I’m going to forged my loyalties apart and admit it: Mercedes-Benz has been making a few of Germany’s finest automobiles for over a century.
Not simply Germany however the entire world, for that matter. I don’t suppose that’s up for debate both, irrespective of what number of cubic inches you want beneath the hood or what number of waifu pillows you’ve got in your mattress.
It’s an opinion I’ve maintained for years, nevertheless it was actually cemented throughout my go to to the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany final November.
In any case, no different producer can declare to be the one who invented the motor automotive, can they?
It’s unimaginable simply what number of legendary and as-new Mercedes-Benz icons are gathered beneath one roof, from the earliest examples of pick-up vehicles to a trio of SLs and even a Sauber C9 as a part of the motorsport show. The vary of autos produced by Mercedes-Benz is solely astounding.
Talking of motorsport, seeing the change of Germany’s nationwide racing color from white to silver earlier than my very eyes was a reminder of how a lot affect Mercedes-Benz has all the time had on the automotive world. ‘White Arrows’ does sound form of cool, however the ‘Silver Arrows’ has rather more of a hoop to it.
The place else might you see a 6.9-litre V8 SEL parked subsequent to an Argentine bus? Or how a couple of Mercedes-Benz Actros automotive transporter carrying an SEC, SE and 220 wagon on its again?
Mercedes-Benz has an incredible fame for each luxurious and reliability the world-over.
Who’d have thought that Idi Amin and Carmela Soprano have been each keen on the three-pointed star, eh?
And that’s earlier than we even issue within the engineering powerhouse that’s AMG. The foresight Mercedes-Benz needed to buy the well-known tuner was unimaginable, and it led to AMG making a bonafide efficiency automotive vary in home at Mercedes-Benz, resulting in F1 domination.
How about Maybach? Being circled from an all-but-forgotten model into a real Rolls-Royce rival… then failing, admittedly, however as soon as once more being reborn as a vastly profitable sub-brand beneath Mercedes-Maybach.
BMW buying Alpina involves thoughts, however I can’t assist suppose the Büchloe model will merely turn out to be a trim stage within the close to future…
The highlights of my go to to the Mercedes-Benz Museum have been the pre-war automobiles, particularly the sporting fashions. I’ve seen the ridiculous quantities they’ve bought for at public sale through the years, and their successes at occasions like the distinguished Pebble Seashore Concours d’Class, nevertheless it by no means made that a lot sense to me.
Manufacturers akin to Bugatti, Delahaye, Duesenberg and Hispano-Suiza have an unimaginable attract on account of their fame on the higher echelon of the automotive trade in its youth. Mercedes-Benz, nevertheless, make vans and vehicles and compact automobiles – however I used to be completely bewitched as soon as I noticed their early fashions in particular person.
Big and imposing, with beautiful curves from each angle and unimaginable particulars each inside and outside. Standing subsequent to them, I felt like a Hollywood star – or maybe a Bond villain.
There’s an indescribable sense of high quality that radiates from previous Mercedes-Benz fashions. It’s virtually as if each automotive within the museum was chiselled from granite or tungsten.
Let me put it to you this manner. I used to be lucky sufficient to be given a 560 SEC to make use of for a few months, and the expertise has stayed with me. The steering was heavy, the doorways even heavier, and the view over the bonnet was presidential. What I liked essentially the most nevertheless have been the air vents.
There’s no flimsy little knob to regulate them; as an alternative you progress the complete steel vent meeting up and all the way down to direct air circulate, and the plastic vanes have their very own devoted slide meeting.
If an air-vent can be so over-engineered, simply take into consideration how sturdy the automobiles was beneath the pores and skin, eh?
Mario Christou
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