{"id":1950139,"date":"2026-05-22T22:06:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T19:06:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1950139"},"modified":"2026-05-22T22:06:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T19:06:45","slug":"world-class-at-the-petersen-museum-condenses-100-years-of-mercedes-benz-into-a-greatest-hits-exhibit-featuring-cars-youve-definitely-never-seen-before","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1950139","title":{"rendered":"‘World-Class’ At The Petersen Museum Condenses 100 Years Of Mercedes-Benz Into A Greatest Hits Exhibit Featuring Cars You’ve Definitely Never Seen Before"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This year marks the 140th anniversary of Carl Benz creating the Patent-Motorwagen<\/a>, so current-day\u00a0Mercedes-Benz has been doing a ton for its milestone birthday. It wasn’t until forty years after the Patent-Motorwagen’s launch that Daimler<\/a> and Benz actually merged, which makes 2026 the nice, clean 100th anniversary of Mercedes-Benz as a brand. The German automaker is one of the most important presences in the industry, with one of the strongest back catalogs of road cars, race cars, prototypes, and beyond, so the task of trying to condense that into a space-constrained museum display is tough to imagine.<\/p>\n

But with the new exhibit “World-Class: 100 Years of Mercedes-Benz,” the folks over at the Petersen Museum<\/a> have managed to do a great job. Opening to the public this Saturday,\u00a0May 23, the exhibit features 42 different vehicles from across all 140 years of Mercedes-Benz’s history, plus some truly fantastic advertising art, and information boards full of good trivia.\u00a0Museum curator\u00a0Shervin Nakhjavani says work started on the exhibit when he joined the museum in August 2024, aiming to give a broad view of the history of the company, as most people in the U.S. only see Mercedes as a relatively younger luxury brand.<\/p>\n

\n\"BenzDaniel Golson\/Jalopnik<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

Only four of the cars are on loan from\u00a0Mercedes itself, with the rest coming from private owners and some well-known collectors,\u00a0and the variety of stuff on display is fantastic.\u00a0I’ve been lucky enough to go to the Mercedes Museum<\/a> in Stuttgart a handful of times, have seen scores of rare and important Benzes at concours and car launches, and I’ve even gone into Mercedes’ secret Holy Halls warehouses. But there were still a few cars in this exhibit that I’ve never seen in person before, and I’m certain that will be the same for basically anyone who walks into the room \u2014 during an opening night panel, a representative from Mercedes-Benz’s Classic Center said there are some cars on display that the company would kill to own.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Before you even make it to the main display inside the museum, there’s an absurd Unimog flatbed transport truck, and a 1966 250SE coupe, and a 1981 240D sedan that have both driven more than 1.3 million miles each, so you’re already off to a good start before walking in. There’s also a few other cool cars in the lobby, including a Brabus Smart Roadster Coupe (sadly not the V6 prototype, though).\u00a0<\/p>\n

“World-Class” is located in the museum’s largest exhibit hall on the ground floor. Right when you walk in, there are two cars from the pre-merger era: a replica Patent-Motorwagen owned by the Petersen, and a 1902 Mercedes Simplex<\/a> 28 HP Tourer on loan from the Keller Collection, who own a quarter of the cars on display. Seen above next to the Simplex is a 1928 Mercedes-Benz S, the first performance model created after the merger.<\/p>\n

\n\"1938Daniel Golson\/Jalopnik<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

A spectacular 1936 540K Cabriolet by Erdmann & Rossi (the photo at the top of this story) takes center stage, originally owned by Barbara Hutton<\/a> and built to her specifications \u2014 she wanted fake exhaust added to the left side of the hood for symmetry, and a four-seat layout because she preferred to be chauffeured. That car is now owned by the Kellers, as is a gorgeous red 1936 500K Cabriolet and the black 1938 540K Autobahnkurier, the only surviving car out of four that won Best of Show at Pebble Beach in 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\"ADaniel Golson\/Jalopnik<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

