AP Dateline Stuttgart, April 1, 2005 - DaimlerChrysler announced today an aggressive program to rid the world of the standard "gasoline" engine by offering a free S400 CDI sedan to anyone willing to trade their present gas-burning Mercedes model, regardless of its age or condition.

Long known as the ultimate in humanitarians, the DaimlerChrysler's diesel division spokesman I.P. Klakenkampf said the programme is aimed at creating "brand awareness" by aiming for 100% diesel market penetration. When queried as to how the company plans to make a profit by giving away brand new, top-of-the-line models Klakenkampf's reply was "we'll make up on volume what we lose initially on margins..." and "...once these overly complex, computer controlled diesel engines start failing we can look forward to a near endless cash stream on out-of-warranty repairs" (loosely translated from German text).

Present owners are urged to contact their nearest authorized Mercedes Benz dealer in order to pre-qualify for this trade programme. The programme code is "April Fools"

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz

I just phoned the dealer and he never heard of anything like this so i cussed him off

This is a sweet deal. I read it before I went to work this morning and decided I would steal my neighbors 300TE that has 450k miles on it. I mean who would ever miss such an old car. The dealer was cool about everything, they actually had one waiting and accomodated my busy morning schedule. I called ahead and they were waiting outside with the door open on the S400 CDI and we just swapped keys, they didn't even make me fill out any paperwork. Then, they immediately threw the 300TE into the crusher so nobody will ever find that old hunk of dinosaur burning iron!

The only strange thing is, the S400 CDI has a permanantly engraved bumper sticker that says "diesel rulez" on it, but heck, for a free car I can handle it.

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(2) 1988 300 SEL W126

Thanks for the heads up! I ran down to our local MBZ dealer to get in at the head of the line. The new car is really sweet although I didn't have a complete choice of colors. I'm writing a letter of complaint about that for sure. You'd think they would at least let you choose that.

To make the deal sweeter, they did give me a free T-shirt which has the photo of the Chrysler-Mecedes CEO on it as well as giving me free popcorn and coffee while I waited for them to fill the tank.

I too was at the dealer, ready to trade my gas pig of an E320 Cabriolet, but it turns out I have to pay tax on the new S400, so I refused delivery, because I can't afford to pay it.

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95 E320 Cabriolet, 169K

Because I own too many Mercedes (they counted my two Maybachs in the total) they insisted I'd be happier with discount coupons for Pizza Hut but when I objected - quite vocally I assure you - they threw in a very nice Cessna Citation.
Can anyone tell me how to get tomato sauce and mozarella out of a throttle quadrant or is this the wrong forum?

My dealer was out of the S400, so he gave me an S40. I'll finish writing when I get home, sometime this summer...

. . . and you get a free iPod!