Members of the Twin Cities Section of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America gathered early Saturday morning, May 12, 2012 at the new Mercedes-Benz dealership in Minnetonka, Sears Imports, to form up and drive North to Osseo, MN for one of the upper Midwest’s largest vintage, foreign car shows… the InterMarque Spring Kick Off Car Show. About 12 cars showed up at Sears Imports to make the 25 minute drive North to Osseo, another 3 or 4 member cars met the group at the show. The mix, and quality of the cars in attendance was spectacular. From the oldest car in attendance, new (only because his membership expired some time ago!) club member David Steingas’ 1951 220s to one of the newest, Matt Jurcich’s super clean 1999 ‘large and in charge’ S500 Grand Edition, the cars looked great and everyone was eager to check out the Intermarque’s new car show venue. For some time the Intermarque Spring Kick off Car Show was held at St. Paul’s Como Park, this was the first year for the show in Osseo.
Mercedes-Benz Club members, and their cars, that showed up at Sears Imports for the convoy North were:
Mark Flaten – 1971 280SL
Dave Bortner – 1969 300SEL 6.3
Dave Tobin – 1973 280C
David Steingas – 1951 220S Cabriolet
John Olson – 1959 300SL Roadster
Jack Church – 1985 500SL (euro)
Dean Nolde – 1999 SLK230
Daniel Miller – 1970 280SL
Jim Klecker – 1968 280SL
Matt Jurcich – 1999 S500 Grand Edition
Ron Burg – 1971 280SL
A couple of other members met the group in Osseo including:
Ron Scott – 1980 450SLC
Don Stephenson – 1971 280SL
(I think most of the years of the cars mentioned above are correct, a couple could be a few years off).
Any new venue creates challenges to organizers of a car show of the size and scope of the InterMarque’s Spring Kick Off. Our Mercedes-Benz Club was one of the ‘club sponsors’ of the event. We were told we could pick just 7 cars (all had to have been built prior to 1991) to show on the main street of the show. The rest of our club member cars would be pointed to peripheral parking areas, but still be allowed to park together if we arrived together. Well, once we got there, we ended up with about 9 of our cars on the main drag and and a handful of other down the street and around the corner, others, those build after 1991 were parked in an entirely different area, so we were a bit spread out. In the end, there was plenty of room on the main street, so we really all could have parked together… there was more than enough space, but organizers just weren’t sure how it was going to shake out, so they did their best, which was quite good, this first time around. I spoke with them during the show and it sounds like they’ll apply the lessons learned this year to next year’s show. I would guess we’ll all be able to park in the same area next time.
We pitched our E-Z Up tent to provide us with some shade, set up a table with club membership materials and some back issues of the Northern Star for passers by to pick up and take with them. It was a great day with a wide variety of cars in attendance.
There were more British cars than anything, as usual, at this show… from MGs and Triumphs to Jaguars, Rolls Royces and Bentleys. There were a good number of Italian cars including a pair of Maserati Ghiblis and handful of Alfa Romeos, I could only find one Ferrari and it happens to belong to a gentleman I know fairly well, he also has two Mercedes-Benz vehicles as daily drivers… he was even wearing his Mercedes-Benz hat all day while standing next to his Ferrari, I guess he has decent taste. There were plenty of German cars as well… more Mercedes than Porsches or BMWs… thanks to our good club turn out. I haven’t seen so many Citroens in one place since the last time I was in Paris… there seems to be a pretty active Citroen Club here in the Twin Cities.
The InterMarque group is a sort of consortium of car clubs… it is a single organization that sort of compiles information about all the different foreign car clubs in the upper Midwest, their events, website information, etc. and publishes a monthly online newsletter with car show and event information as well as articles and reports that are of interest to all sorts of car enthusiasts. They also hold regular events throughout the Spring and Summer, the group meets every Saturday morning at the Square Peg Diner in Minneapolis every Saturday morning. If you’re into old cars and want to keep up with what is happening in the Twin Cities old car scene you need to sign up to receive email updates from the InterMarque. Visit their website by clicking this link and sign up to receive InterMarque Updates, it’s FREE!
One of the most fun parts of the day for me was driving back home… following John Olson all the way down Plymouth Rd / Xenium Lane / Zachary Lane for about 15 miles. People might not know what he’s driving, but all eyes, through every intersection, were on that 300SL, there is just something about that car, that shape… it absolutely must be one of the all time great designs. They look good in photos, on paper, but nothing prepares you for how they look gliding over the road at speed. A special day indeed.