i understand this as well.

i ran out of fuel and called the dean of my school(i was to be in his class at 8am that morning) and asked him if he could look up a number for me.

when i told him i wanted the local mercedes dealership's telephone number he said: "ohh.....so you drive a mercedes?" in that condescending way. most of youall know it. oddly enough, as i was leaving campus on tuesday there was a bmw z4 behind me, when the second lane opened up and it got beside me, it was dean proctor... i still havent figured out if that comment was him being interested in the german car in general or his nose in the air thinking "well i had to work for mine, daddy didnt buy it for me"

i usually wiggle my way out of these situations by saying "its a 4 cylinder with manual windows."

i've friends that thinks buying a mercedes benz with a school loan constitutes fraud. i just tell them after replacing power motors and windows in my neon got old(NEVER...EVER buy a car with rimless windows, not even a mercedes benz....bad...BAD) and the commute is 43 miles each way. the neon got passed back to my parents as a spare car and ive been driving the merc ever since. i consider it to be a luxury item still, eventhough i paid 2 grand for it.

air conditioning, stereos and hubcaps are luxuries, not necessities.

all this said, i do feel pride when i say i drive a mercedes benz(and i correct people when they use beamer as a generic term for german cars) its an undeniably well built, well designed and very intentional motorcoach, not a "transport module" with happy accidents during its design. its just a car, people think less of it when they smell the tailpipe or hear it run, though. "this car doesnt sound right, shouldnt you get it fixed, is it going to break down?"

when my battery died...the lady in the office asked what kind of car it was so the police could come give me a jump. jokingly she said "i thought those cars werent supposed to break?" my reply:

its a 26 year old machine.

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I probably said this before in this thread but I will say it again. I don't care what people think. Besides MB's and BMWs seem to be overtaking my area.

If you want to make a statement about your bank account you need to roll up in a Ferrari or Bently.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

NO PROBLEM. Do what I do. You see it is usually the girls who get so wide eyed upon hearing you drive a benz. Well, pick her up, take her to your place, have wild sex, and boot the ***** out the door!!lol HAve fun with it man

screw ferraris and bentlys. Just ask them for a $1000 !

Rolls-Royce work well to from what I have heard.

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Adam Lumsden
(83) 300D
Vice-President of the MBCA International Stars Section

It really sticks in my craw the way professors throw their weight around and feel they can tell you how to live. In grad school my girlfriend got flak from professors for having a sun tan during the summer!!!

It just dawned on me that you probably don't go to an Ivy League school. There, it is not unusual for students to have the BMW's and Porches... and their cars are not 26 years old!

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95 E320 Cabriolet, 169K

kes--

No, it isnt a super great school; its a good school though. the best(and most expensive) public school in alabama.

www.montevallo.edu

its a lovely old campus set just the right distance from birmingham. thats why i bought the merc. im in the car 2 hours a day aleast. the neon is a great little here and there car but the seats are hard and fairly aggressivly bolstered. my back hurts after an hour in it! so...

i bought the mercedes to help make the commute more palatable. but its costing m alot to drive lately(20mpg in a 240?! i need to post about that)

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On the other hand, if a lady were to see my Mercedes and think "There's a guy with class and good taste," that wouldn't be bad at all. As long as they don't think "ooh, rich guy!"

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1982 300SD

Royce are very cool but Bently is more in style these days.

INeon if you are ever in New Haven or Boston check out Yale or Harvards campus. Students driving late model high end cars are common. You will not get a second glance driving an SL55 Amg.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I went to an almost-Ivy League school, full of very wealthy kids, and that was actually where I got the most critical looks about my car. Lots of kids drive Benzes/SUVs/Range Rovers, but the ones who didn't and were particularly liberal were REALLY critical of those of us who had nice cars, whether they were old models or brand new off the lot. If I had a penny for every time I heard someone refer to us "spoiled rich kids with our Mercedes/BMWs/Range Rovers."

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

im not worried about big schools. the school i attend is a tier one(the end of the list, but its withing the top 100) school.

its controlled enrollment and selective admissions. 3000 students +/- a few.

boy that merc just glides over those cobbled streets! its like butter. the neon feels very severe and as if the dash might come unattached(its some big giant flat surfboard dashboard, but it makes for a fabulously big winshield!)

anyhoo, if you want an education in the visual or performing arts in alabama, you attend montevallo. except, people think only gay men attend the university. it was founded in 1896 as the alabama womens technical college, i guess thats why?

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Nothing says class and style more than an old Benz. Well, maybe an old Jag but then you wouldn't be driving it. I had my MGB-GT all through college, paid 1400 bucks for it, put a bunch more wood inside but kept the AM/FM radio with one speaker because I had no CDs anyway and I was too broke. Actually pretty reliable. Dudes hated it because it didn't burn rubber or or cruise effortlessly at triple digits I guess. Chicks loved it. I don't know why because I never asked.

The most ECONOMICAL car I've owned. I paid under $1,000 for it, It has 348K miles on it. It burns Waste Vegetable Oil for fuel. then I ask them, how much they paid for gas last week.

www.benzbonz.biz

Marty

You don't want them to think you're rich?? Christ, if you can get them to think that you're already 3/4 of the way there....

I'm not going to lie, I like the implications of owning a Mercedes (be they real or fictional is beside the point), and the more outrageous and expensive your car the better. I'm not a rich snob and I don't really care myself, but I don't fool myself about human nature, everyone else--especially women--does care.

Studies have proven that first impressions shape most of a person's future opinion of you, and first impressions are based on coarse, animalistic assessments, such as perceived wealth, hence the desire to own a Mercedes. Sad but true.

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"I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brillaint blaze
than it should be stifled by dryrot.
I would rather be a superb meteor,
every atom of me in magnificent glow,
than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time."

-Jack London 1876-1916

1983 300CDT (running WVO since 12/05)
1981 300SD (parts car)

I think all Benzs have what is known as "Timeless Appeal" it doesn't matter what year the Benz is, less a rotted out junker!