Thanks to everyone that already registered for the CVA Holiday Gala! We have a great group of members and non-members joining us. And, if you’re a new member the holiday party is a great opportunity for you to meet fellow Mercedes-Benz enthusiasts, while enjoying Rockett’s Landing.  Register online here – last chance, the event is this coming weekend!

When: January 16, 2009 – Dinner Saturday evening (6PM)

Location: The Boathouse at Rocketts Landing
4708 East Old Main Street, Richmond VA 23231 – Phone: 804-622-2628

The Boathouse at Rocketts Landing promises a truly one-of-a-kind, waterside dining experience never before available in Richmond. We’ll be enjoying the Harbor Master Room on the second floor overlooking the James River.

Register online here – last chance!

Mercedes-Benz News: Detroit – 2010 North American International Auto Show

Positive signals underline the Mercedes-Benz presence at the 2010 North American International Auto Show. The highlight of the opening day was the debut of the new E-Class Cabriolet, which is celebrating its world premiere in Detroit. The four-seater, year-round cabriolet completes the successful E-Class family and presents a world first in the shape of the AIRCAP® wind deflector, which considerably reduces air turbulence when the top is down. One further “eye-catcher” on the Mercedes stand is an automobile sculpture that uses a stunning approach to communicate the notion of the car as a new art form, and offers a glimpse of the future Mercedes design language. The stars of Detroit also include the new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, as well as the ML 450 HYBRID and the globally successful S400 HYBRID, which set benchmarks for efficiency in their segments and demonstrate the brand’s expertise in hybrid technology.

“The new E-Class Cabriolet offers unique driving pleasure for four people and I am certain that it will further strengthen our successful E-Class family, plus deliver even more emotional momentum to the brand,” said Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars at the Mercedes-Benz press conference. “It is our stated objective to continue to expand the leading position held by Mercedes-Benz in the luxury segment – with new, stunning models and intelligent solutions for sustainable mobility that we have in the pipeline and will bring to market in quick succession.”

The success of this course is confirmed through positive sales development worldwide – in the last quarter of 2009, Mercedes-Benz was the fastest growing premium brand in the world and also the strongest German premium brand in the U.S. In December, Mercedes-Benz reported an increase of 8.2 percent compared with the same month the previous year, with sales of 20,000 vehicles making it the best monthly performance of 2009.

The new E-Class Cabriolet: “Four seasons, four people”
The new Cabriolet sees Mercedes-Benz complete the E-Class family. Thanks to its classic soft top, the convertible four-seater delivers that unadulterated cabriolet feeling. True to the motto “four seasons, four people”, it combines comfort, elegance and year-round usability. This is helped along by features such as the AIRCAP® automatic wind deflector that can be deployed at the touch of a button to significantly reduce turbulence in the vehicle’s interior. It also dispenses with the assembly required for conventional wind deflectors and leaves the side profile of the Cabriolet undisturbed. Equipment on board also includes the next generation of the AIRSCARF® neck-level heating system integrated into the back rests of the front seats. It blows warm air from adjustable air vents in the head restraints and warms the neck area of the driver and front seat passenger like an invisible scarf.

The production standard sound-dampening soft top comes with extremely high-quality insulation to deliver comfortable travel with the top up. Thus, the closed E-Class Cabriolet offers one of the quietest interiors in the segment of four-seater premium soft-top cabriolets. The top can be open or closed at the touch of a button in only 20 seconds – even while driving at speeds of up to 25 mph (40 km/h).

In this issue…

• Holiday Gala – January 16, 2010
• In Memorium – Joe Wozney
• Central VA Photo Gallery

We look forward to seeing you at our next event, which is the January 16, Holiday Gala.

Questions? Please contact us at your convenience.

Best Regards,
Greg Magnus
Newsletter Editor
MBCA Central Virginia Section
Regional Director, Eastern Region

(Register online – see form below)

Attention all Mercedes-Benz enthusiasts and CVA Section Members: The final plans for the Central Virginia Section Holiday Gala are now confirmed (yes, finally). And, we have a new venue!

