President’s Corner
Lee Elrick Jr., Section President
Greetings Wichita Section members! We’ve made a quick start in 2023 with several events already under our belt. As you can see from our section event calendar, we are starting to fill up the year with all sorts of activities. My goal is to have at least one event per month and we are trying to have that event occur on the second Saturday of every month. You’ll notice that Wichita Cars and Coffee has started up again, so that’s another opportunity to get together as well.
In September there’s a listing for the Wichita German Car Show. There isn’t a set date for the event yet, but our section definitely plans to be there. The inaugural gathering last year was extremely well attended with almost 220 cars participating.
There’s lots of other news in this newsletter so check it out. I’m looking forward to the slowly warming weather and more opportunities to get out and drive our cars.
Lee
Recent Events
Lunch at Prost, Saturday January 14th, 2023
The Wichita section gathered for an impromptu lunch at our favorite local German restaurant, Prost. All together 14 members and guests attended. It was a great opportunity to catch up with everyone after the holiday season. We also practiced our hand/eye coordination with a beer deckel (coaster) flipping game. Some folks were better at this than others…. The beer and food were outstanding as usual.
Section Membership Meeting and Lunch, Saturday January 28th
The Wichita Section gathered for the semi-annual membership meeting and lunch at Firebirds. Around twelve members attended this meeting. Vice President Will Tobin kicked off the meeting by reviewing our activities from last year and then outlining the many activities we have planned for 2023. I didn’t get any shots of the group inside, but we sure did luck out on the beautiful weather that day.
Breakfast and Garage Visit, Saturday February 11th, 2023
We had a great turn out for this event! About 22 members and guests gathered for breakfast at Stearman Field Bar and Grill. After grabbing some food, doing a little catching up, and checking to see if anything interesting was taking off or landing at Stearman Field, we then headed out for a garage visit. Club member Jeff Siebels very kindly hosted our section for visit to his garage in Andover. Jeff has an amazing collection of both foreign and domestic vehicles, including of course several nice MBs! Everybody enjoyed quizzing Jeff on the background of some of his cars and, since he does a lot of his own restoration work, this was also an opportunity to get some good practical car care and maintenance information. Jeff also has a YouTube channel (American Dream Garage – YouTube) in which he provides more information on his cars and auctions he’s attended. Thanks for having us out Jeff!
Trip Reports
Visit to the Mercedes-Benz Museum by Randy Roths
by Randy Roths
Early this December, my wife and I took an amazing trip to see the German Christmas Markets. For part of our visit we based ourselves out of Stuttgart, the home of the Mercedes Museum. Our visit to the architecturally stunning museum took us a whole day. You are encouraged to begin your tour on the eighth floor and work your way down, as the exhibits are presented chronologically.
Some of the highlights included a 1893 Benz Vis-à-vis.
When visiting the Mercedes from the 20’s and 30’s I found my favorite car of the Museum, a 1936 500K Special Roadster.
Winding down the circular museum we came upon an interesting find – a 1955 Gullwing.
A side section of interest displayed buses, transportation trucks and even the “Pope-mobile”.
The museum ended with “Road to Emission Free Mobility”. They had an all-electric car built in 2017. I couldn’t believe the advances after seeing the 2022 EQS. The museum ends with a gift shop and café. There is no way to encapsulate all this amazing museum has to offer into a newsletter. I count myself lucky to have been able to visit it.
Attending Bonham and Barrett-Jackson Car Auctions
by Lee Elrick
I had the opportunity to attend two car auctions on Scottsdale, AZ at the start of the year. Both the Bonham and Barrett-Jackson events were exciting and a reminder of the truly remarkable cars that are out there. There were a lot of nice looking MB’s available too!
National Club News
2023 Member Trips to Germany
Mercedes-Benz Club of America offers members a unique travel and adventure experience to the iconic Mercedes-Benz Museum, AMG Factory, Classic Center, Sindelfingen Factories, and much more! For further information, email germantours@mbca.org
Dates:
May 22–27
September 11–16
Monday – Sunday Itinerary attached.
Mercedes Grande
Save the Date!
Sept 9-10, 2023
Indianapolis, IN
https://www.mercedesgrande.org
in association with Artomobilia
The 2023 MERCEDES GRANDE in Indianapolis, Indiana is a celebration of all things MercedesBenz. Four days of Mercedes-Benz Culture, Causes, People, Lifestyle, Technology, and Cars presented by the Mercedes Benz Club of America. Plan now to be a part of this exciting and extraordinary affair!
2023 Florida Miami Grand Prix
May 5-7, 2023
Miami, FL
https://f1miamigp.com
Don’t miss out!
Purchase exclusive MBCA tickets and suite package.
Nomination Process for 2023 Election
This year there are three Director at Large (DAL) and six Regional Director (RD) (Northeast, Midwest, Rocky Mountain, Northwest, Central, and Western Regions) positions to be elected.
If you are interested in being considered, CLICK HERE for more information from The Governance Committee. All Nomination Petitions must be submitted to the National Business Office, to the attention of the Governance Committee, by the May 1 deadline.
Questions or further information? Please contact Governance Committee Chair Laura Simonds at lsimonds97520@gmail.com.
Section Membership News
Our section currently has 67 members.
Welcome to our newest members: David Estes and David Hoffman Here’s a heartfelt thanks to all our renewing members since our last newsletter: Thomas Alm, Joshua Dutcher, Robert Houston, Joseph Kausse, Tom Sincissen, John Sybrant, and Nestor Weigand. Thank you so much for your sustained membership.
Please continue to promote our club with other Mercedes owners so we can increase our numbers. If you meet someone who has specific questions about our club, please direct them to contact us at MBCA.Wichita@aol.com. If you have other ideas about how to improve our membership numbers, please don’t hesitate to contact me (Kirk Filbey) at rkfilbey@gmail.com.
For our current members, please don’t forget to renew your membership so you don’t miss out on future events. Renewing members are the core part of our section.
Thank you all for your sustained membership and support of the club!