Good point, considering the technology turnover (say, anyone using their analog Mercedes cell phones?), would it be fair to say that Mercedes isn't really building cars that are going to survive the 30-40 years it takes to be considered a "classic"?

A great many of the Mercedes we consider classics today exist because the technology to work on them and to keep them running didn't require the owner or the service guy to be a rocket scientist. Restoration parts were provided by some crafty folks that could take steel or aluminum stock and turn it into a grill or bumper. Now, with black boxes replacing things like distributor caps and coils, drive by wire replacing linkages and springs and microprocessors monitoring everything from tire pressure to the driver's cholesterol . . . are we weekend grease monkeys going to be extinct?