- Permanent exhibition with around 130 vehicles chosen from 140 years of automotive history, as well as spectacular special exhibitions
- Popular as an event location and as a stop at classic car rallies and club meetings
- Many awards, including the FIA Heritage Cup
Ewersbach, 23 July 2025. Two years of the Nationales Automuseum The Loh Collection: Since its opening on 23 July 2023, the award-winning collection in Dietzhölztal-Ewersbach, central Hesse, has already welcomed 170,000 visitors from around the world. The museum has also established itself as a popular starting point, stopover or destination for classic car rallies, orienteering trips and club meetings, as well as an event location. It is also an economic factor: To date, approximately 80 jobs have been created in the museum and its surrounding areas.
Numerous highlights and unique pieces of automotive history
With around 160 spectacular vehicles from over 50 marques and more than ten countries, the ‘Nationales Automuseum The Loh Collection’ in Dietzhölztal-Ewersbach, Hesse, is one of the world’s most exciting car collections: The exhibition, housed in an ensemble of historic industrial premises, shows numerous one-offs, prototypes and highlights of the history of the automobile from 1895 to the present day, including Michael Schumacher’s first world championship-winning Ferrari, US President John F. Kennedy’s Lincoln Continental and the Maybach Exelero record-breaking vehicle, of which only one was built.
The initiator of the collection is Professor Friedhelm Loh, an entrepreneur and vintage car enthusiast. He has been passionate about classic cars for decades – not just collecting them, but driving them as well.
Visitor and follower numbers on the rise
The ever-increasing number of visitors to Dietzhölztal-Ewersbach shows the level of demand and the extent of the continuing fascination that the topic of automobiles exerts on the young and old alike: While 35,000 people visited the museum between its opening on 23 July 2023 and the winter break in 2023, the figure rose to around 85,000 in the first full season in 2024. And in the first half of 2025, 50,000 automobile enthusiasts found their way to Dietzhölztal-Ewersbach. The Nationales Automuseum expects a total of around 100,000 visitors during 2025.
Parallel to the increase in visitors, the number of followers on the Instagram channel has risen from 4,000 in 2023 to 21,000 in 2024, and it currently stands at more than 50,000.
Professor Friedhelm Loh added, “I am pleased that so many people share my passion for automobiles and the technology they contain. When I started collecting decades ago, out of admiration for the achievements of engineers and designers, I had no idea how large it would become. The great interest shown by visitors confirms that the decision to make this collection accessible to the public was the right one.”
Three spectacular special exhibitions
Consequently, it is not only the museum’s impressive permanent exhibition that attracts great public interest. Three special exhibitions have also played a significant role since the opening, the quality of which were unrivalled anywhere in the world. The first event was ‘100 Years of the 24 Hours of Le Mans – the Myth, the Heroes, the Cars’, displaying 21 original Le Mans racing cars from 1928 to the present day.
The next exhibition, ‘Ferrari – Masterpieces for the Racetrack and Road,’ opened in March 2024. It presented priceless vehicles from the celebrated marque, spanning eight decades. It included two Formula 1 world championship-winning cars from Michael Schumacher, as well as the ‘Ferrari Big Five’ hypercar quintet, comprising the 288 GTO, F40, F50, Enzo, and LaFerrari. The exhibition was complemented by winning vehicles from major road races, including the Mille Miglia, the Targa Florio, and the Carrera Panamericana.
The third special show, ‘Grand Prix – Icons of the Premier Class’, was launched in April 2025. A total of 34 vehicles are on show, spanning the era from the pioneering days of motorsport to Formula 1’s most recent past. The spectrum of icons ranges from pre-war racing cars and technological innovators of the early Grand Prix years to single-seaters from the Silver Arrow era, encompassing a unique cross-section of Formula 1 history that now spans 75 years.
Numerous awards up to the FIA Founding Members’ Club Heritage Cup
The significance of the collection was demonstrated by the award of the FIA Founding Members’ Club Heritage Cup in December 2023: In the classic automobile scene, this is considered the highest international award a museum can receive. In December 2024, trade magazines “Auto Bild” and “Sport Bild” honoured the automobile collection with the “Heritage Award” for classic racing cars. Again in 2024, the National Automobile Museum received the “Innovation Award” from the “Modellfahrzeug” (model vehicle) magazine for its extensive selection of models of unique exhibition items in the museum shop. The popular British automobile vlogger and YouTuber Tim Burton, known as ‘Shmee 150’, finally named the Loh Collection the ‘Best of the Best’ in 2025, i.e. the world’s best car collection.
