Bring the Tissues: The Story of Mercedes-Benz Restorer Rudi Koniczek Is Gorgeous
You ever start to tear up just because something is so beautiful? This is that kind of video. It’s the story of Mercedes-Benz specialist/legend/icon Rudi Koniczek, a man who holds the same kind of philosophies that draw us to cars in the first place.
“When you look at a car, people see an object,” he says in the video below. “I see something different. I see a storyline, I see romance, intrigue, adventure, history.”
Koniczek came over from Germany in the ’50s and landed in Toronto. His entire journey started because he worked at a hobby shop and got into model cars and slot-car racing. His favorites were Mercedes-Benz SLs, and he had the wonderful opportunity to show the president of Mercedes-Benz Canada his collection. Upon that meeting, Koniczek was given a factory apprenticeship, and his Mercedes story officially began.
But Koniczek’s path took an extremely strange turn when one of his masters told him to get out of the corporate world. Why? Because he believed Koniczek was a natural and was destined for bigger, greater things. And he was absolutely correct. What started out with putting cold-calling cards on random Mercedes-Benz windshields has turned into 50 years of automotive arts and crafts. Rudi and Company is now one of the premier Mercedes-Benz restorers in all of Canada, and the world.
One thing Koniczek say in the video wraps it up perfectly: “We are restorers of souls.”
When you watch him talk, you can instantly tell that his entire being is devoted to this craft. This is his passion, and he is appreciative and loving of the cars and what he does, all these years later. That’s the touching part. Add to that the fact that he’s brought in a group of kids and most of them have stuck with him for more than a decade, and you see an automotive family dedicated to some of the most beautiful cars in the entire world.
Salute, Rudi. You’re a king in our eyes.