the northwestern star2005...rosberg won the f1 grand prix of china in shanghai. it was the first win...

Questions? Call Allen Stephens at 503.708.0397 or the National Business Office at 800.637.2360 M-F, 8am-5pm MT. Or visit www.mbca.org.

THE NORTHWESTERN STARVOl. 36 | NO. 5 POrTlANd SeCTiON MAy, 2012

Next Event: Evergreen Museum DrivePlace: Cars & Coffee, i-5 Carman drive exit 291date: Saturday, May 5Time: Cars & Coffee 8:30 AM; drivers’ meeting 9:30 AMCost: none

Details on page 4; full Events Calendar on page 16

Inside This Issue

Wine Tasting . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

President’s Message . . . . . 2

Officers & Board . . . . . . . . . 2

Concours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

editor’s Column . . . . . . . . . 4

Osterman recap . . . . . . . . 5

Brown Maloney. . . . . . . . . . 7

Blonde in a Benz . . . . . . . . 8

Portland Historics . . . . . . . 10

lynn Gibner recap. . . . . . 12

Or Fest of Cars . . . . . . . . 13

May Board Meeting . . . . . 14

Classified ads . . . . . . . . . . 15

Schedule of events. . . . . . 16

Upcoming Events

May 5 Tour to evergreen

May 12 Board Meeting

Jun 2 Winery tour

Jun 23 Brown Maloney Tour

Jul 7–8 Historic races

July 15 Concours

Aug 17 legends of the Autobahn

Sept 15 Oregon Festival of Cars

Full Event Calendar on page 16

T his is what the good life is all about: A drive through the countryside in June, a private wine tasting, cheese and fruit — all in the company of fellow Mercedes-Benz owners and friends.

Plan on it. it all happens Saturday, June 2nd. We’ll meet in the cul-de-sac adjacent to Mer-cedes-Benz of Wilsonville at about 9:30 AM. Nancy and Greg Buechler will provide direc-tions, and we’ll depart at 10:00. Avoiding free-ways, the drive should take about ninety min-utes. We’ll arrive at Orchard Heights Winery (http://www.orchardheightswinery.com), spend an hour or so there, then return home on our own.

Orchard Heights Winery is located in the pic-turesque foothills of the Coast range near Salem. it sits atop a mountain surrounded by various orchards of apples, cherries, pears, and other delicious fruits. it’s an idyllic fifteen-acre park-like estate, with productive Gewurztraminer vineyards established in the 1970s. This is a fully operational winery, with vineyards, a bottling facility, and an intimate tasting room. it should be a delightful outing.

if you want to attend, contact Greg Buechler by May 25th to reserve a spot. you may call 503-640-6389, or e-mail Greg at [email protected]. There will be a seven dollar charge (collected at check-in) to cover the cost of the tasting.

A drive in the country, good driends, great wine

Wine Tasting June 2nd


Mercedes-Benz Club of America,

Portland Section

Officers:President

Allen Stephens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Vice PresidentSam Chinakos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Secretary/TreasurerHal Harper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Board of Directors: (Expiration year)Greg Buechler (2012) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Stacy rollins (2013) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Jerry Sorenson (2013) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Mike Spicer (2012) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

ron Woodruff (2013) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Northwest Regional Director:Barry Patchett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Newsletter Editor/Advertising:Tom lichty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Portland Section Webmaster:len Wolford. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Membership:Pam Burback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Historian:Jim Thompson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Concours d’Elegance:Allen Stephens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Past President:rus eppler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503.720.3637

President’s Message

The Northwestern Star is the official publication of the Portland Section, Mercedes-Benz Club of America, inc., and is provided solely for the benefit of its members. Opinions are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the publisher or MBCA, inc.

We encourage submissions—articles, photos—from our mem-bers. deadline for submissions is the 15th of the month, care of the editor. We reserve the right to edit or refuse submissions and/or advertising.

