I can recall as a seven-year-old, asking for a model car that had shift-gears. One of the Christmas gifts that year was a German-made cast metal Mercedes sedan which had a speed control and programmable steering. I marveled at the car, took it apart right away, to see how it was put together. It was kept as a favorite toy until it disappeared in the closet, years later. I forgot about it until the first of three Mercedes came into my possession a couple years ago. My brother brought that toy car to me a few weeks after wards. He had been keeping it for some unknown reason. It was just as I last remembered it, as a child. (That was over fifty years ago.) The model car now sits as a display piece on a shelf of the entertainment center.