Heritage Collection Benz's best kept secret

Providing a future for cars of the past is the mission pursued by the Mercedes-Benz Classic Centre

A visit to Stuttgart in Germany is incomplete without taking a tour through the Mercedes-Benz museum.

Anyone can visit the museum for nominal admission and there's plenty to see there. In addition to cars and aircraft (powered by Daimler-Benz engines, naturally), there's an art collection to take in, and the walls of the main building are lined with historical facts and figures for each of the periods covered.

But what you won't see at the museum is the rest of the manufacturer's heritage collection. Literally hundreds of cars – all boasting varying degrees of pedigree and/or historical significance – are housed by Benz in two separate facilities well away from prying eyes. One facility houses competition machines, the other accommodates passenger cars. 175 vehicles from the collection appear at the museum and Benz rotates cars through so that sooner or later they all go public.

The cars kept out of the public eye are carefully maintained by the Benz Classic Car Centre, which has operated since 1923. These are vehicles that could not be replaced – and that's one reason why the company is so reluctant to let visitors see the Heritage Collection in any venue other than the museum itself. However, at the request of Mercedes-Benz Australia, the Classic Car Centre did recently play host to a small band of journalists from Australia, allowing the writers from the other side of the world to see an Aladdin's Cave of automotive wonders – all wearing the three-pointed star.

Well actually, not all of them. Some of the cars in the secure facilities pre-dated the merger of Daimler and Benz in the 1920s. One such car was the Mercedes Simplex owned by Emil Jellinek, the man who insisted Daimler build a brand of car named after his 10-year-old daughter, Mercedes.

While Mercedes-Benz does not allow photography of the Heritage Collection cars, the Jellinek-owned car was previously snapped in the museum two years ago. Up close it's an imposing vehicle, built and trimmed to the sort of standard one might expect of an Edwardian railway coach. Manufactured in 1902, it is powered by a 9.2-litre four-cylinder engine and features a four-speed manual transmission for a top speed of 85km/h. An unusual feature of the vehicle is the dual-rear wheel set-up – something more commonly seen on trucks these days. According to one of the curators the DRW was not to aid traction, but rather to handle the payload. Benz values the car at €1.5 million.

Of the race cars in the collection, it's hard to pick a favourite. The tour through the facility took us past the Ferdinand Porsche-designed 1924 Monza, powered by a 2.0-litre straight eight and driven to victory in the 1926 German GP by Rudi Caracciola. Our guide explained that while Daimler AG holds the original blueprints for the car in its archives, it still took 12 months to restore the car's engine, with select parts needing to be fabricated. Bought in the UK in 1954 and one of just five built, the car would be worth around €4 million if it were to go to auction today.

The 1952 300 SL that won the Carrera Panamericana is one of three such cars held by the Classic Centre and one of just 10 built. It's currently being prepared for the Mille Miglia in May and is powered by a 3.0-litre straight six. In the same row of cars sits the 190E 2.3-16 driven by Ayrton Senna in 1984 at the opening of the Nurburgring, a 1955 Gullwing, the 280E that came second in the 1977 London to Sydney Rally and an R107-series 500 SL prepared for rally driver Walter Rorhl. The famous German driver walked away from a contract with Benz, claiming the 500 SL was too heavy for WRC. These days the car is campaigning in local drifting events.

Another row of cars comprises different 'silver arrows' models, starting with the W25, and also featuring the 1937 W125, the W154 and the W196. Developing 640hp and 1000Nm at 3000rpm from its eight-cylinder engine, the W125 was recently found to be capable of spinning the drive wheels in fourth gear – at 250km/h.

The W154 was Benz's first 12-cylinder racing car. Displacing 487hp, the 3.0-litre engine had two superchargers bolted to it. Based on the experience of two similar cars in the hands of private collectors in the US, Benz estimates this particular vehicle would fetch between €30 to €40 million.

