I’d been trudging as much as the Alps chalet, my toes stopped of their snowy tracks. A glimmering gold W126 Mercedes-Benz S-Class sat on winter tires, with chains on the rears. It regarded excellent.
Immediately I used to be transported to a storage in Fargo, N.D., that belonged to my grandparents, Grandpa and Nonnie as I referred to as them. It was like…an out of physique expertise. However it didn’t final lengthy.
“Are you OK?” a German Mercedes-Benz spokesperson requested in what certainly was much less time than it felt.
“Yeah, I’m good,” I stated. “This automobile, it takes me again to a different time and place.”
However I wasn’t right here for the traditional S-Class. I used to be on the facet of a mountain in Austria after sleeping in a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter RV van, to then experience in a 2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA EV prototype.
However all through the day I couldn’t cease enthusiastic about that W126. It’s a part of my household historical past.
Joel Feder washing the 1991 Mercedes-Benz 350 SDL
Grandpa’s W126 goes into the farm fields
I used to be solely 5 when my grandpa, Paul Feder, died. My reminiscences of him are restricted, however (stunning nobody) most embrace his final automobile: A custom-ordered blue-on-blue 1991 Mercedes-Benz 350 SDL.
To at the present time, one way or the other, I’ve a digital copy (certainly because of my father) of the automobile’s window sticker. The Ice Blue Metallic on Blue S-Class arrived within the U.S. on the port of Baltimore and was prepped for supply in Chicago. When my grandfather died in November of 1991 the automobile had 8,408 miles on the odometer. He cherished that automobile.
From an early age I held to a few of the similar truths: Vehicles have been meant to be handled with respect and revered as unbelievable feats of engineering.
Paul and Joel Feder
My grandfather, an accountant, owned industrial actual property together with farm land when he died, and would drive that automobile in all places via all the pieces.
A formative reminiscence features a journey to the farm in his diesel-burning Mercedes. We have been driving down the gravel highway between the fields when abruptly he turned abruptly and we have been all of the sudden driving via the fields. I misplaced my thoughts and screamed, “we are able to’t be driving via the fields on this automobile!” I used to be 5.
Ever the calm, cool, and picked up sensible man that he was, Paul Feder smiled and stated, “it’s superb, Kitchik.” He referred to as his grandchildren Kitchiks.
It was not superb. I used to be not superb. My thoughts might merely not comprehend the very fact we have been driving this beautiful blue Mercedes via the sphere. However my grandfather didn’t suppose twice. I received to experience within the mix that day.
Joel Feder diving the mix
When my grandfather died my grandmother, Nonnie, stored the automobile and made it her each day driver with my father shopping for her 1990 Audi V8 quattro (what a machine within the snow on Nokian Hakkapeliittas).
My grandfather’s automotive legacy lived on via my grandmother and my childhood. Nonnie drove the automobile year-round with it using on winter tires within the snowy and really chilly Fargo winters.
She took my sister Hannah and I to a film throughout winter break as soon as, and to make sure the diesel gas didn’t gel within the chilly snap she left the automobile idling within the parking zone your entire film. I freaked out, saying, “Nonnie, somebody’s going to steal the automobile!” At all times calm, she stated: “No, Pricey (everybody was Pricey), I’m locking it with the spare key.” And so she did with the pneumatic lock system going “clunk,” with the precision of a financial institution vault.
Betty Feder’s 2001 Audi A6 with a vanilla and blue inside
When Nonnie moved on from the W126 to what can be her remaining automobile, a Ming Blue on vanilla and blue 2001 Audi A6 4.2, the 350SDL was offered to a household pal. I noticed it two extra instances earlier than it met its remaining destiny: It hit a deer. A tragic finish to a spectacular car.
1988 Mercedes-Benz 300 SE often known as the Goldkäppchen automobile
The Goldkäppchen W126 proves the previous set the longer term
The gold W126 that stopped me in my tracks in Austria was a 1988 Mercedes-Benz 300 SE. The Champagne metallic paint glimmered and its clear Euro-spec headlights and tight bumpers, regarded so elegant versus the uglier headlights and bigger bumpers mandated for U.S.-spec automobiles. It had a roof rack with skis connected to suit the situation.
At Mercedes-Benz it’s often known as the Goldkäppchen automobile, with Goldkäppchen that means Golden Crimson Using Hood. This W126 is owned by Mercedes-Benz Basic, however it’s not formally a part of the 1,100-car assortment. “It’s too good,” Mercedes-Benz Basic spokesperson Peter Becker instructed me.
Solely two folks, Becker and a colleague, care for the Goldkäppchen automobile. It’s like an off-the-books form of factor, regardless of being owned by Mercedes-Benz. It’s additionally the one automobile within the assortment to get fitted with winter tires.
1988 Mercedes-Benz 300 SE often known as the Goldkäppchen automobile
The earlier proprietor, a meticulous German, had a thick stack of receipts for all the upkeep. When Becker and the group bought the automobile it had lived with its earlier proprietor for 10 years, however the remainder of the automobile’s historical past is fuzzy other than being first delivered to a Daimler-Benz dealership in Mannheim on April 29,1988. That’s noteworthy in historical past as Mannheim is town Karl Benz was from.
Being a considerably off-the-books automobile, it’s not normally pushed by the media. One other journalist and pal of mine, Eileen Falkenberg-Hull, occurs to be mates with Becker and noticed the look in my eye upon seeing the Goldkäppchen automobile. She texted Becker and vouched for me. Becker gave the inexperienced mild and minutes later the keys have been in my hand.
The second the laser-cut (a wild notion in 1988) key was positioned in my hand I felt related with my grandparents. Someplace they have been smiling down upon me.
