There he goes ...
02/23/2021
It towered high on the SSK, and to this day it is the distinguishing feature of many Mercedes automobiles. We are talking about the clearly visible Mercedes star that towers above the radiator grille. As radiators became smaller and the grille became more integrated into the front, the star had to move to the hood, but anyone who wanted an upright star, for example on the C-Class, could have it, at least on certain trim levels. Until today. In the new C-Class of the W 206 model series, which is being presented digitally worldwide today, this option will no longer be available.
This means that the mid-range saloons are following in the footsteps of the sports models, which already had to do without the star on the hood in the 1950s (300 SL W198). Instead, the star (larger) was in the radiator instead of on the radiator.
"The C-Class is increasingly perceived by our customers around the world as a sporty saloon within the Mercedes world and the demand for the central star in the radiator grille continues to increase with every model in this model series. Mercedes-Benz is responding to this demand by offering the C-Class exclusively with a central star at market launch," a Mercedes company spokesman told the magazine "auto motor und sport".
Well, quite a few Mercedes new car drivers will miss it and the DTM drivers of the nineties touring car series were not short of sporty with the star on the hood either. For many Benz drivers, it serves as a direction finding aid, as it shows almost exactly the position of the right-hand edge of the vehicle on the road when the seat is in the right position.
And somehow this upright star - mounted with a hinge to promote safety - was so wonderfully nostalgic in the world of aerodynamically sophisticated vehicles, wasn't it?
