A Mercedes-Benz can be described thusly: Safe. Seductive. Expensive. Status symbol. Then there are the people who refer to them as an “excuse.”
Not the My-Mercedes- stopped-traffic-and-made-me- late-to-work kind of excuse, but the I-want-to-meet-people- who-also-love-their-Benzes-as much-as I-do type of reasoning.
These aren’t the stereotypical CEOs blowing smoke rings from thick Cubans, comparing purchases of $180,000 AMG sedans. Or the Beverly Hills glitterati who reportedly can get quick loans on their Mercedes at area “pawn shops.”
Instead they are teachers or small-business owners or working Joes, eating barbecue together on a Saturday afternoon, talking about good used-car deals, or the best way to spruce up the tan leather on that 1964 230SL or Jerry’s new grandchild.
It’s about the car, but it’s about the camaraderie of other enthusiasts too.
Joyce Essex, born into a military family, fell in love with a neighbor’s Mercedes when she lived in Italy and promised herself she would have one.
“I didn’t have enough money until much, much later,” she says. She saw a 1981, cool blue 380SL on a car lot in 1984. It was either that or a home upgrade. She chose the convertible and worked two, sometimes three jobs to pay for her splurge, one that cost about as much as the physical education teacher’s annual salary.
Her pleasure car’s odometer shows 60,000 miles, and only the angular design lines and collector’s plate belie its age. “It’s such a prize to me. I think it’s beautiful. People see it and appreciate it, but that’s not why I have it. I have it for me.”
That same year, she joined the Mercedes-Benz Club of America, where she met “a wonderful, diverse group of people.” The members not only appreciate the quality of a Mercedes, but also are knowledgeable enough to share the techniques of cleaning the engine or changing brake fluid.
“Some people want to party. Some people go to the meetings for a husband or wife, thinking they’ll find a rich one this time,” says Essex, 55, who lives in Aurora. Not her. She loved the rallies.
Drivers use clues to travel from one point to the next, with the fastest finisher earning a prize. “I remember taking my young daughter on one where I kept having to stop to change her diaper. I lost a lot of time on that one.”
Seeing what she’ll do
The club has 85 sections, including the Mile-High chapter, Colorado’s first group, chartered in 1960. The club began as a way for Benz owners to socialize, but over the years the group has evolved to include activities that attract a variety of interests.
For instance, the club contracts with raceways to allow Mercedes owners to test the power under the hoods.
Reiner Haubold took his “playtoy,” a rare 1986 190E to a couple of tracks. He says he doesn’t know how fast the sedan, with a 16-valve engine and special aerodynamics, roared over the pavement, but he probably didn’t reach the speedometer’s 160-mph limit.
He proudly says this model set a speed record in 1983, driving an average of more than 150 mph over an eight-day trial.
“They wanted to prove the reliability of the engine,” says the 75-year-old Lakewood man. While he likes the fact that only 5,000 of the 190Es were made, he doesn’t care whether he has a collector car or not.
“It’s fun to drive. When you’re on the highway, it doesn’t make any difference if you’re driving 40 miles an hour or a hundred – the car feels solid and handles well.”
Haubold and his 36-year-old son, Niels, bought the car together. It’s been Niels’ desire to own one since he was 16.
“Only about 2,000 were imported to the U.S.,” says Niels, of Centennial. Aside from the occasional outings to the track, or a club car show, the 190E spends most of its time in the garage, under a cover. So Niels Haubold is rebuilding a bare- bones G Wagon (Gelande-
wagen), a Mercedes used as a military vehicle, for his “everyday car.”
He bought the 1979 model for $3,000 and will add a new engine and a few upgrades. He thinks the car will cost him about $8,000. Not bad for a vehicle from a company that has a reputation for product longevity.
Reiner Haubold’s 1983 300 TD, a white station wagon with blue leather seats, has been driven from Texas to Montana and from North Carolina to California on family vacations. Though it’s had more than 230,000 miles of wear and tear, it’s still his “highway” car.
Many of George Grubaugh’s customers are like Haubold: Over age 50 with a car headed toward 300,000 miles. That kind of durability isn’t unusual, says the co-owner of Perfection Motors, Inc. in Denver. “Most of my customers are car enthusiasts. They like to keep the cars (in good shape). They want them to last, and they do.”
300SL started it all
And while Mercedes-Benz cars have a reputation for expensive upkeep, Grubaugh says that isn’t always the case. “Any older luxury car will take a couple of thousand to drive every year. Mercedes isn’t out of line with that.”
Most of the time, he works on cars built in the ’80s. One customer brings in a ’59, he says, but there aren’t many that old out there.
It was the 300SL, produced in the 1950s, that put Mercedes on the map after the war, says Frank Barrett, editor of The Star, the club’s magazine, which is published in Lakewood. The sports car, probably the best-known Mercedes, is famous for its gull-wing doors that open upward.
“They were fast and reliable. And if you bought one in 1956, you were making a statement. That’s where the mystique started. Today, the Mercedes-Benz is just another car for most people. They might be sold as status symbols by the marketing department, but there’s an inherent quality there that goes beyond the superficiality.”
Barrett has been editor of the magazine since 1982. Club members receive the magazine as part of their $45 annual dues, and many join simply for the award-winning publication.
But says one club member, “after a while, the cars are the excuse, the people are the reason you’re there.”
Staff writer Cynthia J. Pasquale can be reached at 303-954-1722 or cpasquale@denverpost.com.