Next to the Autobahnkurier is one of the Mercedes Museum’s cars, the experimental 1938 540K Stromlinienwagen that could cruise at over 100 mph. It was developed for the 1938 Berlin-Rome race that was ultimately canceled, and it became a test car for Dunlop instead. This streamliner is one of my top cars from the exhibit, but it’s probably upstaged by the 1938 W154 Formula 1 car in the corner. This particular W154 debuted with a win at the N\u00fcrburgring in 1938, driven by\u00a0Dick Seaman<\/a>, who definitely has the best race car driver name of all time, but who did also salute Hitler when he won said race.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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If the above image is causing your brain to short-circuit a bit, don’t fret, you’re not having a stroke. That’s the 1953 300SL “Hobel” prototype on the right, named after the German word for “slicer” because of the hood crease that looks like a carpenter’s plane. It was developed as a successor to the W194 race car, but while ten were planned, only this prototype was built, as Mercedes decided to focus on F1 instead. The Hobel car became a direct influence on the production car, the 300SL Gullwing that was released a year later, which was the Mercedes that really put the brand on the map in the United States.<\/p>\n

\n\"1953Daniel Golson\/Jalopnik<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

The Hobel’s design is so much weirder than the 300SL production car that followed; it looks both a little more French and a little more British, with funky details like the extra gill vents. As a nice point of comparison, this exhibit placed a 1954 300SL coupe next to it, one that itself has some unique design elements because it was a development prototype that was then converted for racing. There’s also a full-production 300SL roadster on display.<\/p>\n

\n\"ClarkDaniel Golson\/Jalopnik<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

When the 300SL was new, it was a favorite of celebrities, race car drivers, and really anyone with taste, but the two main celeb-owned cars on display at the Petersen are a bit more tame. There’s a red 1964 Pagoda SL that was originally owned by Walt Disney (and is still owned by his family), and a fantastic brown 1956 300Sc Cabriolet that was custom-ordered by\u00a0Cary\u00a0Grant. Possibly the largest car on display is a six-door 1971 600\u00a0Pullman Landaulet, one of 59 ever made. It was owned by El\u00a0Hadji Babacar K\u00e9b\u00e9, one of Senegal’s richest men.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Along the outer wall of the display are a perfect white 1984 500SEC 5.4 widebody that was originally AMG’s press car but was ordered by a tobacco industry tycoon, the only W124 Hammer wagon<\/a>, a CLK DTM coupe, and a yellow SLS Black Series. The best wing and fender flares of the exhibit belong to a 190E Evolution II<\/a>, though the CLK GTR Roadster<\/a> gives that wing a run for its money. The 2005 McLaren-Mercedes MP4-20 F1 show car also has a good wing, as does the 1989\u00a0Sauber C9<\/a> \u2014 those Saubers remain some of my favorite race cars ever.<\/p>\n

\n\"1991Daniel Golson\/Jalopnik<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

The SLR Stirling Moss doesn’t have a wing, but it also doesn’t have a windshield or a roof.\u00a0Those were never officially sold in the U.S., so it’s always cool to see one. But my personal favorite car in the exhibit, one that I’ve never seen in real life despite it being owned by\u00a0Mercedes, is the 1991 C112 supercar concept. Like the\u00a0C111 it’s named after, the C112 was built as a technical showcase, featuring an active suspension system, an automatic rear spoiler, and advanced aerodynamics. I just love the design, which has held up really well, and the interior was much nicer than other supercars of the time. Mercedes took almost 700 orders for the car, but the project was canceled before any were sold.\u00a0After three decades of only seeing the press photos and other people’s spottings, it was a thrill to finally see the C112 in person.<\/p>\n

\n\"AnDaniel Golson\/Jalopnik<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

There is also an orange C111<\/a> on display, of course, one of the early rotary-powered cars.\u00a0I haven’t mentioned a bunch of other great cars in the exhibit, like a rear-engine 170H that predated the Beetle, an ultra-cute bus from 1959, and a perfect vintage G-wagen.\u00a0“World-Class: 100\u00a0Years of Mercedes-Benz” will run until April 25, 2027, so you’ve got plenty of time to come see it all \u2014 but as with many of the museum’s previous exhibits, I’m sure some new cars will be rotated in and out over the course of the next year.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year marks the 140th anniversary of Carl Benz creating the Patent-Motorwagen, so current-day\u00a0Mercedes-Benz has been doing a ton for its milestone birthday. It wasn’t until forty years after the Patent-Motorwagen’s launch that Daimler and Benz actually merged, which makes 2026 the nice, clean 100th anniversary of Mercedes-Benz as a brand. The German automaker is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,247],"class_list":["post-1950139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-jalopnik-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1950139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1950139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1950139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1950139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1950139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1950139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}