Wisconsin Section News

10th Annual Fish Fry — March 2005

March 18th was our 10th annual Friday Fish Fry dinner! This year we had it at the Alpine Village in Mequon in the great Banquet room. 61 members and guests enjoyed superb dinners. Some came from as far away as Green Bay (Jim and Cathy Loseke), Janesville (Nils Crough), and Racine (Jim Cadwallader). Bill Denton, our Midwest Regional Director, and officer of the MBCA Educational Foundation, came with his wife Jeannie from Chicago, also. Dierk Schulz, from Concours Motors, enlightened us about taking European Mercedes-Benz Delivery. A few of our members who have taken advantage of this program told us what a wonderful experience it is.

The Strolling Musicians serenaded us during dinner. The evening concluded with great Mercedes door prizes. Thanks to Jeff Shesto of Concours Boutique for donating some prizes and giving us the Club discount. It was a nice casual evening to start the weekend. Thank you all for coming. — Jenni Horvath

Spring Technical Session – April, 2005

Forty Nine Mercedes enthusiasts showed up on a beautiful Spring Saturday for the Technical session at Bergstrom's new Enterprise Motorcars dealership. Bergstrom's new building on Victory Drive houses two dealerships – one for Mercedes-Benz, and the other for BMW. The building is a veritable showcase for the best of German engineering, as evidenced by the ultra clean service and maintenance areas. The entrance hall to the Mercedes service area was so spotless that it served as our meeting room for the event, with tables and chairs setup for lunch. The maintenance and service area was equally clean and tidy, with smart looking Snap-On Tool cabinets in each mechanics' area, spotlessly clean floors, and well lit service bays. The BMW service area was housed in the other half of the building, behind the BMW showroom, similar to the Mercedes area. The front half of the building houses the two showrooms, for Bimmers and Benzes, sales and executive offices, a lounge area for customers, restrooms, a boutique store, and a wide screen TV area at the end of the showroom for Mercedes related programs. The outer lots surrounding the building efficiently store many new vehicles, of all models and colors. A very impressive dealership to say the least!

Mike Bye of Berstrom gave us an interesting rundown of the technical progress of Mercedes autos over the last several years, and also talked about the history of Bergstrom's automotive group. Later we moved into the service area where the Bergstrom people had assembled a new ML350, a brand new CLS model, a new SLK sports car, and a new CDI direct injection diesel E-class for us to examine, sit in, kick tires, and generally admire. Mike talked about each model, and answered technical questions regarding each model's HP, torque, driving impressions, unique features, etc. We tried out the convertible hardtop on the SLK several times, and to make a point about the tremendously faster diesel starting times with the new CDI, Mike was able to start the car with only a 2 to 3 SECOND glowplug warming time. Gone with use of German technology are 45 second warmup times, noise, smoke, soot clouds, excessive vibrations, and inconvenience to boot. The CDI cranked up right now, and immediately settled into a muffled idle without the typical diesel clanking sound and cloud of smoke. Mike said this one is a revelation to drive, with the torque equivalent of a gas V-8 engine. The new CLS 4-door coupe is a beautiful machine, even better looking than the pictures.

Afterwards we all moved back to the entrance hall which served as our reception area, where Bergstrom had a wonderful buffet lunch waiting for us. Broiled chicken breast, fruit salad, rolls and butter, potatoes, salad, soft drinks, coffee, and brownies rounded out the menu, and no one left their table hungry. As we finished lunch, Nancy Pearson, our chapter President introduced new members to the crowd, highlighted the upcoming events, and made some announcements, including a Thank you to Mike Bye of Bergstrom Enterprise Motorcars for his enthusiastic presentation. Then hosts Dave Bedore and Colleen Lowry handed out door prizes to all the members. What a great way to get introduced to a new Mercedes facility! — Dave Bedore

First 2005 Drive-to-Dine A Hit

Eighteen people with 10 cars enjoyed the Drive-To-Dine event on April 16th at Cedarburg Coffee Pot. This was a good location in 2004 and Gordy Wolfgram thought it a great place to start the '05 series. He was right. Lunches are quite varied, reasonably priced, and very good. Cars attending were as follows: 2000 CLK320, ’98 C230, ’99 E320, ’61 220SEb, ‘01 E320, ’98 SLK230, ‘99E320 4-matic Wagon, ’03 CLK320 Cabriolet, ’05 Chev Impala, and a VW Passat TDI. (There were no SL’s.) The weather was beautiful for the drive to and from. Thanks, Gordy. — Dean Pearson

Past News

2004 Drive To Dine Recap

Great River Road Rally & Dinner Cruise

Tech Session Unfinished Business...

MBCA Defensive Driving & Autocross–Aug 29, 2004

Drive-to-Dine, Grant's Fintail, Misc. Bits & Pieces

Fall Rallye & Annual Meeting–Oct 25/26, 2003

Lothar Altmann

Songbird Hills Golf Outing–June 28, 2003

Spring Rallye–May 4, 2003