[the mole]

With this thread I am creating a space for members of the Mercedes Benz Club- India to post Information and pictures of events and cars that are part of this club in Mumbai. This club is affiliated to the International MB clubs across the world and Germany in particular. Club Members are issued cards by Mercedes Benz, Stuttgart and eligible to substantial discounts on Merchandise and parts bought or ordered from the Classic center in Stuttgart. Member's cars in India include Two 170's, a 170V, several Pontons including a rare 219, Some Fin types and a slew of modern era classics including some SL's.

This year we will be having our annual motorcade on Sunday the 1st of February in Mumbai. Cars will be displayed in the parking lot of the MGMO swimming pool between 4:30PM and 6:30PM followed by a motorcade to the Police Gymkhana at Marine Drive concluded by dinner. Members/ Non Members wishing to participate can PM me.

I am attaching some pictures of previous motorcades.

[madhokritesh]

Wow great pics, keep them comming.

[harit]

Originally Posted by the mole

With this thread I am creating a space for members of the Mercedes Benz Club- India to post Information and pictures of events and cars that are part of this club in Mumbai. This club is affiliated to the International MB clubs across the world and Germany in particular. Club Members are issued cards by Mercedes Benz, Stuttgart and eligible to substantial discounts on Merchandise and parts bought or ordered from the Classic center in Stuttgart. Member's cars in India include Two 170's, a 170V, several Pontons including a rare 219, Some Fin types and a slew of modern era classics including some SL's.

This year we will be having our annual motorcade on Sunday the 1st of February in Mumbai. Cars will be displayed in the parking lot of the MGMO swimming pool between 4:30PM and 6:30PM followed by a motorcade to the Police Gymkhana at Marine Drive concluded by dinner. Members/ Non Members wishing to participate can PM me.

I am attaching some pictures of previous motorcades.

Thanks for creating space for the MB club. Hope that we can post comments and crticisms. Let me try.
You are the first person from this club who is actually comming forward to invite us non member Merc owners to take part in the run. Are you sure about us joining the run? The reason for asking is that in the past I have discussed this with office bearers of the club and they were high and mighty in their attitude, not at all forth coming. I was under the impression that they may welcome some classic Mercs in their events. One drive parade I saw had mainly W123's and upwards, not very impressive when you see the number of classic Merc around. While it is true that this club is for Mercs, any Mercs, they could certainly try to get more classic Mercs in their events.
One member with whom I am in regular touch for other matters was chasing me to join up. But the fees were relatively high, activity basically down to one drive per year with maybe breakfast and lunch, more interaction would be expected. Later on this guy told me that he did not get his money's worth.
But now that the Mole has invited us, I will offer him one car and see what happens.
The above was the status 10 months ago, perhaps things have changed.
I do not intend to take on the club and have no personal issues, just commented on past interaction. If this goes well there are many more nice Mercs to bring to liven up their event.

[scooby05]

Originally Posted by harit

Thanks for creating space for the MB club. Hope that we can post comments and crticisms. Let me try.
You are the first person from this club who is actually comming forward to invite us non member Merc owners to take part in the run. Are you sure about us joining the run? The reason for asking is that in the past I have discussed this with office bearers of the club and they were high and mighty in their attitude, not at all forth coming. I was under the impression that they may welcome some classic Mercs in their events. One drive parade I saw had mainly W123's and upwards, not very impressive when you see the number of classic Merc around. While it is true that this club is for Mercs, any Mercs, they could certainly try to get more classic Mercs in their events.
One member with whom I am in regular touch for other matters was chasing me to join up. But the fees were relatively high, activity basically down to one drive per year with maybe breakfast and lunch, more interaction would be expected. Later on this guy told me that he did not get his money's worth.
But now that the Mole has invited us, I will offer him one car and see what happens.
The above was the status 10 months ago, perhaps things have changed.
I do not intend to take on the club and have no personal issues, just commented on past interaction. If this goes well there are many more nice Mercs to bring to liven up their event.

