Mercedes Benz Day!
October is here and only few more Lawn Events at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Boston remain. So far, you have seen British Car Day, German Car Day, Miata Day, Italian Car Day, and now Mercedes Benz Day. I was raised under the belief the Mercedes Benz is the oldest car company in the world and they make the best cars, which in the 1970′s and 1980′s was probably true, so seeing all these cars in mint condition gave me that warm fuzzy feeling.
The star of the show was definitely the McLaren SLR Roadster. I’ve never been a fan of the SLR and have only seen a few on the street but this was the first opportunity I had to look at one up close. First off, the car is much bigger than it seems in pictures, bigger than the regular SL in every dimension, and it has a very intimidating presence. The interior is very elegant yet simple, the seats appear comfortable and overall it had an amazing attention to detail and a sense of opulence about it, as it should.
There was an SL representing just about every year of production, with the except of maybe the newest ones. I hoping someone would have brought the new Black Series, but sadly that didn’t happen. I must say, the whole SL thing must be an age thing as I am find them, and GT cars overall, more and more appealing. The idea of packing an overnight bag and escaping reality for a few days in comfort, style, and at speed sounds great; perhaps a night drive from Paris to Monte Carlo? Top down, good music on, hot cup of coffee? Yes please.
W123s and W124s, are the E-class in the 80′s and 90′s. The more iconic of the two, the W123, can still be found all over the world running strong, beloved by their current owners. If you have seen the TopGear Botswana Special, than you have seen Capt. Slow drive the W123 across Africa and still be able to find replacement parts for it. Present on the show was also the rare 500E, which featured the five-liter engine out of the SL and had Porsche-tuned suspension; it was the AMG E63 of the time. And then there was the M3-fighting E190 2.3-16.
The show was noticeably missing G-class Benz’s, one of my all-time favorites. Enjoy the rest of the pictures.