Copyright © 2012 MBCA Portland. All rights reserved.See “President,” page 3

As i write this on April 15th, it is a historic day for Mer-cedes-Benz. German Nico

rosberg won the F1 Grand Prix of China in Shanghai. it was the first win by the Mercedes team in For-mula 1 since Juan Manuel Fangio triumphed at the italian Grand Prix in 1955. Mercedes pulled out of racing that year, after one of its “Silver Arrows” crashed into a crowd at le Mans, killing over eighty in the worst racing accident in history. The team didn’t return to F1 until 2010. This year, it appears ross Brawn and the Mercedes F1 team developed a very good car. it will be a fun season to watch!

We have a great event planned for this month. The Portland Section of MBCA will join the BMW Car Club of America for a drive to the evergreen Air and Space Museum. i met Brian Cone, President of the BMW CCA last year during the planning for Cars in the Park at the Portland Art Museum. We discovered that both of our clubs are interested in the same thing – having fun with our cars. We agreed to stage some events together. The BMW club is much like the Mercedes club – we both appreciate German engineering – and i think you will enjoy joining them for a drive down the valley on

Winning driver Nico Rosberg took pole position for the Chinese F1 GP, before driving a calculated race to put the Silver Arrow back in the winners circle for the first time since 1955. Credit: http://www.gizmag.com/.


May 5th. We will meet at the Cars and Coffee event in Tigard, and then tour to the museum in McMinville. Our Tourmeister Greg Buechler has a nice route planned for us. See the editor’s Column on page 4 for details.

Car collection tours have become a popular event on our calendar. did you join the tour that Mike Spicer organized in March? i could not attend as our family was on the way to Bend for spring break, but i heard amazing stories about the variety of cars in the collec-tion. Our club is invited to join Seattle Section for a tour of Brown Maloney’s collection in Sequim, Washington on June 23rd. Club members are invited to join me for a caravan to the meeting point, or you can meet us at Port Gamble, Washington. Brown has a mouth-wa-tering collection of cars, including several Mercedes, including a 300Sl Gullwing. His collection includes a rare BMW 507, which he displayed at Cars in the Park last year. He has an extensive motorcycle collection as well. The Seattle section has organized a unique event in a picturesque location, and you are invited. i hope to see you there!

— Allen Stephens

“President,” from page 2

Sixty years of the Mercedes-Benz Sl will be on display at the 40th Forest Grove Concours d’elegance on Sunday July 15th. From the icon-

ic 1952 300Sl “Gullwing” coupe that won at le Mans, to the all-new 2013 Mercedes-Benz Sl550. This event will feature the shining stars of Mercedes history. As an MBCA Northwest regional event, club members are invited to enter their Mercedes for judging, or for dis-play in the MBCA display class. entrants in the display class are not judged. Judged classes for Mercedes-Benz include pre-war cars to 1945, early post-war to 1960, post-war from 1961 to 1971, and Mercedes-Benz Sls. MBCA National Concours Chairman Pete lesler will serve as Senior Judge.

The 1952 300Sl coupe entered by Bruce and Jolene McCaw (above) is the honored centerpiece. This W194 won the 24 hours of le Mans in 1952 with Hermann lang and Fritz riess driving. After this victory Mer-cedes-Benz decided to produce a road-going version, the W198 300Sl “Gullwing” coupe.

The Forest Grove Concours d’elegance features over three hundred vintage, sports, and collector cars pre-sented on the tree-shaded campus of Pacific Univer-sity, just west of Portland. entrants are invited to drive the Vineyard and lake Tour and join the evening of elegance dinner on Saturday, July 14th. To enter your Mercedes, to sign up for the dinner or tour, or to buy entry tickets (reduced rate for early registration!), visit http://www.forestgroveconcours.org/. look for addi-tional details on page 12 of this issue.

— Allen Stephens

Celebrating sixty years of the SL

Forest Grove Concours


I write my column this month from Collioure, a charm-ing little town (population 3,000) in southern France, on the Mediterranean coast, where louise and i are

camped out for a month. endlessly photogenic, Collio-ure plays home to countless tourists in the summer but in the spring it’s quiet and generally sunny – the perfect antidote to rainy Oregon.