When: January 16, 2009
Dinner Saturday evening (6PM)

Location: The Boathouse at Rocketts Landing
4708 East Old Main Street
Richmond VA 23231
Phone: 804-622-2628

The Boathouse at Rocketts Landing promises a truly one-of-a-kind, waterside dining experience never before available in Richmond. We’ll be enjoying the Harbor Master Room on the second floor overlooking the James River.

Registration Fee:

• $20 per member
• $25 for non-members (guests)

The registration fee includes dinner, which will include chicken and salmon served with salad & dessert, chef’s choice potato and vegetable as well as non-alcoholic beverages; cash bar for those interested. Advanced registration is required so read on …

The CVA section has reserved a private room, which is being paid for by the section making this an affordable event for all! The registration fee is for dinner.

DIRECTIONS
(Visit the restaurant’s website for more info: The Boathouse at Rocketts Landing)

I-95 exit 74B, Franklin Street. Continue on S. 15th Street until it ends. Turn left on Dock Street. Proceed on Dock Street 1.4 miles and turn right on Main Street. Take 1st Right onto Old E. Main Street. Boathouse Restaurant is the 1st building on the Right. Parking lot is straight ahead, past Restaurant Building.

REGISTRATION

Please complete the following form. Subsequently, you will receive an electronic email invoice for processing your registration payment.

We hope you can join us; we’ll definitely have fun and you’ll likely meet a few new friends as well. If you have any questions, please call Richard at 540-846-2856:

December 4, 2009 – It is with great sorrow that we announce the sudden passing of Joe Wozney, long time MBCA Greater Washington Section member, immediate past president, past treasurer, and driving events chair. Joe also served as the president of the MBCA Educational Foundation. Joe will be sorely missed.

Please join us in offering our condolences to Joe’s wife Bobbi. Visiting hours are on Tuesday, Dec. 8, from 6 to 8 pm at the Murphy Funeral Home, 1102 West Broad Street in Falls Church. There will be a brief visiting period from 10 to 10:45 am on Wednesday, December 9th at St. Saint Thomas Beckett Church, 1421 Wiehle Ave in Reston, VA, followed by a funeral mass at 11 am. After the funeral mass, we will return to a multi-purpose room at the church for light refreshments.

Friends and acquaintances are invited to visit a Facebook memorial wall dedicated to Joe Wozney.

Mary Alice Cozza, Rodger VanNess and Jim Luikens were elected as MBCA Directors at Large!  Congratulations from the Central Virginia Section.

Official Press Release from the Elections Committee headed by Chuck Landenberger

Election Results – MBCA Board of Directors

Colorado Springs, CO

Election ballots for the Board of Directors of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America that were submitted by the October 15 deadline have been counted. The results of the election are as follows:

Directors at Large

• Mary Alice Cozza (new to the Board)
• Rodger Van Ness (reelected)
• Jim Luikens (new to the Board)

Regional Directors

• Doug Dees – Northeast Region (reelected)
• Cliff Reyle – Central Region (new to the Board)
• Bill Denton – Midwest Region (reelected)
• Julie Nelson – Rocky Mtn Region (new to the Board)
• Jack Weir – Western Region (reelected)
• Stacy Rollins – Northwest Region (reelected)

The new board members will be installed and take office at the fall MBCA board meeting in St. Louis on November 7.

Congratulations and welcome to the new board members and an appreciative welcome-back to those board members who have been re-elected to their positions.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote in this election.

