1912 Benz beauty gets its original glam with city restorer’s makeover

Driving down memory lane, who was celebrating the memorable day on Saturday with his family members, said the 1912 Benz Model was purchased by his grandfather Rao Bahadur PC Muthu Chettiar (1877-1940), of Madura, then part of Madras Presidency, from Benz & Cie in 1914. Ever since, it became a member of the PCM family, the promoters of Pandiyan Hotel (now Fortune Pandiyan). He further, says, “The car averaged 35,000 miles per year at its peak. It was in action until the 1960s before it was sent to rest for want of spare parts. In 2013, we decided to bring it back to life and approached car restorer CS Ananth (father-in-law of Chess wizard Viswanathan Anand) of Team CSA, a vintage-car restoration company.” 

“This was no easy task. The restoration brief was to deliver a roadworthy coach close to its original specifications. This was a pre-World War I car and there was very little documentation available. It took over 30 months, extensive research, interesting debates, incredible learning - and a pot of money,” Ananth says. 

He visited the restoration centre of the Mercedes Benz museum at Stuttgart, Germany. The chief person after studying the pictures was of the opinion that the car had been severely changed and many parts missing. He felt that it was beyond restoration and would have to be scrapped. “Despite this, I decided to go ahead with the restoration because it was a very rare car,” Ananth says. The only technical literature the Benz restoration centre had was a manual, all other documents having got burnt during World War II. 

“The actual restoration began in late 2014. We didn’t want to give the car a new look. So, we manufactured everything from wooden wheels to body parts, including brass items. The engine was completely rebuilt since it had not run for 55 years. Honeycomb radiator core and magneto were imported from New Zealand. The leather seats were made fully with coir and cotton. Close to 25,000 man hours were spent restoring the car before it successfully finished its test run in 2016,” says Ananth, visibly proud of having restored, what can perhaps be called the only original Benz of the period 1912 to 1914 yet existing in the world.