Collioure is old. it’s a natural harbor, and its history is bathed in the stench of fish – anchovies, to be spe-cific. Throughout much of europe, Collioure is known as “Anchovy City.”

This is all by way of saying that they were fishing for anchovies here before – oh, i dunno – before 1886 when Karl Benz first turned the key of his Benz Pat-ent Motorwagen. in fact, in the Twelfth Century, when the streets of the city became somewhat formalized, their width was defined by the wheelbase of donkey carts hauling anchovies and, one would assume, driv-ers with fly swatters. There’s hardly a street here that’s wider that one donkey cart plus, perhaps, one skinny anchovy-eater, flattened against the wall to let the don-keys pass by. There are no sidewalks and no curbs. Houses abut the street.

My point is this: the streets here are narrow. even a C Class would disgorge its side mirrors in a matter of minutes. An e Class or a – shudder – Gl would have to be slathered in grease and force-fed down the street like corn down a Strasburg goose.

The front-wheel-drive A and B Classes dominate the Mercedes scene here, most of them diesels. diesel is

15 or 20 cents/liter less expensive than petrol in France as i write this, and the little A Cdis are rated at 45 mpg average (city and highway). These are advantages that put hy-brids to shame.

i watch these sensible little Benzes clatter down the street and wonder why they’re kept from the American market. look how well Fiat seems to be doing with the 500 (and consider the stig-ma that Fiat had to con-tend with by re-introducing the brand to the USA). i can’t imagine why a 45-mpg Mercedes-Benz diesel wouldn’t fare well here also. emissions? Mercedes has that licked, no? Crash test? They figured that out with Smart. Price? High prices don’t seem to be holding Mercedes back: their market share is up all over the country, and prices certainly aren’t dropping.

Maybe i’ll stick a little A Class in my backpack before i come home and smuggle it into Portland. it’ll no doubt draw a crowd at the next Cars & Coffee...

Speaking of Cars & Coffee, on May 5th the Portland Section will join the Portland BMW Club for a drive to the evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMin-nville. Cars & Coffee gets underway at 8:30 AM. We’ll conduct a drivers’ meeting at 9:30, and at 10:00 head out to the museum. We’ll follow back roads and park on the grass in front of the museum for all who travel Highway 18 to admire.

Cars and Coffee is a weekly, informal event held in the parking lot behind Starbucks at the Carman drive exit (291) on interstate 5. There’s no charge for either Cars & Coffee or the tour, but you will have to pay for the museum tickets, should you choose to enter.

We hope to see you there!

— Tom LichtyAn A180 CDI on the streets of Collioure.

A narrow Collioure street.

Editor’s column

The Streets of Collioure


Once again we had a good turnout for the NW MBCA collector-car tour March 24th. Jim Os-terman was very gracious to welcome us to

his home and share his vast car collection. We should feel honored as we are the first club ever invited to see his cars. it is great when a collector has a large variety of many different auto makes from different eras. Jim

was a great host and very open with his automotive stories and insights.

The weather was perfect and Jim displayed, in bright sunshine, four 190Sl’s, his corvette collection, and some other prestigious exotic transportation. One of the highlights was the Mercedes Ponton convertible owned by Princess Grace. After visiting the first cus-tom-built barn, Jim took us to a second building that had, among others, a 1977 rolls royce, a fire truck, and a low mileage 380Sl. The third building housed beautiful Packard and Cadillac convertibles, and on

the lift in the middle of the room was dodi Fayed’s Jag-uar, much of which is gold plated.

As if the auto collection and the mile of riverfront coun-tryside weren’t enough, Jim also opened a large dis-play of stuffed wild animals in a room that rivals many museums.

