April / May 2015 The Texas Star Mercedes-Benz Club of America — North Texas Section

North Texas Section Christmas Party - 12/20/2014

Section President, section events. Gayle presented Ron Seifert inspired another Section Leadership with the 2014 Member of entertainer, Suzi Checki, Brett Jurick, President the Year Award. to do a solo song, Santa Baby. Everyone enjoyed Open, Vice President We had some very both performances. Gayle Brewer, Secretary special entertainment Craig Halvorson, Treasurer besides the wonderful The night was sprinkled Thomas Lovell, Membership music played by our with the raffle of 20 favorite DJ, Pete. Our gifts. The evening was Brett Jurick, Newsletter, Webmaster The North Texas Section very own thespian, an event with great food, Ken Muller, Technical Chairman Christmas Party was Gayle Brewer, recited good entertainment, and held at Heritage Ranch Ron Seifert, Events Chairman the poem, A Cajun’s neat gifts from the raffle Golf and Country Club. It Thomas Charles Mako, Ex-Officio Night Before Christmas, and great music for was decorated in Maurice Nahas, Board Member using the Cajun dancing. Thanks to beautiful holiday cheer vernacular, and another Karen and Mic Gene Jurick, Regional Director and the food was poem by Ogden Nash Macmanus and all of Ramzi Baransi, Park Place delicious. Our President called the Boy Who their Section helpers Motorcars Liaison of MBCA, Terry Kiwala Laughed at Santa who made the evening Larry Reeg, Mercedes Benz of Pla- was a special guest, no Liaison Claus. They were both possible. Thanks to Gene Jurick our perfectly portrayed. Terry for making the trip Regional Director was Gayle is always a from Chicago to attend Inside this issue: also a part of our wonderful part of our our party. North Texas Section 1 event. Brett Jurick, our Christmas Party President’s Message / 3 Welcome Upcoming Events 4 Star Tech 2015 5 News/ AMG Petronas 6 World Car Awards / 7 Book Reviews

New & Renewing Members 8 through March 2015 Membership Application 10 Our Sponsors: Mercedes-Benz of Plano 2 Pangea Natural Stone 6 Hagerty 6 Marshall Motors 8 Step By Step Travel 8 Park Place 11 1 The Texas Star

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President’s Message I hope you had a great holiday Please check out our new website at season and are off to a good www.ntx.mbca.org. This site is now hosted by the start in 2015. I am so happy for MBCA National Business Office and is intended to the weather warm up we have provide all of the information you are accustomed to seen recently. This year has from the North Texas Section plus everything that is started out great for The Club available nationally. With all of the great events and Mercedes Benz as well. coming up, I hope to see every one of our 950+ New cars like the GLA, the members at an upcoming event. Please say hi if you upcoming GLE Coupe and of are new or not a regular attender. We will do our very course the awesome new AMG best to make you feel at home. GT. There is lots to love. We have a great year planned for If we do not have your email address, you are missing the North Texas Section. We out on the majority of the communications from The strive to make your experience Club. Please go to www.mbca.org, log in and update enjoyable. WE have great times your info to stay in contact with all we have going on. coming up this year including driving, technical and social events. I think there is Brett Jurick something for everyone. President, North Texas Section

Welcome! The North Texas Section cultural maven or social Check out where the of the Mercedes-Benz mingler, the MBCA North Club of America (MBCA) Texas Section had an competition is and where is dedicated to enhancing upcoming event for you. the ownership experience Check out the Events we are! Mercedes Benz is of the finest automobiles section to see what’s taking the luxury car in the world. We engage in coming up during the a variety of activities year, and for details on market by storm! throughout the year that events that are just over hopefully appeal to a the horizon. broad section of our Wonder How We Are Doing? membership. US LUXURY BRAND SALES Currently our membership Jan/Feb/March Brand totals over 940 members 2015 who are committed to Mercedes-Benz 83,715 furthering their experience BMW 78,492 and enjoyment of their 77,180 cars. Whether you’re a

gear head, performance Cadillac 37,175 driver, rally enthusiast, 40,098 Lincoln 21,478 3 The Texas Star April / May 2015 The Texas Star

Upcoming Events —Here’s what’s happening!

