on Klingenhofstraße, a building that Claus Merk restored over two years before opening the city’s first automobile museum in April 2011. The collection began in 1975 when Claus Merk bought a 1957 Mercedes-Benz 220 S Cabriolet and restored it with his wife. Over the following decades the family steadily enlarged the holdings, turning private passion into a public display. The museum is still run by the Merk family, preserving their growing collection under one roof. Its location in Mittelfranken makes it easy to reach from the surrounding region. The exhibition presents ninety cars and a hundred motorcycles alongside telephones, typewriters and radios mainly made in Nuremberg. Around two thousand model cars fill another section, while a 1930s kitchen and a 1950s office recreate everyday life from those decades. Visitors can buy old motoring magazines and soon a bicycle display of more than two hundred machines will open. Among the highlights are an Ardie motorcycle from 1939, a Bristol 400 from 1948 and Claus Merk’s own 1957 Mercedes-Benz 220 S Cabriolet. The museum also hosts auctions and flea markets on a regular basis. Inside the spacious former factory hall the exhibits are arranged to show the evolution of road transport. A long central aisle guides visitors past cars, motorcycles and smaller displays, while side areas hold the kitchen, office and model collection. The attached bistro offers light refreshments and can be hired for private celebrations. Outside, the quiet streets of Schafhof contrast with the lively exhibits within, giving the museum a distinctive character in the city’s north-east.