TOUR: Porsche Experience Center ATL

"Engineered for magic. Every day." That's one of Porsche's taglines—and a brilliant one at that. But it also applies to tours of Porsche Experience Center ATL! Earlier this week I went on one of those tours and it was indeed an experience!

Porsche Experience Center ATL | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

We had two tour guides, one an engineer and one retired military and both friendly and funny. The tour is 90 minutes and is approximately 1 mile, so wear comfy shoes! We toured multiple floors, saw lots of exhibits, went to the simulator room, and went out on Carrera Café patio which overlooks the driving tracks!

I don't know if they do this for every group, but I got the sense they do, but they let us hang around after the tour and revisit the galleries we'd visited. They let us know that ahead of time which made it easy to relax and not feel like I missed something or didn't get all the photos I wanted. YES, you may make photos during the tour!

Porsche Experience Center ATL | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

This digital timeline display is interesting enough on its own, but getting to hear stories from our tour guides using visuals was excellent. The cool thing about this display is that you can tap an image and it pops out, then you can touch and stretch the image (easier with two hands) making it super easy for groups to see the image being discussed.

When you're standing here, look up. There's an art installation hanging from the ceiling that doesn't make sense at first, but then walk under it and it will reveal itself to you. Snap a photo while you're there.

If you've never been here but the building looked familiar as you drove up, you may have seen it in some Avengers movies as well as in Watchmen, both using the building as their headquarters!

Porsche Experience Center ATL | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

I now have at least a dozen new favorite Porsches. I don't think I've ever seen a paint job like this. Striking, isn't it? If I understood correctly this is their newest electric car. 

Speaking of electric cars, Ferdinand Porsche, the eventual founder of Porsche, had built an electric care in the late 1890s! Sometimes, things we think are new are actually old. So, electric cars are not new, but they've certainly been reinvented.

Porsche Experience Center ATL | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

Near the electric car is a display where you can customize your own Porsche! The cars are not manufactured in this facility, but distribution is managed here and, if I recall correctly, you can pick up your new Porsche here and take it for a spin on the tracks here at the Center! 

Our tour guides told us about one customer who came in and customized their car to the tune of $130,000...basically a second car! Life is short...if you can do something like that, then do it!

Porsche Experience Center ATL | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

Some of the cars on display are vintage, most are newer, but this one is the legendary "Speedster", first introduced in America in 1954 and it cost a mere $2,995! I do not know the year of the one pictured above, but if I had to guess I would say it's one of the older ones.

Speaking of older cars, this is fascinating! Unlike many other automobile manufacturers, Porsche keeps in stock Porsche Classic Genuine Part...52,000 of them worldwide. AND they're for cars that date back to 1948! I was stunned. I had no idea that any manufacturer had this practice. Oh, AND they're now they're even using 3D printers to make classic genuine parts! 

Oh, you'll also get a peek into their restoration shop for classic Porsches! There's so much going on here!

You can see why I love going on tours. You learn so much and you become privy to information that you just won't get on a self-guided tour. And by the way, I'm torn between which I love more, the Speedster or the 911 Carrera.

Porsche Experience Center ATL | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

On the tour you'll visit multiple galleries, but the "Colors of Porsche" exhibit is striking, and quite colorful! There are different model cars on display, some I've never seen before, like the pink one pictured above. You'll get to see a lot of the custom colors Porsche offers.

Within the signage in the gallery is a sign that notes: "60 percent of people say that color is one of the main factors they consider when purchasing a car." I'm 100% in that camp! To be totally happy with a car I have to love the color. More on that in a moment...

Porsche Experience Center ATL | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

The Simulator Lab is relatively new. In fact, they were still programming in various tracks (based on real race tracks around the world) and Porsche vehicle...you get to pick the track you want and the car you want! You can purchase a 30-minute or 60-minute drive.

There's a lot more to do here than I had previously realized!

Porsche Experience Center ATL | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

I always thought red was the most popular sports car color, but turns out it's silver. I guess red gets more media attention and silver is the safer color because of its resale potential. I've had a silver sports car and a black one. I would totally go for a red sports car next time! That was until I saw this beautiful orange Porsche. I'll have to give color considerable thought should I get another sports car. 

What's your favorite car color?

Porsche Experience Center ATL | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

After my tour, I stopped in Carrera Café and had lunch. I had the Chicken Teriyaki sandwich and a glass of sauvignon blanc, which I enjoy out on the track observation deck is also a dining patio. Lunch was delicious and the view spectacular.

There's also the upscale Restaurant 356. You'll want to make reservations if this is something you want to do. They're currently only doing lunch, but check back to see when they're resuming dinner service.

Porsche Experience Center ATL | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

One of the things that I think people will really enjoy about this tour is that it's not loaded with tons to read. What there is to read are snippets. 

For example, the display showing the Porsche crest production process is four small bits about the various steps. Even though there's not a ton of reading, like there can be at some exhibits, you'll leave feeling quite well informed. 