Tenth Annual Mercedes Benz Owners Get Together – May 23, 2015 - Centerville, TX

The Tenth Annual Texas Caravans will leave from Mercedes-Benz Owners' Get Houston, DFW, and the Together will be held Austin area on the morning Saturday, May 23, 2015 in of the event. For more info, Centerville, TX. This event is please contact Joseph open to all who wish to Middleton at 713-487-8197, come, whether you're a or texasbenzmeet13 MBCA member, or not. @gmail.com. Join us for a delicious BBQ North Texas Section signups Directions: lunch at Woody's - Please e-mail Ron Seifert Smokehouse on the at [email protected] From DFW Metroplex northbound side of I-45, by May 20th if you are going Love's Truck Stop followed by a show and to attend. 2500 S I-45 (Exit 272, Fulghum Rd. Exit) shine at Fort Boggy State Hutchins, TX 75141 Park, just 4 miles south of Assemble at 9:45am, depart at 10:15am Centerville. Mercedes Benz USA is moving to Atlanta!

location in Sandy Springs is great for the city, metro Atlanta and for the entire state of Georgia," said Governor Deal. "I want to thank Mercedes-Benz USA and its leadership team for its decision to call Georgia home." As part of the relocation, the automaker plans to hire hundreds of new employees from the Atlanta area. MBUSA will continue to maintain several operational business units in both MBUSA, which is currently 285, the approximately 12- Montvale and Robbinsville, New Jersey. headquartered in Montvale, acre parcel rests in one of Additional details on the new Sandy Springs New Jersey, will construct a Atlanta's largest and most facility, as well as MBUSA's Atlanta recruiting new, state-of-the-art sought-after commercial efforts, will be released in the coming weeks. headquarters facility on a districts, offering numerous greenfield site located at the hotel, retail and restaurant corner of Abernathy and options with easy access to Barfield roads in Sandy public transit and Springs, expected to be Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta completed in early 2018. International Airport. Set near the intersection of "Mercedes-Benz USA's Georgia 400 and Interstate planned headquarters

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April / May 2015 The Texas Star

Star Tech 2015 – MBCA’s Premier Event for 2015

Welcome to StarTech 2015! Our wonderful event will take place in Cincinnati, Ohio June 12-14. We look forward to having a fun and informative National Event with as many of our members as possible. The weekend's events will be centered around our great host hotel, The DoubleTree by Hilton, Cincinnati Airport. Whether you fly in or drive, this hotel is very easy to find, has a secure parking lot, and will be the location for the tech sessions and Saturday Night Soiree.

StarTech 2015 Overall Schedule Friday • 2PM- Vendors register and start setting up for the Show and Shine. • 3PM- StarTech 2015 kick-off with a Show and Shine car show in the hotel parking lot. Registration check-in opens. • 7PM- Welcome Party Sponsored by MBUSA at the Mercedes Benz Diamond Club at Great American Ball park. Saturday • 9AM- Technical Session Block 1; check-in for morning off-site events; vendor area opens. • 12PM- 2-hour lunch break. • 2PM- Technical Session Block 2; check-in for afternoon off-site events. • 6PM- Ladies of Mercedes event (still in the works!) • 7PM- Saturday Night Soiree Sunday • 9AM- Onsite events start for those not going to the Ault Park Concours d’Elegance • 10AM- Ault Park Concours d’Elegance. (Separate tickets must be purchased for this event) For hotel information: Click Here To Register:Click Here To see our speaker lineup: Click Here

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Mercedes Takes Early Luxury Lead, Resurgent Lexus Jumps to No. 2 Mercedes-Benz opened percent gain from the year - “...a best-ever January is the perfect 2015 with a record January earlier period. to take an early lead in the "On the heels of record way to kick of the New Year.” - U.S. luxury race, but a sales in 2014, a best-ever Stephen Cannon, CEO, surging Lexus is nipping at January is the perfect way Mercedes-Benz USA its heels. to kick off the New Year," said Stephen Cannon, CEO 2014’s luxury champ, BMW, of Mercedes-Benz USA, in finds itself in third place a statement. "Our product after the first month. offensive continues in 2015 Mercedes sales rose 8.9 with the launch of the percent to 24,619 vehicles. Mercedes-Maybach S600, a The brand’s biggest gainer fully redesigned light truck among models that sold at lineup and the hero of our least 1,000 units was the Super Bowl spot this year, GL class, which had a 38 the Mercedes-AMG GT S. percent sales jump. Stay tuned." Mercedes sold 1,566 S - class units, good for a 22 Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 The domination continues. Mercedes (30), Sauber- Whether or not you are a fan (14) and Toro Rosso-Renault of Formula 1 auto racing the (12). In the pinnacle of auto absolute domination is racing Mercedes leads the pack nothing short of amazing. In but is followed closely by 2014 Mercedes AMG resurgent Ferrari. Lewis Petronas driver Michael Hamilton leads the way with 43 Hamilton won the F1 points with Sabastian Vettel 40 Championship and MB also points and Nico Rossberg won the Constructors Title. follows close behind with 33. As of this writing, 2 of the 19 Hamilton and Rosberg both Formula 1 races of 2015 driving for Factory Mercedes. have been completed. With 2 races completed and 17 Mercedes AMG PETRONAS to go Mercedes is off to a great has won 1 of those races. start. I am sure many of you do Out of a total of 6 possible not follow this sport. I podium positions, a encourage you to check it out Mercedes powered car has as I recently did and have captured 4 of the 1-2-3 quickly become hooked. You positions. Currently can even see a race in person Mercedes AMG PETRONAS at COTA in Austin the last (76) is in first position in the weekend in October. Championship followed by Ferrari (52), Williams- http://www.formula1.com 6 The Texas Star April / May 2015 The Texas Star

