Berlin - A rare vintage car, dating back to the early days of the automobile, has been discovered in eastern Europe and has returned to Berlin where it was built almost a century ago. The G2, which is being offered for sale by Car Classics Berlin, was built in 1913 by PROTOS, a subsidiary of Siemens, and is probably only one of three such cars still around.

"The history of this car is simply amazing. It survived two world wars and has since hardly been driven," says automobile historian Burkhard Steins from Car Classics Berlin.

The G2 with the chassis number 3345 and the 21 horsepower engine with the number 2866 left Germany as an officer's car in World War 1. At the end of the war, it was left in the Polish city of Cracow, apparently because it ran out of petrol. It was owned by a Polish businessman, hidden during the German occupation of Poland in 1939, and resurfaced after the war.

But because the communist authorities banned the use of private cars, the rear was converted into a fire engine. It was later returned to the Polish businessman's heir and spent the last decades in a shed in southern Poland. It was found and bought by a collector who now wishes to sell the car.

"The car is a rarity and a collectors' item that cannot really be priced," says Steins. "According to our knowledge, there are only two similar cars still around - a car that won a race around the world in 1908 and the luxury car of a former Brazilian foreign minister, both of which are in museums." (dpa)