I totally agree with you Harit.
I was also a member of the club, but withdrew, because of the attitude.
I was to be one of the signatories to the intial formation of the articles and memorundum of association. They at that time insisted that any member MUST make it to the casual meeting on sundays at least once a month, and will cease to be a member if he sells off the mercedes, etc. etc.!! I respect Kiran, and Freddy is a nice man. But. as a club one has to be open and have a broad outlook. Why are there only so few members, will tell the story. I own a E3320 cabrio and a SL500, but am not interested in being a member. Many of us withdrew together in I think 2003. I had bought small laple badges from the mercedes classic centre at stuttgart and distributed free to the members at that time, but all this enthusiasm in me got washed off!!

[v12]

Wasnt this club known as the "The 3-pointed star Club" a few years back.

[scooby05]

Originally Posted by v12

Wasnt this club known as the "The 3-pointed star Club" a few years back.

It was the "Three pointers Club" and had to be changed to the present name to get the affiliation/recognition with Mercedes classic club.

[V-16]

I am in agreement with Harit & Scooby.

Almost all the office bearers of the club are my friends, some very close but i have my reservations in joining any club with an attitude. I heve been and are being chased by the committee to join in and I would love to be a member but i dont understand the fee structure of i think Rs.15,000/-.

Its not the amount but what am i getting in return? I was told that there is a lot of interaction and that the fee was to keep unwanted people out. Does that mean that unwanted people cannot afford the price? I dont see why anyone has to put a fee to restrict the entry. One can do it even in a no fee required club. It can be by invitation only so, that keeps the odd community out and have some norms without which one cannot be a member. Then follow them strictly.

Coming back to Amol's invitation, I thank him for it and am readying my Heckflosse for the event. I will also bring my SL/SEL if allowed to participate. I understand guest cars are allowed as one committee member told me.

[540i]

wow.....amazing to know whats going on

[the mole]

Dear Harit, Scooby and Gogi...The Mahatma once said " Be the change you want to see in the world"

I look at these clubs in the same way be it the Fiat club, The Mercedes club or any other club. To me a club is all about enjoying your motoring in company that you enjoy. The Mercedes Club has changed, I have been a member for the last two years now and I can vouch that it is different from all the experiences you have had in the past, partly because the focus has moved to owning and maintaining classic and collectible mercedes and comming to terms with the problems of owning and maintaining them together as a club. This exists very much in the Fiat club and at the Mercedes club we are moving towards that. I am sure the new young blood in the club will eventually bring in the change.

Some Myths:

As far as club meetings go we meet on the first Sunday of every month at 11:30Am to about 1:30PM. All expenses related to food and drink for these meetings and any other outings is paid for by the club out of the annual subscription charges which i think are reasonable (I am no millionaire). You can stay away from the meetings (the club saves money)

You dont have to own a Mercedes to be a member of the club, the annual subscription is only marginally higher. A large portion of the subscription goes towards International MB club fees, International MB cards etc. (i will eleborate on this later). There are several levels of membership if you are intrested I will eleborate not all of them cost 15,000. But then even MB club in Stuttgart charges Membership Fees.

Hey guys which clubs in Mumbai or any other club on this forum can boast of totally being free of acting high-handed, elitist, exclusivist, but we have to find a balance and the focus must be on the cars and not the people.

In the end I am looking at it as a ocassion to do some serious classic motoring especially with the VCCCI rally being pospotned. So Gentleman I hope you will put all the skepticism aside and join us with your three pointed star beauties.

[harit]

Originally Posted by the mole

Dear Harit, Scooby and Gogi...The Mahatma once said " Be the change you want to see in the world ETC ETC"

The Mahatma said many things, be careful when you quote. He He.

You have cited the Fiat club as an example, and any other club. But there is a huge difference. The FCCCI does not collect any money. there is no corpus. I attended one meet and was amazed at the dedication to Fiat cars. After the small drive which we had when I attended, we all went to a restaurant, drank, ate and shared the bill. So easy, no membership fees, and we enjoyed ourselves. Surely you remember that.

