In classic car circles, the name Kienle is generally associated with highly valuable Mercedes-Benz classics and self-confident to grandiose trade fair appearances. In fact, the company Kienle Automobiltechnik GmbH in Ditzingen-Heimerdingen is considered to be the world's largest restoration company for the noble car bodies from nearby Stuttgart.
As of today, however, it is questionable whether this lofty status will continue in the future. Because on May 31, 2023 at 9:00 a.m., a carefully planned and precisely coordinated raid took place on the business and private premises of the company owners on behalf of the Stuttgart public prosecutor's office. The numerous officers from the Baden-Württemberg State Criminal Police Office (LKA) came across extensive evidence, which was consequently seized. Zwischengas is the first specialist medium to report on this case.
What are the facts of the case? On March 17, 2023, the LKA received a tip-off from the German Federal Criminal Police Office that "a company from Ditzingen was operating a fraudulent trade in exclusive classic cars", as it is cautiously put - and that there was suspicion that "this company was producing and selling professional duplicates of classic cars that had not been traded for a long time."
The specific case involves a completely original Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster, which had been lying dormant for many decades and was finally sold in Switzerland recently. When trying to register it, it turned out that another 300 SL with the same identity had already been registered. More detailed investigations quickly revealed that the latter vehicle with the same chassis number was a fake, which in turn led to Kienle.
There is a persistent rumor among intimates in the scene that this is not an isolated case. "In the meantime, we assume that we can already speak of a kind of small series production of fake 300 SL Roadsters and Gullwing models and thus of commercial fraud on a far-reaching scale."After all, people have been speculating for years, if not decades, about how the miraculous proliferation of the legendary sports car classic could have come about. From 1954, exactly 1400 of these were produced as a coupé and from 1957, only 1858 open-top versions were made.
With the evaluation of the evidence seized from Kienle, the investigation is only now really picking up speed. It remains to be seen what details will come to light in the near future. And, above all, what medium-term effect the knowledge gained will have on the market for high-priced classic cars such as the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL. The famous sports car with the factory abbreviation W 198 is currently being traded for between around 1.25 and 1.75 million Swiss francs (approx. 1.3 to 1.8 million euros).
It is interesting to note that the Baden-Württemberg State Office of Criminal Investigation announced on the day of the searches that potential victims could contact the investigating authority directly. The e-mail address is [email protected].
Meanwhile, the number of clicks on a YouTube video from 2021 by Südwestrundfunk Deutschlands (SWR) about Kienle's restoration practices is skyrocketing. "The soul of the gems must also be preserved," it says, full of flowery patheticism. "The soul of the car is always when as much as possible remains original," says company senior Klaus Kienle (now 76), asserting his endearing claim to authenticity.
An ethical commitment that, due to current developments, is revealed to be a fraudulent label and is now likely to establish itself as a floor joke in the veteran scene. Especially as the voice-over in the TV report explains afterwards that Kienle has the world's largest stock of spare parts for this type of model series.
