President’s Corner
Lee Elrick Jr., Section President
Hello again Wichita Section members! Our club has been very busy with activities since the start of the year and as you can see from our calendar, we have all sorts of activities planned for the second half of the year.
Our April event out to Elderslie Farm was really well attended. We were very fortunate to get a personal tour from George Elder and it’s a reminder of all the little hidden treasures that exist in the Wichita area.
We couldn’t have asked for better weather for the McPherson car show in May. It was so gratifying to see the results of the student restoration efforts on the 1953 Mercedes-Benz 300S and I look forward to seeing it presented at Pebble Beach later in the year.
Looking ahead we have the very popular Poker Run coming up along with some area Cars and Coffee events. Don’t forget about our membership meeting officer elections in August! See you soon.
Lee
Recent Events
Visit to Luxury Import Specialists, Saturday March 11th
Tom and Dave and their staff hosted a visit from our section in early March. While we munched on a spread of wonderful food, they walked us through changes and improvement to the shop. After fielding some general car questions, we then walked out onto the shop floor to look over some current projects and they field additional questions. Tom provided a detailed demonstration of how they pull codes from a car to help diagnose problems. One member was able to bring his S550 in so that Tom could perform a full diagnostic on the vehicle. The system not only peered into the car’s various electronic systems, but it was also able to actuate the individual wheel suspension systems and make the car “dance” as part of a suspension check. It was very impressive, and we are fortunate to have a shop like Luxury Import Specialists available to us.
Visit to Elderslie Farm, Saturday April 29th
Elderslie Farm is a small farm near Kechi which has a farm to table restaurant and café, a creamery, blackberry picking, and a sawmill and custom woodworking studio. The owner, George Elder, led a private tour of the farm, focusing on the sawmill and woodworking shop. Our group got to see exactly how the sawmill worked and George provided some fascinating insights into local tree harvesting and how certain types of wood are targeted for specific uses. Following a walk-through of the woodworking shop, the group then headed over to the dining room. In the dining room we had the opportunity to sample a variety of cheeses which are also made right there on the farm, while George answered numerous questions about how the farm operated.
McPherson College Car Show, Saturday May 6th
The 23rd annual Motoring Festival at McPherson College was a hit! The students of McPherson College’s auto restoration program did a great job setting up and running this topnotch car show. Mercedes-Benz was well represented with MBCA members from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas City, and of course Wichita. There was an incredible variety of vehicles on display. During the course of the event, the students presented a 1953 Mercedes 300S cabriolet which was recently accepted for the Pebble Beach car show and auction in August. This car was the culmination of many years of restoration work by numerous McPherson students.
Trip Reports
Tour Auto 2023: Paris to Cannes
by Kirk Filbey
Anne and I traveled to Europe in April and as part of the trip we spent a few days in Paris. While we certainly don’t plan our trips around car events, I seem to stumble upon them! It just so happens the Tour Auto 2023 rally was kicking off in Paris at the Grand Palais Ephemeral right when we were there. I was not able to see the start of the rally but I was able to check out most of the competing vehicles during the kick off event. According to the website, Tour Auto is one of the oldest continuously running car rallies. For the current event, entries consist of cars which participated in the rally between 1951 to 1973. As expected, most of the vehicles I saw were European models (including TWO gullwings!). The rally itself takes place over 6 days as the cars make their way through stages between Paris and Cannes. It was a very impressive event and what a blast it would be to actually participate in it!
National Club News
Mercedes Grande
Save the Date!
September 7-10, Indianapolis, IN
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!
Section Membership News
Our section currently has 69 members.
Welcome to our newest members: David Jensen, Thomas Hollingsworth, and James Rishel
Here’s a heartfelt thanks to all our renewing members since our last newsletter: Lawrence Appenfeller, Paul Courtney, Richard Goodison, Richard McClelland, Stephen Morris, and Dennis Thompson. 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!
Thank you all for your sustained membership and support of the club!