I have/had no issues with the Merc club as such, only I felt that they were a bit stuckup (not at all forthcomming) and that was my issue at that time. Me having a Merc contacted them and then felt that joining them would not be of much use.

As Merc owners we manage to get our cars running, we manage to source parts even for Vintages (pre 1940). But in a way clubs also need us to have good cars for their events. Myself and many others do not require to be pampered at all, recently HVOCT Thane asked for a car for Mood Indigo. I have never met them, they phoned and I sent a car, unfortunately I could not be there. I feel that a club should be proactive. Both club and owners should be comfortable and enjoy the association.

If a car owner tries to throw his weight around just let him be. Anyone unreasonable can exclude himself automatically. There are car owners who insist on getting prizes, royal treatment etc, but those one can ignore.

The officials of any club can be a bit hoity toity (spelling?) and so can some car owners and no club can boast of being totally free of persons acting high-handed, elitist, exclusivist. We do have to find a balance and the focus should remain on the cars and not the people. But you have to interact with the club officials.

About being a millionaire and club fees, well to each his own view. Even a millionaire has money budgeted for a purpose, only he may have more money for a particular purpose than others. So if I have a budget for my hobby, I may prefer to buy some parts for future use and not use the money towards membership fees. In my college days my friend once told me, when his mom gave him money to buy underwear, that he went and spent it in chor bazar on parts. This he really said, what he did is not important and please no comments on this. But it clearly states the situation when money is limited, and it always is even if you are a millionaire.

I will try to PM you to enter my car, and looking forward to some fun. Who knows after the event I may join up. By the way, my 114 coupe lies very often at the venue with the canteen guy.

One suggestion though. If possible please try to get a participation certificate issued to participating cars.

Please take in right spirit, there is no malice towards anyone. By starting this post you have shown us that something is changing! Keep it up

[the mole]

Dear Harit sounds good, I am sure it will be a very enjoyable experience for members and non-members, this year we are hoping to showcase the whole spectrum of models from the vintage 170's to some of the classic and recent classic SL's, I am sure a gathering of all our beauties should be a treat to all MB enthusiasts in the city.

Here is a another club car which is popular participant.

[Atlblkz06]

^^ Thats a beautiful car no doubt but WHY those wheels?! I think they look hideous!

Of course this is your car and you're free to do what you like, but I think you should put in something like this or just stick to stock:

[the mole]

Originally Posted by Atlblkz06

^^ Thats a beautiful car no doubt but WHY those wheels?! I think they look hideous!

Of course this is your car and you're free to do what you like, but I think you should put in something like this or just stick to stock:

This is not my car i wish it were.

As far as I know, this car was bought with these rims, In India where these are cars are very very few in number,once the original rims are misplaced/ damaged by previous owners it takes some doing to re-import original rims, again the restoration and maintainence process is always ongoing and we see a lot of changes on a lot of cars every year, mostly always towards the original spec.

However we encourage our members to bring out their cars even if they are midway through the restoration process, anyways storing them away because of missing original bits never helps the car. The club also of late has started helping members source parts form the classic center in Stuttgart at a 30% discounted price.

[PhantomLord]

Originally Posted by Atlblkz06

^^ Thats a beautiful car no doubt but WHY those wheels?! I think they look hideous!

Well those wheels look like AMG pentas or its clone, and people with Merc classics are crazy about those.

[the mole]

Dear BHP'ians, this is a reminder to you folks about tomorrows ie 1st February event "The Mercedes-Benz club's annual Three Pointer rally".

The program is as follows:

We will meet at 4:30PM at the MGMO swimming pool parking lot at Shivaji Park. Here we will display our cars to the press and general public till 6:30PM. after which we will move in a motorcade to the Police Gymkhana at Marine drive. The club has organized a contributory dinner and fellowship there which should be fun. All participating cars will be issued a participation certificate after dinner.

So come along BHP'ians with your Three Pointer beauties and help us make the event a grand success.