One of the three W196 models in the collection was driven by Juan-Manuel Fangio to a world driver's championship and will be shipped to Britain later this year to be driven by Jackie Stewart at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. One of the other cars is a streamlined version that is marked down for a Ferrari gathering later this year, where it will undoubtedly be treated with the honour reserved for a formidable rival.

The racing collection also comprises a number of modern F1 cars, safety cars from DTM and F1, and a C291 sports car in which Michael Schuhmacher won a race. According to our guide, the C291 can only be tuned with an Atari 286 computer, such is its vintage. More modern IT equipment apparently just won't cut it.

The racing car collection also includes one example of every Benz model ever to compete in DTM, starting from the W201 2.3-16 driven by Roland Asch. Other cars in the collection include world record-breaking diesels, among them two C111 models from 1976 and 1977. Both cars, powered by five-cylinder turbo-diesels were capable of a top speed of 320km/h. The 1977 car is finished in silver and the earlier model is finished in 'Weissherbst', which is an orange/gold colour named for a local concoction that is a mix of red and white wines. We would call it Rosé...

In the passenger car warehouse, the Jellinek 60hp Mercedes-Simplex takes pride of place. Rebodied in 1910 to seal the driver's seat from the weather, the bright red vehicle was acquired by the Classic Collection in 1962. It was built in right-hand drive at a time when traffic in Germany and other parts of central Europe were already driving on the right side of the road, but with the road network so poor at the time it was more important for drivers to be able to see where the edge of the road was than attempt to overtake other cars.

In 1903, French driver Camille Jenatzy, who is better known these days for setting a land speed record in an electric-powered car, won the Gordon Bennett Cup, driving a short-wheelbase model with the same engine as the Jellinek car.

Parked a short distance away is a 1928 Mercedes Nurburg, powered by a 4.6-litre straight eight and named for the Nurburgring test track that had opened just the year before. Further along from that car is a 770K Grosser dating back to 1930. Powered by a 7.7-litre supercharged eight-cylinder, the car was purchased by an American billionaire for his honeymoon tour of southern Europe.

In 1951, six years after the second world war, Mercedes-Benz introduced the 'Adenauer' 300 model – so named because it was a favourite of the West German chancellor of the time, Conrad Adenauer. A 3.0-litre six developing 115hp was enough to push the car up to a top speed of 165km/h. Benz claims the Adenauer 300 was the first luxury car built by a German manufacturer after World War II.

The 1951 300, which was introduced in April of that year at the Frankfurt motor show, pioneered a new type of luxury car for Mercedes-Benz. This line of cars would eventually come to be known as the S-Class.

But first Mercedes-Benz released the 'Ponton' 220, with a 2.2-litre 85hp engine. The car in the collection is a 1954 model. That was followed by the 'Fintail' models, like the 1959 220 SE in the collection. This series of car is renowned for being the first production car with crumple zones, which Daimler-Benz patented.

The best of the rest of S-Class:

1963 Mercedes 600, 6.3-litre V8 developing 250hp – First V8-powered Benz passenger car, introduced air suspension and features hydraulic systems to move seats and secure doors.

1968 Mercedes 300 SEL 6.3 – An air suspension-equipped W109, rather than the steel-sprung W108; renowned for its performance and Q-car looks.

1972 Mercedes 450 SEL 6.9 – Flagship variant of the W116 series, the first generation to be marketed specifically as the S-Class; introduced recessed (safety) door handles, ribbed tail lights, petrol tank located above rear axle, wider hub for steering wheel to spread crash impact loads, adjustable exterior mirrors from inside the car. Not well known, but electronic anti-lock braking was introduced with this generation of S-Class, near the end of its life.

1979 Mercedes 560 SEL – W126 series was lighter and more aerodynamic, introducing all-alloy construction for V8 engines. First model offered with driver's airbag from 1981 and a front-passenger airbag from 1988.

1998 Mercedes 320 SE – Among the last of the W140 series introduced in 1991.

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Heritage Collection Benz's best kept secret

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