Classic Center
Michael F. Kunz
A Tale of Two Cars
Deciding on Restoration Strategies
The importance of defining a clear strategy before undertaking the restoration of a classic car has been a topic I’ve discussed several times in these columns. How we decide on a strategy is illustrated clearly with two specific cars that we currently have in our workshops – a very early 190SL built in 1955 and an early 300SL Roadster built in 1957.
I’ve discussed both of these cars in last year’s issues of The Star, the 300SL in March-April’s edition, and the 190SL in September-October. Avid readers will know that the 300SL was a very complete car of known provenance in good unrestored condition, apparently repainted once but without any particular historical significance.
As shown above, last year we displayed the 300SL Roadster at the Star Lounge at Pebble Beach in exactly the condition we found it, just cleaning it up a bit. Fortunately it found a new owner at the event.
So few cars survive in this unrestored but totally unmolested condition, that it is a pleasure just to spend a little time looking at how the original materials have lasted. Unfortunately, in this condition the car can’t be enjoyed in motion.
In contrast, the 190SL was nearly completely disassembled before being stored many years ago, but research has confirmed the significance of the car identification number, 5500002. This is the second production 190SL ever built, and the oldest known to be in existence.
The 190SL is still as we found it, but the restoration will be starting soon, bringing the car back to original condition.
As I noted in those columns, the process of disassembly is the same in both cases. Having determined that neither of these cars could be displayed or used in the condition in which we bought it – and both would require a complete restoration – we proceeded with disassembly and cataloging all of the parts. In both cases, we followed the same standard process we use in the first stages of any restoration, carefully photographing and documenting all details as the disassembly proceeded, and retaining and cataloging all parts, throwing nothing away.
As that was going on, we made our plans. The two factors noted when the cars were purchased – condition and historic significance – always play an important part when deciding on any restoration strategy.
In the case of the 300SL, the lack of specific historic significance gave us some leeway in our restoration options, and the fact that the car no longer had its original paint expanded the options. There would be no obligation to restore the car back to its original condition.
On the other hand, the 190SL is quite important for historic reasons because we have no examples to illustrate what the earliest 190SL models looked like. There is also the possibility, as yet unconfirmed, that the car played a role in the Hollywood movie “High Society,” driven by Grace Kelly in the movie to take Frank Sinatra for a ride. For these reasons – even though the car had been completely stripped of paint and upholstery – we have an obligation to history to return the car, as closely as we can manage through research and technique, to its appearance the day it came off the assembly line at Stuttgart-Untertürkheim in spring 1955.
But of course, these decisions aren’t made in a vacuum. In addition, the restorer must also have the final goals of the ultimate customer in mind when defining the restoration. In their contrasts, the two cars are good examples of how the customer’s goals are the ultimate determinant of restoration strategy.
With the 190SL, the historic significance made the identification of the customer easy. There is no chance that Mercedes-Benz Cars will ever sell this 190SL. The only question is whether its stewardship after restoration will remain with the Classic Center in California, or will be transferred after restoration to the Classic Center in Germany. Either way, the goal of the restoration is to re-create the car to its original production condition so it can be available for both museum display and technical inspection as part of the overall mission of the Classic Center to preserve the heritage of Daimler AG.
The major challenge in the restoration of this car will be to evaluate all components for evidence that, when restored, they are as close as possible to their specifications when originally produced. This is not as easy as it might seem – even though the car was produced to our design in our factory, it was one of the first two produced. That means that parts and assembly methods would have changed during and after this car was built. In those first few months of production and customer use, the assembly engineers would have found ways to make the assembly process more efficient and reliable, and the automotive engineers would have redesigned parts or changed assembly processes to correct problems that had manifested themselves.
As a consequence, we can’t just pull out the finalized plans for the 190SLs and use replacement parts that are sold to 190SL owners who are maintaining examples built later in the car’s production life. Instead, the process of restoration becomes a detective process to determine whether a non-standard part or assembly was originally designed that way or was later changed by the owner or some anonymous mechanic.
The situation with the 300SL was quite different. We had the option of either restoring the car speculatively – creating a car that would be attractive to some eventual but as yet unknown customer – or seeking a customer before restoration began, then involving the customer in making the final decisions. The first option is risky because we are gambling company money on the condition of the market 18 months to two years from now, as well as our guess about what colors and equipment would be most attractive. However, finding a customer in advance of a restoration can be difficult because the customer must have the imagination to see what the car would look like when it’s finished, rather than making a decision based on its appearance before disassembly.
Fortunately, Bruce Iannelli, whose other cars have been displayed in these pages because of their condition and significance, made the decision that he wanted to purchase this car and participate in its restoration. We knew that he had been looking for some time for a solid 300SL Roadster to be the basis of a project he had in mind. He purchased the car with our mutual understanding that he had some interesting and slightly unusual aspirations for it.
That meant we were no longer taking any speculative risk other than staying within the agreed budget during the restoration. It also meant that rather than restoring the car as yet one more standard 300SL Roadster in a generic color that would look good on an auction block, we could work with Iannelli to be more flexible.
The general outline of what kind of a car he wants, and how it would fit into his collection is pretty clear, but specifics haven’t yet been entirely decided. One thing is certain; when the car is completed, it will be entirely consistent with the heritage of the marque, but won’t look like any other Roadster currently on the road. We’ll be sharing the plans for this car as the restoration moves forward.