We thank the weather gods, and we thank Mike and Pam Burback for hosting our starting point and bur-rito breakfast. it was great to see so many car enthu-siasts in one place. The event attracted many club members — 35 cars — reinforcing the assumption that car collections are popular club events. We will keep this in mind as we plan for the future. if you have any collections that you think may be great for our club to visit, let a board member know and we will work them into the next multi-collecton tour. We’ll see you all at the next one.

— Mike Spicer

Center: Jim Osterman’s spectacular homestead near Carver, Oregon. Clockwise from upper left: One of the four 190SLs that Jim put on display; club members gather for breakfast burritos at Burback Motors; we counted 35 cars from the club on Jim’s lawn; arriving under sparkling sunshine at the Osterman ranch. Photos by Mike Spicer and Tom Lichty.

Recap

Osterman Car Collection


MBCA Membership ApplicationPLEASE PRINT CLEARLY

FULL NAME

ASSOCIATE MEMBER (ANOTHER HOUSEHOLD MEMBER)

MAILING ADDRESS

CITY STATE ZIP

HOME PHONE BUSINESS PHONE

E-MAIL ADDRESS

MERCEDES-BENZ VEHICLES YOU NOW OWN (YEAR AND MODEL)

INTEREST(S): (check as many as you like) driving events car shows social events car care technical The Star

SIGN ME UP FOR: (check one)

UNiTed STATeS: 1 year ($49) 2 years ($95) 3 years ($139)

iNTerNATiONAl: (including Canada) 1 year ($59) 2 years ($115) 3 years ($169)Make checks or money orders payable to MBCA (U.S. funds only), or use VISA, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover.

APPLICANT’S SIGNATURE

SECTION PREFERENCE (OR WE WILL ASSIGN BY ZIP CODE)

REFERRED BY MEMBER (IF A MEMBER, MEMBER # IF AVAILABLE)

PAYMENT: (check one) Check/Money Order (U.S. Funds) Credit Card

CREDIT CARD NUMBER EXP. DATE

CREDIT CARD BILLING ADDRESS (IF DIFFERENT THAN MAILING ADDRESS)

you can also join online at www.mbca.orgor telephone us at (800) 637-2360 8-5 PM (Mountain Time)

MBCA, 1907 lelaray St., Colorado Springs, CO 80909(719) 633-6427; (719) 633-9283 (fax)To contribute to the MBCA Educational Foundation, please send (separate) check made payable to MBCAEF, 1907 Lelaray St., Colorado Springs, CO 80909.

MBCAEF, a 501 (c) (3) non-profi t organization, will furnish you with a receipt for your tax-deductible donation.

Not a Member?Become a club member by completing the form below and submitting your application by mail, by using the Qr code on your smart phone, or by applying online at MBCA.org/join-today.


It’s time to plan for a day of classic Mercedes-Benz automobiles, driving on interesting roads, and en-joying a casual meal. Sara and Brown Maloney

have invited us to visit their home and garages in Se-quim, WA for a picnic BBQ lunch and a chance to tour Brown’s garages.

if you would like to caravan to this collection with mem-bers of the Portland Section, we will meet at 6:45 AM Saturday, June 23rd at lava Java, 109 South 65th Ave-nue, Suite 108, in ridgefield, WA. From Portland, take i-5 north to Washington exit 14, and turn right to the lava Java location (it’s right at the exit). Our caravan will depart at 7:00 AM sharp, with an estimated drive time of three hours to Port Gamble.

Alternatively, Portland Section members are in-vited to meet with the Se-attle Section at the start point in Port Gamble (see sidebar). No matter how you get to Port Gamble, check-in will get underway there at 10:00 AM, followed by a leisurely Olympic Peninsula drive, starting at 10:30 AM from Port Gamble.

A local caravan is planned Saturday, June 23rd

Brown Maloney Garage Tour

Directions: From Port Angeles, take Highway 101 east to the intersection with Highway 104, then follow High-way 104 east to Port Gamble. From the Kingston Ferry dock, take Highway 104 west to Port Gamble. Look for the Seattle Section club sign at NE Pacific Avenue.

