Trip to the Classic Centre Stuttgart

[BIG 450]

Hi All,

In August I dropped by the Classic Centre in Stuttgart (It's taken me ages to get over that holiday and apologies for not posting sooner) and was lucky enough to be there when they organized a workshop tour which runs every Monday afternoon at 2:00pm.

I had know idea what they had in the workshop as the whole centre was being renovated so none of the cars for sale were on show but once the doors opened i felt like I was 10 years old again :-D

The first stage was the "Racing Car" bays where they service all the Mercedes Benz Classic racers from F1 to DTM cars. They had a few pre-war F1 cars on the stands as well as a couple of cars under cover. One of the covered cars was Fangio's SLR which is the sister to the Moss 722 Mille Miliga Car. Absolutely immaculate!

Moving towards the back of the building and you enter the main passenger car workshop. It's not everyday that you see a Gullwing and it's roadster companion up on the stands being serviced. The workshop also had access to the spare parts warehouse and the upholstery shop which would pretty much have all your upholstery needs covered. But that didn't prepare me for what I saw next.....


2 600's, one SWB the other a Pullman, getting bare metal restorations. Everything was being changed and I mean EVERYTHING! the SWB was back from the paint shop and had it's engine bay lined and the workers were measuring up the interior to cut the leather and carpets to shape. The Pullman was a bit further along and had it's engine in minus battery and air cleaner. It was immaculate and stunning. The drivers cabin was coming along nicely and the passenger compartment was receiving a few upgrades, namely a television in the centre divider (like something you would see from Pimp My Ride) and an electro-glass roof just like the current Maybach. It was really impressive and my mind boggled on how much it would cost. I just settled on it being a lot and haven't thought about it since.

What will they be used for, the guide said they would be used as "pleasure vehicles" for clients to enjoy the company of attractive women. These things will be pimped out on the streets of europe.

I better let pictures do the rest of the talking as I have rambled on a bit so I have uploaded them to the following link:

http://s55.photobucket.com/albums/g159/pbucki/MB%20Classic%20Centre/

I have also put a couple of pics from the Mercedes Benz museum, it's just of the 300SD W116 they have on display as well as the experimental car that a lot of the W116 components were tested on. Sadly the W116 is not that well represented at the museum.

Enjoy the pics.

Regards

Paul

[oscar]

Paul that was awsome, thanks for the pics. 
It's good to see that the workshop wasn't off limits for a tour or that photography wasn't banned.  Other museums would be more anal and say buy a postcard on the way out instead.  Man this place must be better than Willy Wonka's
Those 600's are stunning.   Cost aside they're simply amazing.  I'd love to send a w116 back to them and say remanufacture it.

It's a pity that ESF22 wasn't a tad bit more interesting.  Otherwise it'd make an interesting project to replicate one from a w116 and turn up to a concours in it.  But hardly a talking point compared to turning up in a replica of a C111. 

[TJ 450]

It looks like they have some neat exhibits in the museum.

Those W100's really are being "pimped out", aren't they?
I can just imagine what their intended purpose is.

Tim

[BIG 450]

They run the exhibitions by generations on each of the 6 floors and there are some gems there. The gallery rooms are themed and have some unusual commercial vehicles as well as a German Police Wagon and a Formula 1 safety car from a few years back. Best bit is that each car is drivable and they are serviced periodically by the classic centre.

Speaking of rocking up to a concours in something unusual, these are my 2 picks and the c111 is one of them - amazing to see it in person and they put it in a difficult spot to make it almost impossible to steal 

[John Hubertz]

Sad this one isn't in your album - a gorgeous  (brown of course) 6.9 AMG in their current inventory.

Here's a pic - it popped up on m-100.cc a couple of weeks ago.  No details - out for freshening.

Hey...  LOOK!  A drinking straw wearing high heels!  She's obviously...  "pole ish"  (snarfle)

[John Hubertz]

Here's something even odder - look at this close-up of the reflection in those far-side windows. 

(eerie music)

[TJ 450]

That's bizzare. What on Earth is going on in that setting?

Tim