Coppus Mercedes-Benz will be our sponsor for our regional Mercedes-Benz Fun Day to be held on Sunday May 16th at Sandusky High School. In addition to the traditional defensive driving school and autocross, event chair Fred Gesell has added a “fun” car show for members to have a chance to display and show their cars in a very relaxed setting. Do you want to become a safer highway driver? Or explore the limits of your car in a low-speed controlled environment? Or just want to enjoy your car and meet and talk with other Mercedes-Benz enthusiasts? If any of the above apply to you, you won’t want to miss this event!

Complete details and registration information will be available soon.

Join us at the I-X Center in Berea on opening night, Feb. 27^th, for our annual Cleveland Auto Show Dinner presented by Mercedes-Benz of North Olmsted. This is a great opportunity to see the latest from Mercedes-Benz including the AMG SLS Gullwing and the SL65 Black Series!. In addition, the Cleveland Auto Show is the fifth-largest show in North America so you also can see the latest concepts from all the manufacturers.  For old-car lovers, the Classic Car Show is back again this year.

  Enter the Auto Show any time on Saturday, February 27^th Members and guests are welcome!  We’ll meet at the Mercedes-Benz display at 6:30 p.m., and walk to a private room where we’ll feast on a hot dinner, with your choice of Lasagna or Lemon Chicken. 

 Those who wish to have a self-guided group tour of highlights of the show, meet at the Mercedes-Benz exhibit at 5:00.  

 Back by popular demand will be MBUSA marketing specialist Robert Daschil who will fill us in on current state of Mercedes-Benz–sales, new & future products, the new “green” hybrid technology.  You won’t want to miss this.  MBUSA experts always put on a great presentation and usually have a few surprises for us.  Continue reading »

The Western Reserve Section lost a valued member when Al Calandra passed away recently. Al and his wife Lea became section members in September 1961 when they were the proud owners of a 219 sedan. Both Al and Lea were very active in the early years of our section, serving as officers and board members, helping to organize section activities, growing membership,  and bringing fun and entertainment to our events. Several members who knew Al and Lea well have offered remembrances.

Ted Gottfried writes:

In November 1983-more than 26 years ago- I moved to Hudson from Wiesloch, Germany. Because I had a 1966 230SL, I knew about the Mercedes Pagoda Club in Germany. Since Geller Mercedes-Benz was literally right across Market Street from Goodyear World Headquarters where I had worked since 1964, it was quite convenient to go there and ask about the Mercedes Club.
As it turned out Al Calandra had been there at Geller’s the previous day passing out invitations to a club event to be held at Koepke Motors in Lakewood that very same evening.
After work that cold snowy afternoon in early November 1983 I collected my wife Brigitte and our two children at the Holiday Inn in Hudson where we lived for more than 3 months while our furniture was en route from Germany and drove up to Koepke Motors completely cold, both literally and figuratively.
When we arrived, Al Calandra met us warmly at the door and made us feel very welcome. Al was a great recruiter and both he and his wife Lea helped Brigitte and me become active members that continues to this very day. That first evening was proof that “you never get a second chance to make a first impression”. Al did a great job. Continue reading »

Mercedes Sculpture at NAIAS

Section members Joe Adamcik, John Morrison, Morgan Taft, and Gary Goodman made our annual trek to the North American International Auto Show held at the Cobo Center on Jan. 21st.  Over the years there have been many small adventures including snow, high winds, getting slightly misdirected (we could not have possibly been lost), and misplaced turnpike tickets, but the 2010 show provided a new one that is not likely to be topped. After an uneventful trip fueled by Dunkin Donuts, we parked on the Cobo Rooftop and began the tour of the show.  As we reached the halfway point of the show, we decided to go to the lower level to have some lunch.  As we began to eat, with the whirring of electric cars being driven in the background, a very official person came by and informed us that we needed to leave due to a fire in the building.  As we began to file out, we realized that we had a couple of issues to deal with–the outside temperature was around 27 degrees, and our coats were in the coat check in the inaccessible upper level! Continue reading »