When does the term, "Vintage" apply?
 

So I drive a 81 300D. My friends call my car old, heaper, stankbomb, you name it. My car is a good car. I have no payments, my insurance is cheap, and I think its a handsome ride. The 123 chassis, in my opinion, is a classic. I would rather use the term, vintage, than old or decrepit. We drivers of vintage Mercedes Benz vehicles need to band together, and keep these creatures on the road forever, while the plastic encased new cars are recycled into diesel after ten years. I want to see 500,000 miles on my Merc.

mine is classic.. vintage is like pre 1969.. or 30 years old i think( for the plate that says antique)... you want 500k on your benz.. a merc is a pos GM product :D

i checked it out, and in Illinois, the vechile needs to be 25 years old in order to apply for antique plates, now i only have 2 more years to go ... YAY:D :D

When it's older than you :P

Call it vintage, call it antique, call it old...it's your car. People have different perspectives, it's your opinion that makes it a classic. Keep thinking that way.

Are you talking about the Mercury brand commonly referred to as a merc? They are built by Ford and not General Motors.

Merc is a Ford product actually, but you are correct: Merc does not = Mercedes

well there ya go..i must of given ford a boost by mistaking them for a slightly less crappy car..

i guess ford finally circled their problem

in the eyes of the beholder
 

I would say that vintage, like beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. There is nothing more appealing in my mind than a car that is clearly 15-20 years old, yet looks like new. That's a real head-turner in my book and clearly says a lot about the person driving it.

I have always referred to my Mercedes as Mercs. The guy I bought this one off of, a 30 MB tech and now and instructor for MB, called it a Merc too.

Be careful. I believe antique plates in IL have are restricted, ie-you can only drive them to or from car shows. It has been 6 years since I looked into it and it may have changed, but it bears investgating.

here in FL a car 20 years used to be classic.. now they axed the classic plates.. so only thing is antique for 30 year old cars.. and you can drive it as a daily driver with antique plates.. nothing different just a light blue plate with white lettering . if you want plates to match your cars year like the VW guys do look for a same year plate same state. im trying to for my benz.. it is to my knowledge you can do that in florida. the vw guys do it so should i

http://www.sos.state.il.us/publications/pdf_publications/vsd35513.pdf

Second page, second paragraph:
"Vehicles displaying these plates may only be driven to and from an antique auto show or exhibition, servicestation or demonstration. The mechanical and physicalcondition of the vehicle, including brakes, lights, glassand appearance, must be the same or as safe "

Actually in the UK they call Mercedes "Mercs"

Also I don't think the Mercury is a "POS".... I like mine just fine thank you very much!
http://images7.fotki.com/v150/photos...CP_0392-vi.jpg

Hold on...
 

FYI. In Europe, the word "Merc" is a short name for these prestigious and legendary cars - it's only here in America where we confuse it with the Mercury, etc...

Incidently a BENZ as in a reference to a diesel car is another misnomer as it stems from the German word benzine - meaning gasoline, so I think "Merc" is a better name... :)

MercFan... hehe

Thats what Im talkin about. I knew somebody called them Mercs.


I drove a Marauder once. It was fun. Did nice smokey burnouts. Owner of the car said it was lacking in power. I told him it needed an itailian tuneup. Ran much better afterwards.