Mercedes Celebrates 125th Anniversary at Pebble Beach

As 2011 is the year Mercedes-Benz is celebrating the 125th anniversary of the invention of the automobile, the three-pointed star brand profits from any occasion to showcase a display of cars providing a glimpse of past and future. So is the case with the upcoming Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance (August 21), where a special exhibition on the topic “125 years inventor of the automobile” will be brought.

Of the vehicles to be presented to the international audience we have to mention the Mercedes racing car designed by Wilhelm Maybach in 1906, or the 200 hp Benz of 1909, also known as the Lightning Benz. The vehicle shown in Pebble Beach is a faithful reproduction using an authentic engine.

Of the supercharged six-cylinder sports cars of the Mercedes-Benz S series, the SSK (W 06 series) is the most exclusive and fascinating model.

A replica of the Benz Patent Motor Car of 1886 will be on display there, a so-called American Mercedes (1905), a Silver Arrow W 154 Grand Prix racing car (1939), a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL “Gullwing” (W 198, 1954), a Mercedes-Benz 220 SE (W 180, 1958) and a Mercedes-Benz 600 (W 100, 1969).

The “Aesthetics 125!” sculpture created by Mercedes-Benz Design opens a window on the future of the brand. Concept car versions of the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster and the next generation of the A-Klasse represent the more immediate future. And the F-Cell Roadster shows how Carl Benz perhaps would have built his Patent Motor Car today – with an environment-friendly electric drive using a fuel cell.