Brabus Classic Merc’s stun visitors at Frankfurt Show

 

By Stuart Johnston

At the recent 2017  Frankfurt Motor Show, one of the most eye-catching exhibits of all was in Hall 5, where Brabus Classic crammed in a mouth-watering 18-car display of classic Mercedes sports and saloon cars. Pride of place went to a  1950’s 300 SL Gullwing Mercedes-Benz, which showed the intricate steel-tube “space-frame” chassis separated from the car’s body, and each and every component gleaming and glinting in absolute pristine, better-than-new condition.

A R30-million classic Merc

I asked a Brabus executive on the stand what such a car would sell for, and he casually mentioned a figure of around 1,9-million Euros. A quick calculation at a 16-to-1 puts the Rand value of that car at a stunning R30-million! Plus some change…

There are a large number of professional classic car restorers in Germany, where classics are fondly known as “old-timers”! But few firms can compete with Brabus Classics, a restoration arm of the famous Mercedes “tuning” firm, which is the largest in Germany and has branches all over the world, making new Mercs much, much faster than standard.

Brabus’s founder, Professor Bodo Buschmann, says that since starting the restoration arm of his business a number of years ago, he has had to expand this facility many times over, due to the unprecedented demand for classic cars in the past decade.

Pagaoda SLs and 280 SE Coupes and Cabriolets

That it is big business, as illustrated by the prices asked for these cars. While the Gullwing and its roadster 300 SL sibling are amazingly collectible because they are iconic ‘50s sports cars and increasingly rare, even less rare, older Mercs fetch huge money.

Also present on the Brabus Classic stand were a number of  280 SL Pagoda models, selling in the region of 300 000 Euros (R4,8-million). Interestingly, the larger 280 SE cabriolets from the early 1960s fetch prices of 700 000 Euros (R11-million plus), which seems insane. But this price is for the special 3.5-litre V8 model, which was very rare even when new.

A 280 SE featured in the movie  The Hangover

It certainly didn’t hurt that such a Merc 280 SE Cabriolet ( a W111 series) was used as the feature car in the classic original 2009  movie, The Hangover. This car was borrowed by the four hooligans in the movie from one of the guys’ father-n-law-to-be, who doted on the car. The Merc 280 Cabriolet  gets systematically beaten-up in the film, especially when a real-live tiger is transported to the home of boxer Mike Tyson…(it’s complicated - best see the movie). It is a chartable fact that as soon as a classic car is used in a hit movie, its collectable value sky-rockets.

Every last nut and bolt

Delving a bit deeper into the Brabus Classic story,  the German company achieves this level of “as new” restoration the hard way, the only way! Each car is completely stripped down to its last nut and bolt. Then every part is catalogued, assessed, and either refurbished or replaced with a new part. It obviously helps Brabus in that Mercedes-Benz is famous for having spares stock of each and every Mercedes model ever built!

The body in bare metal is catalytic-dipped

The bodywork is taken down to bare metal and then meticulously repaired, where necessary, by master bodywork specialists and given a catalytic-dip primer coating. Few restorers can afford this kind of operation, as it is a process normally used only by major car manufacturers! Comprehensive corrosion protection is than applied and finally the correct, original-colour paint is applied, as used when the car left the factory.

All parts are new or perfectly re-furbished, as illustrated by Brabus-supplied under-body photographs of a Mercedes 280 SL Pagoda. Cables, brake lines, suspension rubbers, exhaust, they all look better than when the car left the factory. But (and it’s a big “but”) the parts all look “factory”, not some half-baked customiser’s vision of what they should have looked like!

Engines completely re-built

The engines are completely stripped and given a re-bore where necessary or a cylinder-hone, with new pistons, rings and bearings fitted, while the cylinder heads are also completely overhauled with new valves, cam chains, etc. The same goes for the gearbox, the brakes and the cooling system. A glance under the bonnet reveals each car adhering to 100 per cent originality, in respect of  paint textures, metal finishings, the bolts, clamps, wires and rubber hoses used. Perfectly restored but not over-restored!

Original colours, upholstery materials

Brabus has long employed experts in interior work, as they offer this service on their new-car conversions. At Brabus Classic, this same level of expertise is applied, but using new, original-spec materials for seat coverings, carpeting, door cards and dashboards. Gauges are also expertly restored, as is switchgear, and woodgrain finishes, where appropriate.

And Brabus tops off the whole exercise by fitting original-size and spec tyres to each model. Such is the confidence in the work, that the company offers a two-year unlimited mileage warranty with each classic. Each car is also started, driven,  and tested extensively before being shipped off to a customer.

 Labour varies between 1 500 and 4 000 man-hours

The amount of time and effort this takes obviously depends on the condition of the un-restored Merc, as delivered to the Brabus  workshops in Bottrop, a town in the Westphalia region of Germany,  some three-hours’ drive north-west from Frankfurt. Another variant is the complexity of each model. Brabus estimates that each car requires between 1 500 to 4 000 man-hours of labour, hence the very expensive prices.

At the Techno-Classica 2017 a Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman – the kind of car our State President once drove in here in South Africa – was awarded a Best of Show prize. At Germany’s most exacting car show, in a country where pride in workmanship is the very reason for existence, it doesn’t come much better than that!