A Night at the Museum.(Column)

Byline: Kevin A. Wilson

The night before the unveiling of the 2008 Mercedes-Benz C-Class in Stuttgart (page 17), we stopped by the Classic Center near Fellbach for a visit to the "holy halls,'' those buildings where the company stores many of its most precious treasures. I expected to be delighted. Museums have been among my favorite places on earth since I was old enough to say "car,'' and access to the backstage areas, such as the basement of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, only deepens my fascination. I've not yet seen the new M-B Museum (An Elegant Home, Indeed, AW, June 5, 2006)-our itinerary didn't allow for it-but there are actually more cars in storage than that massive 100-car exhibit space allows.

What I didn't expect was to recognize so many "historic'' Mercedes machines as ones I'd driven myself for this magazine or watched in races. Stay on the sunny side of the sod long enough, and this is going to happen-you walk into a room full of relics and find old friends waiting for you to join them.

Because it was a C-Class event, the 25-year heritage of the "baby Benz'' was front and center. So there sat a 190E 2.3-16, a car that convinced callow Kevin in '86 that driving a Mercedes-Benz wasn't just for old fogies. And a C36, like the one Leon ...