After lunch, we will tour the garages and hear a bit about the history and heritage of the collection of clas-sic automobiles and motorcycles. Brown started his collection with Mercedes-Benz examples and has in-cluded other makes as the display expanded. it is a real treat to see the half dozen M-Bs, the several ga-rages filled with rare and unique vehicles, and the ex-tensive motorcycle lineup.

There are many dining and lodging options in the Se-quim area. register now for lunch by sending the cou-pon below, with $10 per lunch, to david Glass. david needs your payment by June 11 to plan for the BBQ.

Saturday June 23rd is two days after the longest day of the year, so we will have plenty of time for a fun day of driving and enjoying fine au-tomobiles. if you have ques-tions, contact david Glass by email at [email protected],

or call (425) 869-6706.

We will see you June 23rd!

— Brown Maloney & David Glass


Blonde

in aBenz

The Blonde has a very tiny Benz. The Benz will barely hold a baguette. The Blonde is well known in travel circles for being able to stuff a

month’s wardrobe into a two-quart Zip-loc bag. if it’s summer, when she only packs a bikini and a pareo, the one-quart size will do.

Nonetheless, wheth-er the Blond is buzz-ing around town or exploring the world, she always has room for more maps. Maps are stuffed in the side door pockets, the glove compartment, and the teeny tiny sliver of space behind the seats. When the Blonde stops for cof-fee, she comes out with a fistful of new maps from the brochure rack.

Some of you are saying the Blonde should get a GPS, then she would have more room for bikinis and a tooth-brush. The Blonde has a GPS, but it is not the same thing. When you are a Maphead, you can appreciate a GPS and its limited abilities, but at best a GPS is only a few inches across. And it talks. The Blonde doesn’t care for tiny maps that talk.

Are you a Maphead? Here are the symptoms. One: When you see a map on a wall, inside or outside, you run over and study it right away. Two: When you are in a new place, you start to twitch if you do not have a map of that place. if you don’t know where north is, you hyperventilate. it may be a form of OCd. Coastal Ma-pheads faint if they can’t figure out where the nearest ocean is.

There is a romanticism to Mapheadedness as well. Maps connect us to places we haven’t been, introduce us to places we want to go, and provide simple instruc-tions on each step in making that travel dream come true. you go to this city and turn right, then to that vil-

lage and turn left, drive the Benz for eighty miles, and suddenly you are in this great place. it’s all so much more rewarding with a map.

Maps also give us a sense of belonging: right here is my personal bit of land, whether for life or for this moment, and i can draw a circle around it.

i can put a dot on the city map for where my hotel is, and another dot for that shoe store i’ve heard

about. i can take a highlighter and map the route. i can take the map home and hang it on the wall. i can stick little pins in it of all the places the Benz has been.

Most importantly, a paper map gives you the big picture. The GPS is fine for a small neighborhood, but if you want to know how far that neighbor-hood is from Tanzania, everything becomes too small on the screen. A paper map lets you stare at it for as long as you want. it doesn’t blink off when it thinks you’ve seen enough. Also, a paper map does not talk to you in that annoying robot voice.

Maps do not, however, give you the curve of the earth. A map will not show you how close Alaska is to russia. For that, you need a globe. if you want to actually read it and use it, you need a big globe. That will definitely not fit in the Benz.

Mapheads Unite!

Ken Jennings — who won millions play-ing Jeapordy — is a Maphead. This is the cover of his book.


Team Continental Announces

Double Dipper Grand Prix II May 25-26-27-28, 2012

This event is sanctioned by ICSCC under the 2012 Competition Regulations featuring a 3-DAY, DOUBLE RACE Championship points format,

plus world class driver’s training, presented by Team Continental at Oregon Raceway Park in Grass Valley, OR.

