1930 Mercedes Stuttgart Special: A Family Heirloom

Text: Ameya Vikram Mishra

Pictures: Indrojit Sircar, Deepanjan Sarkar & Ameya Vikram Mishra

It is uncommon to come across cars with proper provenance that also tell a heartwarming story. Fortunately, I had the privilege of interacting with such a car recently, thanks to Indrojit Sircar.

Indrojit is the proud owner of a 1930 Mercedes-Benz 10/50 HP Type Stuttgart 260 Special (yes, that is a mouthful). I had not heard or read about this car until last month, and I am still in the process of educating myself. However, my excuse is that this car may be one of only two in the world.

So, let’s rewind to 1964 when Indrojit’s grandfather, the late Shumon Sircar, spotted the car at Mullick Bazar in Calcutta during his weekly antiques-scouting trip and purchased it for the princely sum of Rs. 1,400.

In the fall of 1968, he wrote to the Mercedes-Benz HQ in Germany requesting help with sourcing parts and any information they might have about the car, which he had acquired with a missing electric starter motor.

While the company could not source a starter motor for the car, it revealed that the Mercedes was imported to Calcutta in April 1931. Interestingly, the company knew of no Stuttgart Specials other than one owned by an Argentinian gentleman in Buenos Aires, hinting at its rarity.

Eventually, a starter motor was sourced, and the Mercedes became a regular at vintage car events in Calcutta until the late 1990s. However, it needed new tyres at this juncture, and without them, it could not be driven. Due to the unavailability of proper tyres caused by sourcing problems in the pre-internet era and mind-numbing import duties, the car disappeared from the vintage car scene and remained tucked away in the Sircar family workshop for years.

It was only in 2010 that a family friend helped source a new set of tyres. By then, the Mercedes had also undergone a much-needed complete restoration at the family workshop in Calcutta.

In 2021, the founders of the Classic Drivers Club (a vintage car club based in Calcutta), Prithvi Nath Tagore, Rupak Ghosh and Souvik Ghose Chowdhury, persuaded Indrojit’s father, the late Rahul Sircar, to enter the car in an event organised by the Automobile Association of Eastern India. The Mercedes was finally back to its former glory, to the utter joy of everyone who had seen the car driving around at the vintage car events of the past.

Unfortunately, that would be the last time the late Rahul Sircar drove the car to an event.

After his father’s passing, Indrojit brought the car to Delhi, where it currently lives under his care and attention. Luckily for enthusiasts who are part of the vintage car movement in India, the Stuttgart Special is back participating in events across the country.

Very little is known about how or why the Stuttgart Special came into being, but it was probably built as an experimental model to showcase Germany’s technological prowess at the time.

Mercedes-Benz unveiled its 8/38 HP 2-litre model in 1926 as a mid-size segment model. In 1928, the platform’s nomenclature was updated to reflect the “Stuttgart” name. Eventually, in 1929, the 2-litre was joined by a larger displacement 2.6-litre 10/50 HP 260, which shared the earlier model’s range of open and closed body styles.

What distinguished the Special from the regular model was the shorter wheelbase and the twin floorboard-mounted spare tyres on either side of the car. Another trait that stands out is that this is a rare right-hand drive car from an era when most German cars had the steering wheel on the left.

During my interaction with it at the Statesman Rally in Delhi earlier this month, I found the car to be surprisingly smooth and refined for its age. It was more than eager to overtake much more modern machinery with ease (the latter may be on account of Indrojit being behind the wheel). The straight-six engine, in unison with the non-synchromesh 3-speed transmission, propelled the Mercedes, gliding through traffic with Indrojit double-declutching through the gears, all seemingly part of an orchestra. And mind you, the engine has never been opened in the 96 years of its existence!

There are very few things in life that can surpass the joy of open-top motoring on a sunny spring day, sailing past iconic landmarks such as India Gate and the magnificent Akshardham Temple. One of my favourite things about old cars is the happiness and intrigue they bring to bystanders who are not even involved in the experience, and we got plenty of that during the rally thanks to the rare Mercedes.

Unsurprisingly, we were the first to finish the time-speed-distance rally. Sadly, there was no champagne waiting for us to celebrate this, but the car received the recognition it deserved by winning the prestigious Statesman Benz Elegance trophy.