I grabbed the driver-side door deal with and it clicked with the identical bank-vault-like clunk. Immediately I used to be transported once more to the storage in Fargo. Reminiscences.
As I slid into the entrance throne-like gold-cloth-covered seat, the traditional Mercedes-Benz scent overwhelmed my senses. It smelled identical to my grandparent’s W126. I closed my eyes and simply remembered Nonnie on the best way to choose up my buddy Mark for a playdate on Freeway 7 in Minneapolis, Minn. This was the identical day I spotted Nonnie was older than my grandfather when he died and I instructed her, “Nonnie! You would drop lifeless any minute!” She laughed. I used to be a gem of a kid.
1988 Mercedes-Benz 300 SE often known as the Goldkäppchen automobile
Sliding the important thing into the ignition immediately introduced the gauges to life. One flip, two turns, however no glowplug mild or want to attend for the glowplugs to heat. This automobile didn’t have glowplugs as a result of it has a gas-powered 3.0-liter inline-6. The straight-6 was rated at 179 hp and 188 lb-ft of torque despatched to the rear wheels via a 4-speed automated transmission. The turbodiesel-6 in my grandfather’s 1991 350SDL made 136 hp and 228 lb-ft of torque, additionally despatched to the rear wheels via a 4-speed automated. At this time’s S-Class has a 9-speed automated transmission with as much as 791 hp and 1,055 lb-ft of torque.
As I located myself within the automobile I spotted how a lot smaller this W126 was than my grandparent’s 350SDL. The S stood for S-Class, D for diesel, and L for long-wheelbase. Most of that further area was between the wheels for a bigger rear seat. The 350SDL was a U.S.-spec solely automobile that Germany by no means had. Goes to point out at the least as soon as in historical past America received a cooler automobile than the Germans from Mercedes.
1988 Mercedes-Benz 300 SE often known as the Goldkäppchen automobile
The entrance seats have been the identical, albeit coated in gold material somewhat than blue leather-based, as those in my grandparents’ automobile. I might really feel the springs beneath the seat backside as they squished beneath my weight. I used to be absolutely supported with loads of thick assist from the lengthy seat backside.
After maneuvering the automobile for some fast photographs I headed down the mountain with Falkenberg-Hull sitting proper seat. Somebody needed to take photographs to doc this second in historical past. She made it occur.
After the shock and awe that I used to be driving a W126 wore off I began to actually begin being attentive to what it’s prefer to drive. Naturally I started to match it to the 2025 Mercedes-Benz S 580e 4Matic I had simply pushed within the blizzard, which was painted in beautiful China Blue with a Manufaktur Deep White inside. I’d’ve most well-liked a Manufaktur Yacht Blue inside…subsequent time, Mercedes.
The seating place within the W126 is extra upright than in right now’s S-Class, and there’s an enormous quantity of glass across the greenhouse. That plus the skinny pillars made outward imaginative and prescient improbable.
Driving the 1988 Mercedes-Benz 300 SE often known as the Goldkäppchen automobile
Out forward, the hood appeared prefer it was a mile lengthy and a aircraft might land on it. It doesn’t circulation down like right now’s S-Class, so that you see each inch of that entrance finish proper to the upright Mercedes-Benz star.
The three.0-liter inline-6 didn’t have the thrust of right now’s plug-in hybrid S-Class, which has 503 hp and 533 lb-ft of torque. Mashing the pedal within the W126 introduced an achingly gradual kickdown of the 4-speed automated, albeit with a clean however noticeably shift, and a rise in revs. The ahead thrust got here on gradual and constructed. It’s all torque because the revs by no means go excessive into the higher reaches of the tachometer’s vary. It is a momentum automobile.
Becker had the Goldkäppchen automobile on chains within the rear, so in an effort to not destroy this immaculate vehicle I by no means went above 60 kph (37 mph) and stored it to a median cruising velocity of about 45 kph (28 mph).
Contained in the cabin the W126 appeared almost as quiet as right now’s S-Class because the wind whipped round outdoors. No thrum from the inline-6 made its approach into the cabin. The one noise or vibration felt was the rhythm of the chains on the rear tires hitting the pavement.
The delicate suspension blunted each highway influence simply because the 580e 4Matic’s adaptive air suspension smoothers highway imperfections. Going round corners the W126 had extra lean than right now’s S-Class, however it was composed and by no means felt as if it have been flopping throughout itself. It doesn’t roll just like the Lincolns and Buicks my different grandparents additionally had throughout my childhood.
Maybe most stunning was the steering. It’s properly weighted and felt as if I have been transferring the steering rack via honey because the wheel rotated. So clean. There was a little bit of on-center slop, however it wasn’t annoying like in a “trendy” Ineos Grenadier with its circulating ball steering system. The W126 was exact and didn’t wander in its lane just like the Grenadier does.
1988 Mercedes-Benz 300 SE often known as the Goldkäppchen automobile
The similarities between the W126 and its vault-like expertise and right now’s S-Class are hanging. From the proportions to the construct high quality and expertise, it’s related but of a unique period.
Above all else, driving the W126 felt like coming full circle in a part of my automotive, and household, journey. My grandparents’ W126 left the household earlier than I had a license. I by no means drove that automobile. Driving the Goldkäppchen automobile closed the loop on the previous and jogged my memory that even right now’s S-Class carries the burden of a flagship. Marvel what the present S-Class would appear like in Ice Blue Metallic with a blue inside.
Mercedes-Benz paid for journey and lodging so I might drive the CLA EV prototype and sleep in a van on a mountain in a blizzard. I occurred to drive the Goldkäppchen W126, too.
