Oh, My God! I Think I've Got Mercedes-Benz Fever!
When my father retired from after 44 years at P&G, he bought a new 1972 Mercedes. He always had Studebakers until he ordered a 68 Coronet 440 (another neat story in itself).
He walked into a small dealership and the owner came out and introduced himself and asked my dad what he would like to look at. My dad tapped the hood on a deep burgundy one and stated that he wanted this car. Long story short- he picked a 300 SEL 6.3- The Hemi 4 door of the Mercedes line. The 380 cube over-head cam fuel injected V8 out the the Mercedes 600 Limo. What a rocketship and it looked like any other MB.
In 80, it was totaled by a drunk and I found him a a 78 450 SEL 6.9 that was owned by an elderly couple. It looked like it just came off the showroom floor. My dad had just bought a little Toyota Tercel as his run around car.
In the 8 years that he had both of them, the MB cost more to maintain for 1 year than the Tercel did for all 8! His last car was a Supra which was as problem free as the Tercel and was a bit more sporty.
And yes, I did win a trophy at Edgewater Drag Strip with the 6.3. Took street eliminator. It ran within 1/10 all night long!