Classic Mercedes Benz epitomizes old world opulence, quality and sophistication much like the vintage watches I love, collect and sell for a living.

I believe just like Rolex as a brand in watches MBenz represents luxury- reliability and history combined with being expensive but somewhat still accessible to the middle classes and, in my opinion, this is the magic ingredient that keeps the dream going to this day.

 

Growing up in Milano my earliest memories of cars are of my father driving a BMW sedan 3 series in metallic green (about 1984), my mom coupe BMW black 3 series (1985), my dad’s upgrade to an egg cream color BMW 5 series (circa 1986) that turned to be a lemon (yes I remember it).. then my parents got divorced and my dad kept on driving my moms black 2 door BMW and few years later got himself a green VW Corrado (circa 1991). Then we had a Lancia Thema, a preowned gangster Alfa 164 and that’s the old century stable of the Gohari family that was.

My father always said Mercedes Benz “lasts till over a million kilometers and they are indestructible” but “they are too show offy and we don’t want to show off… Granpda always said Merzedes isn’t for us”.

 

I especially remember the “lasts forever” part and now that I am a big boy and unfortunately my Father is gone I reminisce him and those missed opportunities to change things around and maybe: “Merzedes is for us after all because we are worth it “ !!

The indestructible lesson also rings true everyday as most of the classic cars I see around me are indeed Mercedes Benz from the 1970s to the early 2000s… they are built to outlive us all.

I also decided to celebrate those forever words by my Father by acquiring myself a Mercedes 560 SEC from 1987.  More details about that in another blog post.

 

As I was learning more and more about the brand, the design language and its history I came to discover the great Bruno Sacco that designed all the best Mercedes of the 70-2000 golden era.
Bruno Sacco is to cars what Gerald Genta is to watches. Same era, same innovative and timeless designs and lines. Similar standing in the pantheon of 70s 80s and 90s rich and successful themes of mens obsessions and aspirations.

Just like watches I am not so fascinated by the mechanics or the technical aspects of the cars but more by the aesthetics and the feeling they give. I am not the guy to obsess wether its a 5 liter engine or smaller or wether it’s a W126 or W124 model, stick or manual.. I don’t care.. to me it’s about the look.

I love those gorgeous straight lines and those beautiful rears (not to say ass) on the Sacco designed automobiles. The headlights, the grills, the presence. You can see them coming miles away. You can hear them calling their dominion on the road. You can feel their aura when they drive by. You can smell that strong exhaust recalling the image of a powerful man behind a even more potent vehicle.

 

Suited and slick or hairy arm sticking out with gold chain in view, Mercedes captivates so many men demographics and their dreams it is impossible to repeat such a legend on the roads.