Great Garages: Past Perfect
April 1, 2006
Karl Benz never threw anything away. Many years after his 1886 Patent Motor Car–a three-wheeled device powered by a single-cylinder engine–had been superseded by far more sophisticated machines bearing his name, Benz still retained the very first example built. He simply stored it away, unnoticed and unused.
Then, about a hundred years ago, Benz decided that the spindly machine, precursor to the burgeoning automotive age, deserved a better fate than dusty obscurity. He pulled it out of storage and sent it to the Mercedes-Benz factory for cleaning and repairs, then dispatched it to the Deutsches Museum in Munich, where it remains on exhibit to this day, a testament to both his engineering skill and his marketing prowess.
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The revival of Benz’s first car was the beginning of the Mercedes-Benz
Classic Center. The latest component in that concept debuted in February, when Mercedes-Benz USA opened the doors of its new purpose-built
28,000-square-foot facility in Irvine, Calif., south of Los Angeles. (Click image to enlarge)
Many automobile manufacturers, including some whose corporate lives span a mere fraction of the 120-year-old industrial colossus known as DaimlerChrysler, have museums celebrating their heritage. A few firms offer varying degrees of encouragement and assistance to those who collect their older products. One or two might endorse reproduction parts for such vintage machines produced by independent entrepreneurs. But Mercedes-Benz is among the few to offer factory service and parts or its classic motorcars.
Since Karl Benz brought his Patent Motor Car back to life, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Mercedes owners have returned their automobiles to the company’s Stuttgart factory for repair and, in many instances, restoration by trained technicians using factory-original parts.
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Over the decades, such work was routed through various workshops in the vast Mercedes-Benz factory complexes, and was performed on a part-time basis by
skilled workers who took an interest in such painstaking and occasionally
difficult tasks. But in time, the volume of work increased so much that management
decided to open a dedicated facility. When the original Classic Center opened in
Fellbach, Germany, in 1993, it took on not only customer work but also the maintenance
of the company’s own collection, which boasts hundreds of automobiles. (Click image to enlarge)
Far more than mere cosmetic work is involved. The museum cars, like those in the hands of many private owners, are kept in running condition, and they appear regularly at events where new generations of enthusiasts can see their capabilities. As a result, the Classic Center operation encompasses not just paint-and-polish work–to the company’s original high standards–but also mechanical refurbishment and the supply of parts to independent service technicians and owners.
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