Porsche Experience Center ATL | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

I took the General Tour, but you can opt for the VIP Tour which includes a ride around the 1.6 mile track! On that ride you're the passenger, but they have other drive experiences where YOU get to be in the driver's seat. There's something here for every automobile enthusiast, engineering fan, velocity seeker, history buff, and adrenaline-loving adventurer! 

Be sure to stop by their well appointed gift shop, too! I had my eye on a Porsche model and some really sharp sunglasses.

Check out the Porsche Experience Center ATL and follow them on Facebook and Instagram, too.

A Dream Come True

The highly anticipated and thus far wildly successful exhibition Dream Cars: Innovative Design, Visionary Ideas is—especially for this auto enthusiast—spectacular! Driving around town in any of these 17 beauties, currently on display at the High Museum of Art, would make even Atlanta rush hour a splendid experience...it'd be a dream come true.

Dream Cars, High Museum of Art

I'm going to share with you photos of only a few of the cars. That way you'll still have plenty to see when you go to the exhibit yourself...and you do want to go to this one!

There are a number of events specific to the exhibition, one of which would be a great Fathers Day outing. This Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 p.m., there's a tour of Dream Cars led by exhibition curator Sarah Schleuning. And if you want to throw in a little something extra, the exhibition catalogue is stunning.

Dream Cars, High Museum of Art

Have a look at the above car. That's the Norman Timbs' Special (1947). Would you believe that it was a backyard project? It was!

It took Timbs 2.5 years to complete the project and approximately $10,000—in 1947 dollars. That's more than just a hobby!

Professionally, Timbs was an automotive engineer, so he knew what he was doing. What I didn't know, but recently learned, was that he worked on the Tucker automobile. I had the wonderful joy of seeing one in Albany, Georgia, many, many moons ago—beautiful, beautiful car!

Dream Cars, High Museum of Art

The Bugatti on exhibit looks like something Howard Hughes would have built or something right out of The Rocketeer. And I know a whole lot of Steampunkers who are going to LOVE this automobile!

Dream Cars, High Museum of Art

I've tried to not pick a favorite, but the Bugatti speaks to me. Loudly! Everything about it is alluring, from its modern sleekness, to its obvious place in history, from the exquisite details to the comfort beckoning from inside...if I were offered to be able to drive home "only one" car from the exhibition, it would be the Bugatti. And what an awesome color, too!

Dream Cars, High Museum of Art

If you've followed me for any length of time, you know how much I love making close-up photographs. There's so much to see in details. I love a gorgeous landscape photograph as much as the next guy, but I really like to explore up close. 

It's amazing what you can see in the details...in the case of the makers of each and every car in Dream Cars, you see passion, expertise, and love of design. And of course the love of cars.

Dream Cars, High Museum of Art

These cars, created "from the early 1930s to the 21st Century, pushed the limits of imagination and foreshadowed the future of design with progressive and innovative ideas." - High Museum of Art

I love that there are a few cars in the exhibition that beckon to the future days of George Jetson, this rare Buick Centurion being one of them. This one actually brings to mind all kinds of associations.

The bubble roof makes me think of George Jetson's car. The front of the car, having recently gone swimming with the Whale Sharks, made me think of Manta Rays. And the back of it totally makes me think of the "jet" exhaust on the Batmobile. It's gorgeous inside and out!

Dream Cars, High Museum of Art

The rare, and in some cases one-of-a-kind, automobiles in Dream Cars were designed by Ferrari, Bugatti, General Motors, Porsche and others. The newest car on display is a 2010 Porsche “Spyder 918 concept car”...AND...there's a contemporary design workshop.

Have you heard about the new Porsche Driving Center being built here in Atlanta?

The exhibition is truly spectacular! You'll want to give yourself plenty of time to explore. There's ample reading, there's an audio tour option, and these cars are packed with details that fascinate and cause you to marvel.

Dream Cars, High Museum of Art

This car, Paul Arzens’ “L’Oeuf électrique” (1942), is an electric bubble car designed by Arzens for his personal use in Paris during the German occupation. The car is...adorable! And so far ahead of its time.

In the photo above, I knew I'd want to show some reference to demonstrate just how tiny this car is. You see the small Smart Car on roads today...Arzens' car is so much smaller! This is also the first time it's ever been in the United States, so it's a real treat to get to see it.

Even smaller...there's a car in the exhibition that's a mere 33 inches tall!

Dream Cars, High Museum of Art

If minivans looked like William Stout’s “Scarab” (1936), the genesis of the contemporary minivan, EVERY family would be driving one! 

Of course there's more than the 17 spectacular automobiles. The show also features conceptual drawings—which immediately launch the imagination—and scale models, to demonstrate the stages of the design process.

Dream Cars, High Museum of Art

Having owned two BMWs in my personal automotive history, Christopher Bangle’s BMW “GINA Light Visionary Model” (2001), is particularly fascinating for me. 

It's not only beautiful, it features an exterior made of fabric! Of course you can't touch the car, but the museum was brilliant to offer a big swatch of the fabric that visitors are invited to touch.

So, there you have it. How's that for a teaser of so many dreams come true?

Drive on over to the High Museum of Art to see Dream Cars: Innovative Design, Visionary Ideas, and be sure to get there before September 7.