Chuck Landenberger
MBCA Director at Large
2009 Election Committee Chair

We had been planning this trip to Germany for over a year.  Bob worked many more tennis events this year in order to save for the trip, (he is a USTA tennis official, as well as a tennis instructor, and a head tennis coach at a high school in Williamsburg).  Germany is no stranger to us.  We lived in Heidelberg in the 80s for 3 years when Bob worked as a department head for the Engineer Commander, USAEUR Hq.  While living there, we fell in love with the wonderful lifestyle Germans lead and the fine automobiles they produce.  Our first Daimler-Benz was bought at the Mannheim dealer; it was a 1985 R107 280SL.  The sales person that sold this car to us became our close friend and has been our friend ever since.  We exchange Christmas presents and from time to time his family comes to visit us and we go to visit them.  Well, they recently built a new house, so we had an excuse to visit the Kuhn’s again.

The evening flight on Lufthansa left Washington Dulles on September 15, and landed in Frankfurt on the morning of the 16th.  We planned this time of the year because it is wine harvesting time in Germany.  Many winefest take place at this time all over the country.  Oktoberfest, as so many Americans know, is also at this time, but its celebration is for beer making, and not for wine lovers.  For us wine people, there are hundreds of little known winefest taking place all over Germany.  So our plan was to partake in the many winefests as possible.  As Gale put it, “to drink and eat our way through Germany”.  Mind you we also had on our plan to visit the new Mercedes-Benz Museum and to tour the Daimler-Benz Classic Center, where I hoped to do historical research for my Euro spec 1970 280SL, and maybe even find a part or two not available here in the states.

The flight to Germany was a pleasant one. You see Lufthansa serves free wine on their flights.  So by the time Gale and I arrived in Frankfurt, we were well on our way to a mild blitz.  It was a good thing we were in a mild blitz, because after clearing German customs and meeting our longtime friends we were off on a short drive to the town of Bad Durkheim where we would be staying for the next two weeks, it hit us “Euro Shock”.  You see the Dollar to Euro was $1.44 to 1 Euro.  This wiped out 30% of our spending power.  Big shock when you pay $4.30 for a glass of wine.

Bad Durkheim is in the Pfalz area of Germany and is in the wine capital of Germany.  As we got closer to the town, as far as the eye could see were vineyards, and ah, the smell of those millions of grapes ready for harvest.

So, on our first day after our rest from the flight over, we took off to the new Mercedes-Benz Museum in Cannstatt (a suburb of Stuttgart).  Oh, how I love the autobahn.  We were in Erich’s brand new black Mercedes C200 Kompresser, 6 speed manual, with cloth seats, doing 200 km (125mph) down to Stuttgart.  You see the German spec cars are set up totally different then the US exports.  Gear ratios are different and horsepower is higher.  Anyway my friend Erich, still did not open up all the way his C class.  By the way his wife Marion, and daughter Steff, both drive new Smart cars.  One a hardtop and mom’s, a convertible.

Well, we made it to the museum in one piece, and wow what a building. It was simply a work of art.  We were there 20 years ago and it was a small museum, very plane looking, now this beautiful building.  You enter the building on the ground floor, pay for your ticket, which includes earphone tour, and proceed to the elevators up.  Inside the building is somewhat like a cross between the Guggenheim in New York City and the Hyatt Hotel in Savannah; it is open to the roof, ten floors or more, with the elevators looking like large glass bubbles.  Once you come out of the elevators your tour starts with the first original Benz motorcar, the 1886 Motorwagen.  From there you start to spiral down and around thru each exhibit chronologically from old timers to the modern day products, and then on to DB’s racing heritage.

There is so much automotive history in this museum I cannot list all of the cars on display.  There were many of the old timers, including the first “Mercedes” named car.  Do you know the history of the name Mercedes, (another story)? There was also the oldest Daimler-Benz, un-restored in existence on display.  Of course many racing cars from the silver arrow days to last years F-I McLaren MP4/23 that Lewis Hamilton drove to his World Championship last year.  See the current issue of THE STAR for the story of this cars’ placement in the museum.  One car was missing from the grid, that was the 722 car of Sir Sterling Moss, a 300SLR.  There was a sign in its place that the car was on loan to Goodwood Raceway, England for the 80th birthday bash for Moss.  (Another story, see current issue CLASSIC & SPORTS CARS).  In this car Moss, and Denis Jenkinson his navigator, won the Mille Miglia on May 1, 1955, (another story).   My favorite displays were the 300Sls; there were four of them, gullwings and cabriolets.  These are beautiful cars to see.  There was even a W113 230SL on display near them, but it not so restored.  I think my 280SL would have made for a better display, (yet another story again).

