Renovation after 100 years: Mercedes revived its successful red racer from the Targa Florio

A racing Mercedes from the 1920s had a body in red paint for a very specific reason.

The Mercedes-Benz Classic division has been really busy over the past two years. Together with other experts on the history of the German car manufacturer, the team embarked on an extensive renovation of the two-liter racing model that triumphed in the legendary Targa Florio endurance race in Sicily in 1924. And now, exactly 100 years later, the historic specimen is returning to the roads.

The racing machine is referred to in the original by Mercedes purely as “2 l Targa Florio Rennwagen”. It was driven to victory at the Targa Florio on April 27, 1924 by factory pilot Christian Werner, who covered a total of 432 kilometers in four laps with a time of 6:32:37.4 hours. At that time, a total of three cars were entered into the race, with which the brand eventually won a triple victory in the two-liter category and also the prize for the best factory team.

Mercedes states that the special element of the racing Mercedes was precisely the red paint – it used to be normally reserved for Italian cars. Instead of the white color that German cars usually wore in races at the time, the red color was to prevent possible hostility from the Italian fans. After the First World War, German teams were initially excluded from participating in European championships. Already at the beginning of the 20s, however, Mercedes began to do well at the Targa Florio.

The two-liter model was based on the designs of Paul Daimler, but Ferdinand Porsche, who at that time held the position of technical director and head of development at Daimler, brought it to its final racing form. Christian Werner’s particular winning specimen with the number 10 has unfortunately not been preserved to the present day. The surviving piece with the number 32 from the aforementioned trio, which was driven by Christian Lautenschlager and reached 11th place overall in the race, received renovations.

The renovation of the car from the car company’s own collection took place with the aim of achieving maximum authenticity. There was an extensive search in the archive of the classic Mercedes division, a search for original technical drawings and historical photographs. The red paint itself then underwent analysis to provide information on the composition and method of painting in 1924. The restored example is therefore hand painted with a brush and reconstructed oil paint.

The revived Mercedes will be presented at a number of international events this year. During April, he went on a test drive for the first time, on the track near the Mercedes factory in Untertürkheim, i.e. the place where the car was originally manufactured 100 years ago.