Entries Open: Upon receipt of this announcement Entries Close: Postmark, fax or register on-line by May 21, 2012

Driver’s Training (all day) $175

Race Entry Fees: 2–Race Combo (sat/sun/mon) $450 (150 minutes !) Race# 3 – Saturday/Sunday only $295 Race# 4 – Monday only $295 2nd Entry (sat/sun) $180 2nd Entry (mon) $180 Late Fee (registered after May 21st) $ 50

Novice 2–Race Combo (sat/sun) $299 (146 minutes !)

Novice Single Day $199 Crew and Spectators: FREE

Submit Entries To: www.motorsportreg.com

Or contact: Team Continental Race Registrar

Valorie Starr 36801 SE Proctor Rd. Boring, OR 97009 [email protected]

Race Chair Skip Yocom: 503-655-3246 (hm), [email protected] Asst. Race Chair Bob Smethers, [email protected]

Competitor’s Liaison Gordon Jones, [email protected]

** Driver Training will be held Friday, May 25, 2012 – contact Andy Robottom at [email protected] for additional information.

Paved paddock spaces will be assigned once your entry is processed and will be issued upon your arrival at the event. Please check-in with TC Paddock Marshals at ORP.

Sunday Social – Everyone Welcome ! Please join us for a special TC Buffet @ $5/per All other meals, all days @ $3/per

Free beer & wine each night!! Drink With Responsibility!!


As mentioned in our April issue, you’re invited to join the Portland Section July 6th through July 8th for

the Historic races at Pir.

The 2012 Portland Historic races features an annual entry list of more than 250 prestigious historic race cars, representing a wide variety of manufacturers. The restored cars are divided into groups according to make, age and horsepower, where they are raced at high speeds close to or at their full potential.

Boasting an open paddock, the Portland Historic races allow en-thusiasts the opportunity to see race cars up close and interact with the drivers and crew. The event also features a display of more than 700 collector cars, a kid zone, an autocross, and a vendor midway.

There’s a bargain to be found in the registration form below. For $45, you receive two three-day tickets, a car-corral pass, a spot in the parade lap, and a dash plaque. The Portland Section will have our own corral.

The deadline for entries is June 1, but club historian Jim Thompson needs to process our applications be-fore that, so complete the form below now.

Deadline Near for Historics


Produced by the Rotary Club of Forest Grove, Oregon with proceeds benefiting Forest Grove Rotary Foundation Scholarships and service projects. www.forestgroveconcours.org

40th Forest Grove Concours d’Elegance Celebrating Mercedes-Benz Sunday, July 15th

Pacific University Campus Forest Grove, Oregon

The Forest Grove Concours d’Elegance features over 300 vintage, sports and collector cars presented on the tree-shaded campus of Pacific University.

Join us and celebrate 60 Years of the Mercedes SL, from the iconic 1952 300SL Gullwing coupe that won at Le Mans, to the all-new 2013 Mercedes-Benz SL550.

For more info: Allen Stephens

[email protected] 503-708-0397

Call for Entries You are invited to enter your Mercedes in one of the following classes:

MB-1: Pre-War up to 1945: Includes Classics such as 380K, 500K and 540K MB-2: Early Post-War Sedans, Coupes and Cabriolets from 1946 to 1960:

Incl: W136, W191, W120, W180, W105, W121, W128, W186, W189, W187, W188. MB-3: Post-War Sedans, Coupes and Cabriolets 1961-1971:

Includes W100, W110, W111, W112, W108, W109, W114, W115 MB-4: Mercedes-Benz SLs: 300SL, 190SL ‘52 to ‘63; W113 SLs ‘64 to ‘71 MBCA: Display Class: Non-judged corral, all years welcome.

Enter at www.forestgroveconcours.org Click on ‘Entering’, then ‘Entry Form’

Join us on the Vineyard and Lake Tour on Saturday July 14th: Tour the back roads of Washington Country to a vineyard for lunch, then on to Hagg Lake for tours in wooden boats.. Cost: $60.

Evening of Elegance Dinner: Entrants are invited to the festive Saturday Night Dinner. Cost: $50. per person.