There were buses, trucks, fire engines, and taxis, you name a Mercedes and they have it on display, even some of the first AMG cars.  It was a day that will stay with Gale and I for years to come.

After our tour of this great museum, we then traveled to the DB Classic Center to meet Herr Torsten Gruninger, a Daimler-Benz Brand Communications person.  I wanted to learn more history of my European SL and he was the man that could help me.  He was to help me find some history of my SL.  This center is not far away from the Headquarters of Daimler-Benz in the town of Fellbach.  This is the shop you can send your Mercedes to have restoration done, or you can just walk in to get hard to find classic parts.  They are many classic cars on display in their large showroom area, all of which they have re-stored, and are for sale, Also there is a large garage area (twenty or so bays) working on restorations behind closed doors, that was off limits to us, and they also have a large parts store.  For sale there was a 300SL Gullwing for 500,000 Euros, several 190Sls from 250,000 Euros, two R107s for 45,000 Euros, (they now call these the new classics), 300SELs, a 200SE cabriolet, and a MB 600 Pullman limo for 1.5 million Euros.  All of these looked like the day they came out of the factory and yes, they do sell these cars, there is a waiting list of buyers.  Note, this is the shop that re-stores all of the museum cars too.  You might have read in the STAR some of the stories of the re-stored cars that they have done.  The most recent restoration was the 1912 RE 9143 Benz, the 200hp Blitzen Benz, which is now also on display at the museum.  Anyway, I did find out some information about my SL.  I got the name, and phone number of the third owner of my car (first two owners have since passed away).  Side note, I did contact him and had a conversation about the SL.  To this day he still thinks that it was the most beautiful car he had ever owned.  In fact he met his wife while she was looking at his car, and they even honeymooned in this car, (another story).

The rest of our holiday, for the most part, we put cars on the back burner and used the remainder of our days visiting towns that were located in the old East Germany, or we headed to a winefest, or a Medevilfest, or just shopping along the Hobastrass, touring castles, or hiking and biking, and yes, even picking grapes for the harvest.  Side note, most of the grape harvesting is done by machine, but there are a few wine producers that still use labor to harvest.

Our two weeks went too fast, but we were ready to get back home, and to the SL.  Think we will take it for a drive.  We look forward to our next visit back to Germany, wish it could be a permanent one.

• 2010 GLK350 4matic ($38,995 cash equivalent)
• German Tours  trip for two ($5,000 cash equivalent)
• Gift cards equivalent to $2,000 of gasoline
• His & hers watches ( $310 value), and
• $250 gift certificates to the MBCA club store.

For tickets, terms, rules and additional raffle details please visit: www.mbca.org .  Hurry, the entry deadline is  November 27, 2009 and the drawing will be held on December 9, 2009 – just in time for that holiday gift you really want!

Officers

President – Therese Dodge
Vice Pres. – Robyn Tyer
Treasurer – Richard Schwartz
Secretary – Lee Ann Waldbauer

Board Members – Directors

• Gary Tyer – Director & Chairman of the Restoration Committee
• Shirley Dodge – Membership Chairperson
• Greg Magnus – Newsletter and Website Editor
• Justin Sarafin – Past President
• Director – (open)
• Events Committee Chairperson – (open)
• Historical Director – (open)

The next board meeting is coming up within the next few weeks (details TBD); all members are invited. Please contact us if you would like to join us.

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