[Report] "Standing on the Past, Facing the Future" Visiting the Restoration Site of Decades-Old Mercedes-Benz Classic Cars

About 30 minutes from Stuttgart, a city known as the automobile capital in Germany, there is a small town called Pforzheim. At the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center, which opened in 1993, old models that are decades old undergo restoration processes. On one side of the entrance, there is a phrase that reads, "Heritage creates the future." This is a facility that can be operated because it is the company that created the world's first automobile.

The 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL 6-cylinder coupe at the center boasts a clean exterior after more than two years of restoration. Skilled mechanics restored it down to the "last bolt" to make it as close as possible to how it was when it first left the factory. It is also capable of actual road driving.

300SL displayed in the lobby of the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in Germany
Photo by Minwoo Lee

The center currently maintains and services over 1,200 vehicles, including exhibition cars from the Mercedes-Benz Museum and vehicles eligible for the "All Time Stars," Mercedes-Benz's certified classic vehicle sales service. About 40 mechanics repair old Mercedes-Benz vehicles upon customer requests, purchase and restore vehicles from customers, and resell them. Each vehicle has an archive to ensure perfect restoration. This is a point that differentiates it from other brands.

Markus Breitschwerdt, Senior Vice President of Mercedes-Benz Heritage, who introduced the center, said, "Mercedes-Benz is a brand based on continuous effort and resilience to learn from failures and mistakes and to achieve definite improvements."

Phrase written at the entrance of the Classic Center
Photo by Minwoo Lee

Mercedes-Benz 500K Maharaja undergoing maintenance at the Classic Center
Photo by Minwoo Lee

The center is currently restoring about 20 vehicles. There is also a Mercedes Simplex, estimated to have been produced in the early 1900s. It was a high-performance model at the time, with 40 horsepower and a top speed of about 70 to 80 km/h. According to a center official, it has been restored enough to participate in a classic car race scheduled for next month. The Classic Center, which had unofficially accepted classic car orders, officially started sales in June with five customer consultants.

Due to its rarity and meticulous restoration process, the cars are expensive. The 1955 racing car 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe was traded for 135 million euros (about 200 billion KRW) in 2022. It is considered the most expensive car in history. The cost of restoring a vehicle is said to average about 600,000 to 800,000 euros per car. The value increases further for cars owned by celebrities or with special histories.

Overview of the maintenance area inside the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center
Photo by Minwoo Lee

Cars restored through the center's maintenance are displayed to the public at the Mercedes-Benz Museum. The museum exhibits about 160 vehicles and over 1,500 parts. It showcases the Patent Motorwagen, the first internal combustion engine car made by Karl Benz, the world's first four-wheeled motor carriage by Gottlieb Daimler, as well as electric cars and futuristic concept cars.

A Mercedes-Benz Museum official said, "We share with customers the history of technological and design development, making it a living history rather than just a car brand."

Pope's G-Wagen exhibited at the Mercedes-Benz Museum
Photo by Minwoo Lee