Select the Tour and Dinner options on the on-line Entry Form


Paint & BodyCraftmanship

for your

Mercedes-Benz

— Accommodating Service —— State-of-the-Art Facility —

— Quality-Conscious Craftsmen —

1011 SE Lincoln StreetPortland, Oregon 97214

(503) 238-1868

incolnLtreetS

otorsM

About twenty Portland Section members learned the tips and tricks of interior restoration during our Upholstery Workshop on April 14th. lynn

Gibner opened his shop, Automobile Tops and interi-ors, to our club and provided demonstrations and an-swered our questions on the art and science of auto upholstery. event Chair ron Woodruff created an agenda that included color matching and dying, hole repair in leather, and secrets to wood refinishing.

during one demo, lynn demonstrated how to repair a hole in leather with super glue and baking soda. it was a simple solution and the results were amazing. We also saw the before and after results of color matching on a door panel to a 250Sl. ron gave an overview of steering wheel repair, and we had a table of rare Mercedes-Benz books for browsing.

Club member Michael reed rolled his 250Sl into the shop and asked questions on how to bring his seats back to their factory color. i had my 250Sl there as well, and used the collective brainpower of the group to troubleshoot issues with my soft top mechanism. Oth-er members in attendance included Bob deming, Vic Wandtke, Stephen Zielinski, Nils Jensen, ernie Braw-ley, Hal Harper and John robinson and his wife. it was an informative event and we hope to schedule a similar tech session in the fall. We thank lynn Gibner for his hospitality and time educating our members.

— Allen Stephens

Recap

Super Glue & Baking Soda

At the workshop (left to right): Ron Woodruff, Doug Middlestetter, Bob Deming, Lynn Gibner (holding sample), and Stacy Rollins.

All

eN

STe

PH

eN

S


edward ShyduikJoe Shyduiklou Shyduikdottie Shyduik

3105-A Ne 65th StreetVancouver, WA 98683

Tel: (380) 695-4979Fax: (360) 695-9441

Vancouver Transmission Service“Transmission Specialists”

50 years experience

The May Portland Section Board meeting will take place May 12th, 10:00 AM, at Mercedes-Benz of

Wilsonville. We’re on an alternating schedule now; the March meeting was held at Mercedes-Benz of Port-land, so May’s meeting will be in Wilsonville.

As always, any member of the club is invited. Want to comment on the club? Want to suggest an activity? Have a question for the board? The board meetings are anything but stuffy, and we’re always happy to wel-come members.

We thank the folks at Mercedes-Benz of Wilsonville for making their facilities available, and we hope to see you there at 10:00 AM Saturday, May 12th.

May Board Meeting in Wilsonville

Mark Fecchi Passes Awayi am sad to announce the passing of Mercedes-Benz Club of America Portland Section member Mark Fecchi. As a owner of a W124 500e like me, i met

Mark at a club event in 2007. He was a true enthusiast, a member of both the Mercedes and BMW clubs. At a 500e enthusiasts gathering in 2008, Mark was one of eight 500e owners who displayed their cars at Pir on a gorgeous February day.

Mark unexpectedly passed away at his home in Van-couver, WA. Born in San Francisco to Arcangelo and Marion Fecchi, he was a graduate of riordan High School and Heald’s Business College. Mark lived his life with passion of the technology in the airline industry and his love for Hawaii.

— Allen Stephens

The Sunriver Fes-tival of Cars has

been a hugely suc-cessful event, rec-ognized by many as their favorite car event of the year. recently the opportunity came to take it to a higher level, so now it’s the Oregon Festival of Cars, and it will be held in the les Schwab Amphitheater in the Old Mill district of Bend September 14–16.

The immediate advantage is space. There are now three acres of grass to accommodate the event.

There will be an organized drive from the Portland area to Bend on Friday morning, and a Friday evening regis-tration and reception at the les Schwab Amphitheater. The Festival car show will run from 10–3 on Saturday. The Saturday evening Festival Banquet will be held at Club Carrera, nestled among the cars, and the Sunday dash through the desert will return.

look for a complete story in the July edition.

