I turned 16 in 1973, so my introduction to cars involved cars from that era. My neighbor back then was a Brit and the best mechanic I have ever known. He really was a wizard and he really did not like German cars. Looking back, I don't know how much of his distaste for German cars came from the Germans bombing the heck out of his hometown during WWII and how much was based on an objective view of cars. It took me years to realize that German cars were not crap, at least not all German cars.

He did make some persuasive arguments against cars of that era from Benz and BMW. Those were some very high maintenance cars, so maybe the late 90s and early 2000s were not the only Mercedes cars with quality problems.