Stuttgart. However, sometimes an electric guitar and a Hammond organ are also just what it takes – like in the new edition of Mercedes-Benz Classic Magazine. Its cover story, entitled “A tank full of blues”, centres around rock ’n’ roll legends Robby Krieger and Brian Auger driving around Los Angeles in a 1969 Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3. A dedicated piece of music, the “Mercedes Classic Blues”, was even developed during the research for this intense article. The magazine’s readers and all aficionados of the brand bearing the star can download it for € 2.99 at www.shop.looping.studio – plus an emotional making-of video. For Krieger, guitarist of “The Doors”, the musical, automotive tour along rows of palm trees reveals some of his own history: the rock star once owned a 300 SEL 6.3.
The A and M of AMG
The story about the “genius duo”, the two men who paved the way for the brand’s performance and motorsport history, is not set in California, but in Swabia: geographically, this road trip may only cover the short distance from Affalterbach to Burgstall, yet, the meeting of AMG founders Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher involves their company’s archive records and automotive milestones, building a long bridge into history. Amongst others also in the mix: a Mercedes-Benz 124 model series AMG 300 5.6 “The Hammer”.
Tracing the aerodynamics of the Silver Arrow
Teddy Woll, head of the Aerodynamics and Wind Tunnels department at Mercedes-Benz, immerses himself in the brand’s racing history at the beginning of the 1930s. In the story entitled “A question of lines”, he looks into the pioneering body shape of the Mercedes-Benz SSKL streamlined racing car, which won the 1932 International Avus race in Berlin: developed by aerodynamics pioneer Reinhard Freiherr von Koenig-Fachsenfeld, built by Vetter in Cannstatt, driven to its sensational success by Manfred von Brauchitsch. In 2019, Mercedes-Benz Classic experts recreated the body of the unique racing car which a radio reporter called a “silver arrow” 88 years ago. A name was born.
Advanced Unimog culture, photographic details, choice of roadsters
The new issue of Mercedes-Benz Classic Magazine inspires with numerous other stories in connection with the brand bearing the star. These include:
- A visit to a heartland where Unimog and MBtrac are put to good agricultural use
- Photographic, detailed studies of Mercedes-Benz classics, taken by Igor Panitz in a Dutch collection
- Italian choice: Driving around Lake Maggiore in W 113 and R 107 model series SL Roadsters
Mercedes-Benz Classic Magazine Issue 2/2020 will be available in English and German from 27 November 2020. Subscribe to the hard copy or online at https://www.mercedes-benz.com/de/classic/classic-magazin-bestellen/. This magazine – centring around classics, the brand’s history and the culture of automotive Mercedes-Benz classics – has been in print since 2002. The magazine is designed on behalf of the company and produced by the Looping Group. Issue 61 is the current edition.
