Southern California, where the cult of the new dominates everything from housing developments to parts of the human anatomy, is not the first place you might look for a lesson in classics. But at the recently opened Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in Irvine — a 28,000-square-foot facility that is equal parts dealership, service shop, and museum — the 120-year history of Mercedes is on full display, and usually for sale. Upon entering the center, you're greeted by the siren call of impeccably restored classics displayed on the showroom floor. One warm afternoon not long ago, it hosted a one-of-a-kind 1956 190SLR with a lipstick-red interior, a burgundy 1934 380 cabriolet A that debuted at that year's Geneva Motor Show, and an exact replica of the first-ever gasoline-powered automobile, the 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen, a black-leather bench perched above three carriage wheels — with a top speed of ten mph, it's the perfect ride for rush hour on the 405.
For a more thorough display of the wonders of German engineering, the center has its own Mercedes museum. Aligned in chronological order, the 20 or so specimens are divided into two sets: the "old timers" (made before 1970) and the "young timers" (any subsequent vintage), allowing visitors to follow the company's progress from the boxcar-sized 1905 American Mercedes (made under license by Steinway & Sons in Long Island City, New York) to the sleek 1991 C291, in which Michael Schumacher and Karl Wendlinger took the '91 World Sportscar Championship.
The Mercedes-Benz Classic Center also houses a large restoration workshop where, as its resident manager, Michael Kunz, says, "anything is possible" in the quest to return a vintage Mercedes to its original glory. The shop's team of six mechanics is capable of solving any possible twinge a Mercedes might have. And when they need a part, the specialists don't have to look far — the warehouse next door is filled with "new-old stock" that the center scours private collections and parts dealers for: never-opened replacement engines for the late-seventies W116 S-class stacked in wooden crates, bolts of fabric for reupholstering interiors, original owners' manuals for the legendary 300SL "Gullwing," whose doors, as its name suggests, opened vertically. And if a part just can't be tracked down, the center can refashion it. With very few exceptions, Mercedes has the original engineering diagrams for almost every piece of every model ever made.
"We're purists," Kunz explains. "We love authenticity, but it's a function of price." In other words, if you'd like a pristine 1970 280SE 3.5 cabriolet — a four-person luxury convertible with a hill-charging V-8 engine that happens to be today's most-sought-after vintage Mercedes — it can take up to 3,000 hours of work and $300,000. But you'll be driving a piece of history.
