Great Garages: Past Perfect
April 1, 2006
Much of the demand for the Classic Center’s services has come from the United States, where an estimated half-million Mercedes-Benz automobiles built before 1990 are currently registered. Given the ever-increasing value of many of these machines, it came as no surprise to management that Americans were taking the opportunity to have their cars restored in Germany.
A first step toward making the process easier was taken in 1990, when Mercedes-Benz USA opened the Classic Support Center, a toll-free telephone service that aided dealers, owners, and mechanics searching for hard-to-find parts. From its small beginnings, the Classic Support Center operation grew to the point where it was handling an average of 2,000 calls and 500 e-mails monthly. This encouraged the company to open its second Classic Center.
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The Irvine Classic Center consists of more than an office and a few service
bays: The company offers a full range of services to Mercedes-Benz owners and enthusiasts. Besides restoration and parts sales, the center sells older cars–those 20 or more years old–and will assist you in locating vehicles not
in stock, through its own corporate databases. A related service enables owners
of classic Mercedes-Benzes to learn the complete history of their vehicle. (Click image to enlarge)
While the company estimates that retail sales will account for a small percentage of the center’s activities, the 50 or so cars they expect to sell annually should command significant sums. A boutique section sells Mercedes-related automotive and lifestyle accessories ranging from scale models through apparel designed to complement classic automobiles. A selection of the company’s own classic cars, drawn from those in its Stuttgart museum or stored in several large warehouses that are closed to the public, will also be on display–as well as others borrowed from private collectors.
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The company has extensive experience in providing parts for cars other manufacturers might call obsolete, all the way back to the original
refurbishment project inspired by Karl Benz. That first three-wheeler was well used at the
end of its working life; in 1888, while Benz was working on his third car, Frau
Berta Benz decided to take a motor trip. At a time when few people had any driving experience, and much of that limited to a small radius from home, she set off
with her children to visit relatives in Pforzheim, more than 50 miles from Benz’s
base of operations. Along the way, she had to find fuel and make repairs,
including patching a broken drive belt. (Click image to enlarge)
Thus, the first car was likely to have suffered more wear and tear than many later machines that traveled better roads under less arduous conditions. But the factory was able to refer to blueprints and make replacement parts, as it still does. The Classic Centers draw on archives containing shop manuals dating back to the company’s earliest years; some 42,000 parts are currently stocked for post-1945 models, and other items are routinely replicated as needed.
Some idea of the scope of the work the Classic Center can do, with the assistance of the company’s prototype and research and development departments, can be seen in some of the projects it has already completed. In recent years, it has produced cylinder heads for the immortal SSK sports car from the 1920s, and hoods for the 190SL roadster of the 1950s. The latter involved production techniques no longer employed, but the new panels are faithful reproductions of the originals.
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