Why a Classic Mercedes-Benz Is Better Than a Shiny New Model

The only way to fully value cars is to go way back to the really machine that started the total shinding: the Benz Patent Motor Vehicle. The rickety, clackety 3-wheeler was the first self-propelled auto as we know it, a tidy simple fact the Mercedes-Benz PR section won’t allow you forget about any time soon. Check with me how I know. 

Early on in my automobile composing career, I was invited by Mercedes-Benz on a so-called immersion vacation to Stuttgart that bundled a tour of the factory, a peek at their infamous top secret vault of historic cars (which housed anything from Princess Diana’s R129 convertible to a literal wall of priceless F1 racecars), and take a look at drives of everything from new-to-loss of life V12s to a assortment of classics plucked straight out of the museum. That final little bit was very important: any carmaker could flaunt mass creation, but number of experienced more than a century of lineage they could trace their fashionable cars again to. 

And then, a humorous factor transpired on the flight again to LA. I understood that I liked sampling the new things, but I cherished driving the classics. Phone me indoctrinated, but experiences like all those may possibly support explain why I’m at present entangled in no less than 3 aged college Benzes — one of which my spouse absolutely hates — and have an even for a longer time ownership heritage of the often pesky, often endearing, needy-but-gratifying old rigs. Which delivers us to a warm afternoon in the SoCal suburb of Long Seashore, where by a million square-foot facility when owned and operated by Boeing is celebrating its debut as the Mercedes-Benz Typical Centre. 

The spot is nirvana for basic motor vehicle geeks, especially when configured for display-and-tell. Search, there is Roy Orbison’s piano black 600 “Grosser” sedan! Hey, that is a 1,000 horsepower Mercedes/Ilmor Indycar! Ooh, and the Mille Miglia-dominating Gullwings and Porsche-created E500s… I could go on. But if you’re wanting for an orthodox, by-the-books restoration job for your old Benz or a new-to-you classic that’s been verified for authenticity from the supply, these fanatics have you included.

The immersion ongoing: A week afterwards, I observed myself at the rear of the wheel of a large vehicle — specifically, a 2022 Mercedes-Maybach S580 — aiming its imperious nose in the normal way of the Monterey Peninsula for Auto Week, which is generally summertime camp for prosperous auto freaks. Fairly than equipping journalists with other shiny new steeds, they flaunted some aged timers pulled from the Basic Middle like a lovely 1960s 280SL “Pagoda”, an imposing 300 SEL 6.3 sedan from the early 1970s, a Bobby Ewing-authorised 380SL, a snorty CLK63 AMG Black Series and a supercharged SL55 AMG, amongst some others. The lengthy way up the California coast is not the most immediate route to motor vehicle week, but I’d argue it is the only audio selection when you are piloting motor vehicles with the charisma and charm of these undesirable boys. 

When you’ve manufactured it to Monterey, the commonplace falls absent and practically each individual auto in sight would seem like an excellent, handmade expression of joy that makes so-referred to as typical cars and trucks look banal. Which is also in which Mercedes-Benz displays off the C111, a wedge-shaped, gullwing door-equipped standout of which only 13 remain, all of which are owned by the carmaker. The great issue about this showstopper is not just its Weibherbst paint coloration, which is German for “white autumn,” and also the exact same golden hue of a German rosé wine. It’s how the model’s tremendous slippery aerodynamics and gas sipping engines broke various speed and performance documents sexier dwelling by way of engineering. Including to the mystique was a static exhibit of the C111, which is approximated to be worthy of in the community of $40 million apiece, which is maybe not-so-coincidentally the same worth of a big-scale Andy Warhol print exhibited close by that is made up of multicolored repeating images of the vehicle.

Circling back again to greenback amounts is a amusing way to drive residence the stage about classics, but Marcus Breitschwerdt, head of Mercedes-Benz Heritage, makes a telling observation: “There are so numerous new autos that are all over $200,000, but there are far a lot more classics which are value a million and a half to five million.” Then, tipping a hat to the value of severe shortage and how it influences the incredibly tippy leading of the marketplace, he provides, “The title I’m most happy of is that lately, thanks to the brand name, I have the bragging legal rights to get in touch with myself the most effective utilized car or truck salesman in the entire world by obtaining bought the [300 SLR] Uhlenhaut Coupe,” referring to the not long ago topped world’s most expensive coupe which traded palms for $143 million. Nostalgia can be heat and fuzzy and downright intoxicating. But it is also a person hell of a economic drug.