I totally agree the manual controls are better...I have never seen an automatic system that worked over the long term. One example is how I had to find a special control box to adjust servos in a Rolls Royce Spirit A/C system...Rolls boasted so much about this split system, but few ever worked correctly.

It's interesting and great to hear that some here on the forum were lucky (and brave) enough to own and drive a Mercedes 600...I'd love to see one someday...Jay Leno features one on his show, and it's amazing how fast and silent the windows move (kids and pets beware!). The trunk looks scary how fast it drops though...anyway, I would imagine the A/C was great on those. Is there a unit in the trunk for those? If memory serves correct, I think the 41 Packard had it first in the trunk, but no A/C clutch, so on all the time...and didn't the Lincoln Zephyr in the forties have hydraulic power windows? I thought Cadillac electric power windows in the fifties, so the motors must have been OK by them, so I wonder why MB didn't use them at that time. Going back to low flow ventilation, I just remembered my '66 Mustang has small lever controls like the 60's Mercedes...also, not a great air flow to defrost or warm you. The resisters on my 280SL are really really small...you pop them open with your finger...only the fresh air vents are larger...the registers on these cars was never big...then again, Rolls never had enough registers either in their early cars...