Could have been listening to that mysterious diesel noise when I was 5 and my neighbor's mom came to visit in her 240D 115... could have been the ride in the 1979 300SD about a year later... could have been the 230SL Dad bought when I was 11 (he became displeased, but I loved that old roadster)... could have been all the fun I had in college tinkering with 108s and 115s with a buddy who drove a 1972 220.

Finally, this year, it happened, 126 SD. And it's fun when you see the look come over someone's face of just how nice this 25 yr old sled really is. This one kid I know (he's 21 and I'm 30) got a ride home one evening, and started exclaiming how cool the MB was, and as I shouldered it into the left lane and started passing cars with that 80 mph huff that 126s are so good at (yes, even the diesels!) he just muttered "someday... I will own a Mercedes-Benz..."

Are the new ones nearly as impressive for what they are as a nice old MB? I can't imagine so. I've gotten more compliments in my 1981 (per day) than when I drove Dad's 2001 SLK for a week. (He couldn't stay away from the Star either...)