A race car pundit once said that one only needs to drive a car to know whether it was once truly, great. My, first drive in Lautenschlager's 1914 French Grand Prix winning mount convinced me of only one thing that I had made a huge mistake in buying it.

The car was hard to start, it had the acceleration of a slug, and its four speed transmission was impossible to shift without sounding like a rock crusher. I had just bought the car from a London dealer who was kind enough to deliver it in person. He had owned it for several years, exercising it on tours and in vintage races. He had bought it from Philip Mann, who made the "discovery of the century" in 1961 when he pulled the Lautenschlager Mercedes out of a private garage in Essex, where it had rested since 1932 clothed in a Berliet five-passenger body of decent proportions.

I had bought the car with the understanding that it was restored and that it was the winning car in the 1914 French Grand Prix. From the driver's seat, both assumptions seemed improbable. The only thing I knew for sure was that I had a real mechanical dog on my hands.

A quick look inside the engine revealed the causes of some of the performance problems. Someone had installed Fiat 501 flat-top pistons, and to get them to fit, they had to sleeve down the cylinders considerably, reducing both compression and dis-placement. New domed pistons made to original specifications and a re-profiled camshaft cured the snail like acceleration.

Replacing a missing transmission pilot shaft bearing in the flywheel allowed the transmission to shift effortlessly and silently, like all early Mercedes. Replacing the front axle, four shock absorber and body (using factory blueprints) completed the restoration.

The most important discovery, during this rebuilding process was finding the number 15,364 stamped on the bottom of the clutch and brakeshaft. This was the factory commission number assigned to the Lautenschlager car.

(Incidentally, If you have an early Mercedes or Mercedes- Benz, and you can find the original commission number and supply proof of ownership, the Mercedes Benz museum will copy the original commission sheet for you. Information includes original build specifications, price, name of the first owner, and more.)

After returning file car to original factory specifications, my next drive in it was the exact opposite of my first. Quick, fast, smooth shifting and steady as a rock.

How good was the 1914 Grand Prix Mercedes?

It was good enough to win first, second, and third in the 1914 French Grand Prix at Lyon. It was good enough to win file Indianapolis 500 in 1915. Even in 1929 it was still good enough to win a hill climb at Gabelbach Hill, finish second at Klausen, and reach 120.3 mph at St Moritz for fastest time, all in three consecutive weekends.

Article segments from THE STAR magazine by George Wingard.