Mercedes-Benz has reopened its Classic Center near Stuttgart with double the workshop space, a 70-strong team and new engine, paint and trim facilities.
Over a weekend during which 15,000 visitors enjoyed the party atmosphere at Mercedes-Benz’s 140 Year Festival, a few miles down the road the historic marque was celebrating the reopening of the Classic Center. Newly refurbished and extended via the addition of a second building close by, the facility offers 10,000m² of workshop space within a total area of 18,000m². Also now with an expert on-site workforce doubled to around 70 strong, the Fellbach-based operation is the world’s largest restoration, service, and repair facility for classic Mercedes-Benz cars.
The original building, which has been in operation for 33 years, has been reorganised. With the new building incorporating an on-site location for the storage of spare parts, many of which are suitable for some of the rarest and most valuable of Mercedes-Benz cars, there is now space for a comprehensive service workshop, including no fewer than ten vehicle lifts, each of which is capable of supporting up to six tonnes, and therefore up to the task of lifting such heritage cars as the pre-war Kompressors and the 600 Pullman limousine.
Within the original building, the space once dedicated to engine assembly has been converted to a trim shop. There is now a much larger dedicated engine facility in the new building, complete with a dynamometer and milling machines that mean more extensive work can be undertaken without being outsourced. Likewise a new paint booth brings a key aspect of body finishing in-house for the first time. In this way, restoration projects can be better timetabled and streamlined, so as well as Mercedes-Benz’s own 1100-strong collection still being looked after at the Classic Center, more work can be booked by external owners, and waiting lists are substantially decreased. As ever, the workshop can draw on original technical documentation, design data and historical background material from the uniquely comprehensive Mercedes-Benz Corporate Archives.
As well as the stock located in the Fellbach building, Mercedes-Benz Classic is responsible for the provision of spare and service parts (160,000 in total) for all cars 15 years old and more, which can be ordered via Classic Partners within the dealership network and made available with rapid delivery from the global logistics HQ in Germersheim.
During the opening ceremony, Sandra Button, long-time chair of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, was presented with the Mercedes-Benz Heritage Lifetime Achievement Award by Marcus Breitschwerdt, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Heritage GmbH.
Meanwhile, the Mercedes-Benz Museum in nearby Bad Cannstatt hosted 15,000 VIPs and enthusiasts who welcomed back to Stuttgart the trio of Mercedes-Benz S-Classes (known as Bertha, Carl and Gottlieb, after Mr and Mrs Benz and Herr Daimler) after travelling more than 65,000km through 55 countries on six continents since leaving the city on 29 January, a date that marked 140 years since Carl Benz patented the world’s first motor car. The company took the opportunity to unveil the new all-electric AMG GT SUV, and a further convoy of 140 prominent cars from the marque’s unrivalled history (including the 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé and a C111 concept car) brought all that heritage to life. Octane took part, and the full story will appear in the next issue.