Oregon Festival of Cars Coming in September


2006 SL55 AMG Black / Grey, 33k miles, extremely clean condition, 493hp, ABC suspension, Pano roof, body panels are all straight with no imperfections, immaculate. $42,495. More photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/20823381@N08/sets/72157627794491844/[email protected], 503-550-1403

1970 Mercedes 300SEL 6.3 (world class restoration) re-cipient of an open-checkbook restoration exceeding $150k and is in exceptional condition, 96k miles. i have been a member of the M-100club (Mercedes 600 6.3 & 6.9) and this car ranks at the top of any 6.3 available on the mar-ket today. Anything it ever needed was done. Upgraded 15”rims. engine/Transmission: rebuilt at 64K, suspension works perfect. $20k Paint job, chrome is all as new, gaps are perfect. Wood re-finished, stereo updated, gauges work properly. interior is in new condition. $49,995.

The car comes with extensive set of documentation and i have created a large photo gallery for further ex-amination: http://www.flickr.com/photos/20823381@N08/sets/72157627431167467/[email protected], 503-550-1403

1987 260E Car comes with extensive records and it has just competed a comprehensive service. Great shape. if you are looking for reliable comfort and saftey this is it. $5950 Burback Motors 503-236-1737.

1987 Mercedes Benz 190E 2.3 16 Valve Cosworth, 5 spd. This rare 1987 Mercedes was built with the idea of racing. in order to compete this car in racing, Mercedes needed to build 5,000 street models for public sale. 1,953 of those models were sold in the United States over a two-year pe-riod. Finding a clean, unmodified 190e 2.3 16V is rare and only a few remain intact today. This 1987 Mercedes-Benz 190e 2.3 16V is in outstanding and original condition includ-ing the aggressive body kit designed to cut aerodynamic lift. The car is fully loaded with all the options. it has received regular service by certified Mercedes Benz mechanics at MBi Motors in Portland for more than fifteen years. 160K miles. Price: $5,500 firm.Contact denny Clawson at 503-523-8072, or e-mail him at [email protected].

Classified AdsAds run for one issue and are placed free of charge for MBCA members. Non-club members are charged $10.00 per ad, $20 with a picture. The submission deadline is the 15th of the month.

you may place an ad by contacting the editor.


PRSRT STDU.S. POSTAGE

PA I DPortland, Oregon

PERMIT NO. 2358

The Northwestern StarPortland SectionMercedes-Benz Club of America1318-B NW 20th AvePortland, Or 97209

Portland Section Schedule of Events

May 5: Tour to evergreen Air Museum with the BMW Club. See editor’s Column, page 4.

May 12: Portland Section Board meeting at Mercedes-Benz of Wilsonville, 10:00 AM.

June 2: driving event to the Orchard Heights Winery. details on page 1.

June 23: Join the Seattle Section for a drive to Car Collector Brown Maloney’s home in Sequim, Wash-ington. Story, page 7.

July 7–8: Mercedes Club Corral at Portland Historic races. See story and signup, page 10.

July 15: Concours d’elegance in Forest Grove. Mer-cedes-Benz is the featured brand. See pages 3 & 12.

August 12: regional Show and Shine in Seattle.

August 17: legends of the Autobahn. See page 10.

Sept 14–16: Oregon Festival of Cars, les Schwab Amphitheater in Bend. See brief story, page 14. Com-plete story to come in the July issue.

Sept 28 – Oct 3: Starfest 2012 in Phoenix. A three-day, two-night “StarTrip” from the Bay Area to Phoenix is planned, including stops at two car collections. See ad on page 3; story in March issue.

October 13: rally to Mt. Adams. details to come in the August issue.

—Past issues of the Northwest Star are posted online at http://portland.mbca.org/newsletters.

the northwestern star2005...rosberg won the f1 grand prix of china in shanghai. it was the first win...

Documents