Votters Fahrzeugmuseum (Votter's Vehicle Museum), Zell am See (must see)

Votter’s Vehicle Museum offers a different cultural stop for visitors exploring the wider area around the Hundertwasser Österreich-Brunnen. The museum tells its story through engines, restoration, and everyday mobility. Its origins were personal: as a teenager, Helmuth Vötter collected scrap metal, rebuilt engines, and dreamed of owning a BMW Isetta. Restoring one damaged Isetta became the start of his lifelong collection.

The museum now includes around 200 exhibits, with a focus on cars, motorcycles, scooters, tractors, bicycles, and utility vehicles from the 1950s to the 1970s. Compact cars like the BMW Isetta and Messerschmitt cabin scooter reflect post-war needs for economy and practical design. Unusual exhibits include Wagon No. 4 from Vienna’s Giant Ferris Wheel and the 23-seat Steyr-Zeiserl, known as the world’s largest convertible passenger car.

The museum also works as a social history display. A reconstructed 1950s and 1960s apartment, complete with period furniture and media objects, shows the domestic world in which many of these vehicles belonged. This links the vehicles to daily life, farming, leisure, and early mass mobility. A Volkswagen archive also honors Ferdinand Porsche, adding regional relevance and design history.

This creates a clear contrast with the nearby Hundertwasser Austria Fountain. The nearby Hundertwasser Austria Fountain adds a contrasting artistic layer. Its nine ceramic pillars represent Austria’s federal states by population, while its colors refer to state coats of arms. Lake water circulates through plants and cascading forms in a closed ecological loop. Conceived in 1996 and completed in 2003 after Hundertwasser’s death, it contrasts restored vehicle history with water, ceramics, and environmental design.