Hattrick for Mercedes-Benz at the "World Car Awards 2015" C-Class is World Stuttgart/New York - Mercedes-Benz wins three categories in the prestigious "World Car Awards 2015". Christoph Horn, Head of Global Communication Passenger Cars Mercedes-Benz and Rob Moran, Director Mercedes-Benz USA Communications, received the awards on behalf of the brand with the three pointed star at a ceremony held on the occasion of the New York International Auto Show.

Particular success was enjoyed by the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, which won the "World Car of the Year 2015 Award". The S-Class Coupé was voted "World Luxury Car 2015", while the Mercedes-AMG GT sports car picked up the award for "World Performance Car 2015".

Mercedes-Benz was the only automobile manufacturer to make it into the final round of the awards with five vehicles. This commanding performance is unprecedented in the 11-year history of the "World Car of the Year" awards and serves to reflect the tremendous popularity of the Stuttgart-based brand among their customers. The international jury for these prestigious awards is made up of 75 renowned automotive journalists.

Mercedes-Benz has found favour with the jury in previous years too: in 2014 the S-Class won the category "World Luxury Car". In 2012 the S 250 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY was the winner in the category "World Green Car", while the same award was taken back in 2007 by the E 320 BlueTEC.

Book Reviews Auto Engine Performance and American Automobile Driveability 4th edition Advertising, 1930-1980: An Illustrated History Chris Johanson Heon Stevenson Goodheart-Willcox, 2015 McFarland, 2008 Hardcover, 528 pages Hardcover, 294 pages http://www.amazon.com/Engine- Performance-Driveability- http://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/ Training-Certification/ book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-3685- dp/1619607794/ 9 A very good introduction to the Although Mercedes-Benz is not a technology of today’s cars, Auto Engine Performance and major focus of this book, it does briefly cover Mercedes- Driveability contains the information technicians need to Benz’s early foray into the U.S. market through a pass the A8 section of the ASE testing battery. Each cooperative agreement with Studebaker-Packard beginning chapter contains numerous color photographs and in 1958 (coincidentally, the last model year for Packard illustrations, and pedagogic features such as objectives, automobiles). Studebaker-Packard sold Mercedes-Benz terms, summary, review questions, and examples of basic models, including the 300SL (an ad is featured on page and advanced ASE certification-type questions. 225), through the Studebaker-Packard dealer network. Auto Engine Performance and Driveability is highly As a long-time auto literature collector, I found this book to recommended for anyone wanting a thorough, but general, be very well-researched, organized, and written. Well- introduction to the computers, sensors, and actuators illustrated, American Automobile Advertising is highly controlling the air, fuel, and ignition systems in modern recommended for all auto enthusiasts. It is a very engines. interesting read and is a substantial contribution to automotive literature.

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Welcome New Members! Ronald Abuda Aubry Fogel Katherine Millet Andrew Schildcrout John Alvarado Anthony Foreman Thomas Mitchell Raj Sethi David Barrett Glenn Goodrich Eric Nadler Althaf Syed Raj Bharagav Seralaathan Hari- Thuong Nguyen Kim Thomas haresan Reid Bonner Emmanuel Ogwo Demetria Timmons Peter Harrison Jamila Boyle Clement Osimetha Michael Vasko Shirley Hawkins Sarah Brooke Alvarene Owens Pandora W. Dade Dirk Hilkmann Will Brooks Ryan Petty Hal Waldman James Hogan Darrell Brown Ann and Tim Pletta John Wells James Hooks Jami Brumfield Steve Potaniec Mark White Rachid Konate James D. Caldwell Amanda Price James Wiley Freddy Laba Jasmun Charlton Carton Quarles Tyler Lebaron Manuel Dominguez Sridhar Ravilla Ouida Lee Jim Dupre Chris Ray Habib Loriot-Bettaieb Ehsan Elashyi Valarie Redmond Bell Barbara Lyle Regina Finney Walter Reynolds Kevin Mamminga Cannon Flowers William Robertson

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April / May 2015 The Texas Star

Many Thanks to Our Renewing Members!

