Zone Out And Watch A Classic Mercedes Get Restored In Stop-Motion

Screenshot: Soup Classic Motoring via YouTube

For most of us at Jalopnik — and I suspect most of you who visit the site — watching an old car be restored is a wonderful, calming thing. Watching somebody wind back the clock, reverse the ravages of time and end up with something that they’re proud of, even if it isn’t perfect. Now, picture all of that in your mind and imagine it in stop-motion.

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This is where we meet YouTuber, filmmaker, softly-spoken Irishman and seemingly pretty sentimental guy, George Karellas of Soup Classic Motoring. He’s done several projects on his channel – the one that hooked me a few years ago was an hour-and-a-half-long stop-motion restoration of a Range Rover Classic – but it’s maybe this latest project that’s closest to his heart. It’s the restoration of a family heirloom Mercedes Benz W123 230E named Schroeder.

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This video is also nearly an hour and a half long and features minimal voiceover (and the voiceover that is there is almost anti-YouTube). It’s got really lovely, relaxing music and frankly, it’s a spectacular way to while away an afternoon when you should be working. Not that I’d know or anything.

Among the other projects that George is currently working on are a Sprinter camper van conversion and a ground-up Lotus Esprit restoration, both of which are filled with emotional highs and lows, lots of learning on George’s part and realistic expectations of budget and time constraints. They’re great.