Popular as an event location and rally stage finish
The Nationales Automuseum is also popular as an event location. To date, it has been a destination for over 370 clubs and has twice hosted the ‘Car Design Event Classic’ and the ‘Model Car of the Year’ awards ceremony. Thanks to its spacious grounds, the Loh Collection has also established itself as a stage destination, or as a starting or finishing point for nationally recognised classic car rallies such as the Siegerland Classic and the Röhrl Classic. Exclusive car manufacturers, such as Bugatti and Lucid Motors, have also utilised the museum as a venue to showcase their vehicles.
A permanent fixture at classic car events
In addition, the Loh Collection regularly enters selected vehicles at events for classic car enthusiasts, such as the renowned Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in Cernobbio, Italy, on Lake Como. The Nationales Automuseum won the ‘President of the Jury Award’ here in 2025 for its Bentley Speed Six, which took part in the 1930 Monte Carlo Rally. From 25 to 27 July, the museum will be presenting American President John F. Kennedy’s Lincoln Continental at the ‘Golden Oldies’ in Wettenberg, Hesse. Another event is the ‘Schauinsland Klassik’ in Freiburg im Breisgau, taking place from August 1 to 3.
Unique in the world: the museum as a university campus
Its outstanding portfolio and professional curation also make the Nationales Automuseum motivating for research and teaching. At the same time as the opening, a university campus began its work: the ‘Nationales Automuseum University Campus at the Faculty of Business and Law of the Nürtingen-Geislingen University’ (HfWU).
The HfWU stands for ‘Wirtschaft und Umwelt, Automobil- und Mobilitätswirtschaft’ (industry and environment, automotive and mobility management). The scientific management of the campus is in the hands of Professor Jochen Buck, Germany’s top expert in accident research. Fascinating lectures are given on the automotive and mobility industry, offering live hands-on experience in Dietzhölztal-Ewersbach. In the meantime, more than 100 participants have already completed the worldwide unique certificate course for classic vehicle appraisers (‘Certified Expert for Historic Cars’, or CEHC).
Given the significant interest, Professor Buck has designed a four-semester CEHC Master’s course leading to a Master of Engineering degree at the HfWU, focusing on automotive history and featuring its own endowed professorship. It was launched in November 2024. In the future, the Nationales Automuseum will award fifteen bachelor’s and master’s theses every year. Lectures on automotive history will also be held at the museum from the winter semester of 2025/26. Another innovation is that classic car forensics is taught at the museum within the context of the HfWU Automotive Management degree course. The combination of a university and a museum, with an on-site professorship, is unique worldwide.
Wolfgang Henseler, Professor of Digital Media at the Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences, is focusing on a different area with the ‘Certified Expert for Car Design’ (CECD) certificate course, which the HfWU also offers at the Dietzhölztal-Ewersbach location: There, participants can learn about the basics of design, criteria for evaluating good design, the history of automotive design, trends and future scenarios.
Learning combined with fun: the museum’s school activities
The Loh Collection’s school activities, which Professor Henseler is also responsible for, have got off to a good start. And Hesse’s Ministry of Culture is also cooperating. Furthermore, not least because it combines fun and creativity with educational added value, the museum is accredited as a provider for extracurricular learning centres on Hesse’s Education Server.
The educational programme is complemented by motorsport history events, such as the ‘AUTOMOBILSPORT Tag der Legenden’ (day of legends), run in association with the Sportfahrer Verlag publishing house. The Nationales Automuseum newsletter provides information on various topics and upcoming dates.
Neuhütte-Dietzhölztal history workshop
The museum’s unique concept also includes the Neuhütte-Dietzhölztal ‘Geschichtswerkstatt’ (history workshop). It also provides visitors with an exciting insight into the industrial history of the Lahn-Dill district, focusing on over 2,500 years of iron smelting in the Dietzhölze and Dill regions, all free of charge. The Neuhütte-Dietzhölztal history workshop is a regional association dedicated to presenting historical and economic developments in an engaging and informative manner.