David Alkire Edgar Hall Maurice Nahas Mathew Thomas Justin Anderson Martha Harcharik Bouchra Nhairy Carlos Vigil Paul Andrew Jim Harper Willy Orji Keronn Wade Tudor Apostolescu Marcia Harris Robert Perkins Gordon Wagner Henry Arraj Belinda Hart Richard Playter Debra Walker Ronald Aspgren Gary Hayes Kojo Pobee Richard Watson Johnny Bailey Thomas Healy Mike Polosky Karen Elizabeth Harms Watts Jackie Battreal James Holmes David Pope Charles White Hal Bird Leslie Inman Rena Price Izudin Bratanovic Arthur Janes James Purdy Carolyn Buckenham David Jasso Charles Pyne Robert Bucker Bessie Johnson John Razmus Robert Burns Perry Johnson Terry Richards Jacovie Burns Steve Jones Hillary Riley Glenda Camp Jason Kaar Robert Rodgers Joel Carp Rodolfo Kalfayan Bertha Rosales Sri Cherukuri John Kestel Loyd Rye Dominic Chiffolo Gosby King, Jr. Ravi Sattiraju Judith Ann Childton Clarence Knighten Howard Schaeffer Taj Clayton Peggy Knox Jonathon Sehon Esmeraldo Conanan William Kortemeier Ronald Seifert Gerardo Conanan Robert Laster Suzanne Short Robert Craft Pg Legg Betty Lu Smith Debra Digiacomo Changcheng LI Dustin Smith Robert Edwards John Logsdon William Sodt Dianne Egenes Daniel Maher Balaji Srinivasan Jane Fuller Devincent Martin Eric Steen Danny Garner Gloria Mays Walt Sunday Regina Glover Richard McCain Brook Taylor Jose Gomez Don Mechanic Antonio Taylor Rick Hall Marek Nagiel Robert Teeter 9 The Texas Star

April / May 2015 The Texas Star

Mercedes-Benz Club of America Membership Application Please call the National Office at 800-637-2360 to join by phone or go to www.mbca.org/ to join online. Full Name ______Associate Member’s Name ______Street Address ______City ______State ______Zip ______Home Phone ( ) ______Business ( ) ______Email address ______Member’s Occupation ______Mercedes Cars Now Owned ______(list year(s) and model(s)) I hereby apply for membership in the Mercedes-Benz Club of America. ______Date ______! (Signature)

New US Membership Rates Help! $49.00 for one year $95.00 for two years $139.00 for three years Calling All Members... New Canada & Int’l Rates We’re looking for a Car and Driving events $59.00 for one year coordinator to organize Car and Driving events for the North Texas Section. If you are $116.00 for two years interested please contact Brett Jurick at $169.00 for three years [email protected]. Annual dues include six issues of “The Star” each year, plus your local section’s newsletter. New Ideas Wanted Make your check payable to MBCA, and mail it along with We’re always looking for new ideas for events, the application to: get-togethers, drives, overnight tours, etc. If Mercedes-Benz Club of America, Inc. there’s a particular type of event you would like us to host, let us know. Contact Ron Seifert at National Business Office [email protected]. 1907 Lelaray Street Colorado Springs, CO 80909

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Mercedes–Benz Club of America—North Texas Section April / May 2015

Have you visited our new website? www.ntx.mbca.org/ www.facebook.com/mbcantx

Date Event April 11, 2015 Dinner and Theater Night, Rockwall, TX

April 25, 2015 GermanFest in Muenster and Horton Classic Car Museum

May 9, 2015 MBCA Member Appreciation Picnic

May 16, 2015 DIY Tech Session – Park Place, Grapevine

May 23, 2015 10th Annual Mercedes Benz Owners Get Together, Centerville, TX

June 6,2015 Monthly Membership Meeting, Central Market, Plano, TX

June 13, 2015 Day Trip to Edom, TX

July 11, 2015 Monthly Membership Meeting, TBD

July 18, 2015 Day at the Ballpark - Frisco Rough Riders

Event dates, times and locations are subject to change. Please check out our website at http://ntx.mbca.org for the most updated information.

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