The first car in the Southern Hemisphere

As early as 1896, in what is believed to have been the first car in the Southern
Hemisphere, Mr John Percy Hess of Pretoria made the decision to import
a Benz "Velo" from Benz & Co of Mannheim Germany to South Africa. During
the same year this car was shipped to Port Elizabeth and then transported to
Pretoria. It was the start of a business relationship which lead to Mr Hess
becoming the sole agent for Benz & Co in South Africa.

On Monday, January 4th at 4pm.1897 at Berea Park in Pretoria, in a widely
advertised event, Mr John Percy Hess first drove the car with a Mr A.E. Reno
(his business Partner and co-founder of the Pretoria News), and a Dr W.J. Leyds,
then State Secretary of the Transvaal, as passengers. President Paul Kruger
was also invited to ride on the car, but he preferred to just watch the event.

In honour of President Paul Kruger attendance a "vierkleur" flag was attached
to a pole on the carriage and a gold medal was minted to commemorate this
occasion. A large number of spectators who came to see this spectacle had to
pay an entrance fee of 2 shillings and 6 pennies.

The following week, the Benz was shown at the Wanderers in Johannesburg
and then sold to Mr A.H. Jacobs, a coffee importer. Every customer who
purchased 500g of coffee from his shop in Pritchard Street was allowed to see
his car. Unfortunately, some months later, this car was destroyed in a fire.

Info from http://www.dyna.co.za/cars.htm

1934 150 Sport Roadster Mercedes Benz, one of 5 made, only one left just restored last year by the Irvine Merc. Benz Classic Center

Click on the above for the story of the finding of, and acquistion of this rare Benz, and final restoration by the Mercedes Benz Classic Center in Irvine - not the Stuttgart Mercedes Benz Center! Huh!

2011 Mercedes Benz SLS AMG Collision

2011 Mercedes Benz SLS AMG

From our buddies at WreckedExotics.com comes this photo of a 1-day old, $200K+ Mercedes Benz SLS AMG gullwing in Bosnia. The owner picked-up his car the previous day and was taking it on a high-speed excursion. A tour bus got in the way and the SLS crashed into a Volkswagen.

Elegant street rods

camera flash really can fill in an engine bay well, especially when all that chrome bounces the light all over

That's really pretty in the zoom close up

I came across this 190 SL on the freeway, and knew it was a show car from seeing it at SEMA http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/i-spotted-1961-mercedes-190sl-mercedes.html

24 Hours of Dubai 2011

24H Dubai is First Outing for Mercedes Benz SLS AMG Gullwings
Photo by DubaiPhil

Dunlop 24H Dubai GT Endurance Race

LeMans isn't the only 24 hour endurance race out there; 2011 Dunlop 24 Dubai features the great GT cars we love like Aston Martin, Ferrari, Ford, Lamborghini, Lotus, Maserati, Porsche. Mercedes Benz brought their new, gullwing door SLS AMG to the party for their first big race and to their credit, all finished.

Thanks to The Smoking Tire & Tom Morningstar for the video footage of the race.

Burj Dubai, World's Tallest Building

See more great photos of the race by DubaiPhil here: CameraLabs.com

Get a little crazy as long as you don't wreck

from http://carmonday.tumblr.com/

Built Like a Tank but Shouldn't Look Like One

Today's Mercedes is one of the huge old built-like-a-tank S-Class models with a diesel engine that will run forever. The camouflage paint scheme is purely by accident. The interior was in great shape and the engine was strong and ran like new. But this was a car seriously in need of a paint job. Maaco sanded off all the old, failed paint and got the surface smooth then we applied a new coat of primer/sealer before repainting the car.

Before:

After:

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After:

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After:

just passing time on the curbside in Argentina and Uruguay, from aptly named Fossils Mechanical, by Gabriel and his friends

Notice this cab is chained to the tree

and this is cabled to something out of the shot

the above and the below pair are Mercedes

Above 1938 Ford
The above 2cv Citreon has a unique story, there is a special compartment under the seat where it's owners ashes were put, as his dying wish was to be a part of the car, and the city, until it may be towed away. (Doesn't look like towing is a big priority)

1934 Ford

Above, 1960 panhard that was pulled out of storage
If you enjoy the wonder of what is just over the next hill, around the next bend, and on the next block that is waiting for someone to notice and fix up, you'll enjoy http://fosilesmecanicos.blogspot.com/