The Nationales Automuseum provides a charity car for RTL’s fundraising telethon
To mark 30 years of the RTL charity marathon, the Loh Collection donated an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 to the ‘Stiftung RTL – Wir helfen Kindern e. V.’ (We help children) foundation, which supports children in need. After donating €30 or more, donors can have their digital signature immortalised on the racing car. This is then transferred to the vehicle as part of the design. There is space for up to 30,000 signatures. JP Performance, the company run by cult tuner Jean Pierre Kraemer, was responsible for the charity car’s artistic design. Co-initiator of the campaign is the Automobilclub von Deutschland (AvD), the country’s Automobile Association.
Aston Martin made a spectacular appearance at the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring, where the charity car from Team Walkenhorst Motorsport (driven by Henry Walkenhorst, Jörg Breuer, Christian Bollrath and Stefan Aust) finished second in its class. The Nationales Automuseum will, of course, exhibit the racing car in the freely accessible entrance area of the museum following the event. Every donor will have the opportunity to admire ‘their car’ and spot their signature.
Restaurant, cinema and a well-stocked museum shop
In the Nationales Automuseum’s entrance area, you will also find the New York New York restaurant and diner, several race simulators and the museum shop with its extensive and ever-growing range of souvenirs that will get fans’ hearts beating faster. This also includes the car quartets card game, as well as posters and model cars produced exclusively for the museum, including a miniature 1:87 scale (“H0 scale”) version of the Ferrari 330 P3/412 P, which will soon be on display in the permanent exhibition as the first special model produced exclusively for the museum shop by the Wiking brand.
The offer also includes three books by author Jörg Walz, which have been published to accompany the special exhibitions ‘100 years of 24h Le Mans – the Myth, the Heroes, the Cars’, ‘Ferrari – Masterpieces for the Racetrack and Road’ and ‘Grand Prix – Icons of the Premier Class’.
Spacious car parks and rooms for events
The exhibition centre also offers numerous event areas and exclusive event locations for groups of up to 500 people. The in-house cinema has 50 seats.
There are ample parking spaces for cars and coaches directly adjacent to the museum, as well as dedicated caravan parking areas with electricity.
Further information on the museum’s website: www.nationalesautomuseum.de.
Facts and figures
- Open from Wednesday to Sunday
- New York New York restaurant and diner, museum shop, race simulators and a 50- seat cinema
- Around 160 vehicles in the permanent and special exhibitions
- Vehicles from more than 50 different marques and over ten different countries
- Personal guided tours by appointment
- History workshop on “Over 2,500 years of iron smelting at Dietzhölze and Dill” (admission free)
- Several event locations for up to 500 people
- Car parks for cars and buses, sites for camper vans (including electricity)
About the Nationales Automuseum The Loh Collection
As one of the world’s most exciting car collections, the Nationales Automuseum The Loh Collection, located in the Central German town of Dietzhölztal-Ewersbach, Hesse, displays around 160 spectacular vehicles from 1895 to the present day. The exhibition, which has been open to the general public since July 2023, extends over some 7,500 square metres with a mix of eleven sheds and exhibition spaces on a former industrial site. The exhibition houses unique pieces, prototypes and highlights of automotive history from the collection of the founder of the museum Prof. Friedhelm Loh. His aim is to document the historic, technical and economic development of the automobile, and generate enthusiasm for its history. Its outstanding portfolio and professional curation also make the Nationales Automuseum attractive for research and teaching. The “Nationales Automuseum University Campus” is affiliated with the Faculty of Economics and Law of the Nürtingen-Geislingen University of Applied Science (HfWU) and also offers a wide range of educational opportunities for schools and universities. There is also a museum shop, cinema, restaurant and designated areas for events for up to 500 people.
Please get in touch with our Press and PR Department for further information:
Contact
Nationales Automuseum The Loh Collection
Museumsstrasse 1
35716 Dietzhölztal-Ewersbach, Germany
Phone: +49 2774 923 650
Email: presse@nationalesautomuseum.de
www.nationalesautomuseum.de
