The Henrichshütte in Hattingen has had its prime a few decades – you might think. Because after the pandemic break last year there was again the largest Mercedes fan meeting in Europe with the Schönen Sternen 2021.
Bengt has traveled more than 1,500 kilometers from Sweden in his silver Mercedes 450 SL from 1975 and many have covered even more kilometers to get to Hattingen. Even in Germany, hardly anyone knows the small town in the southern Ruhr valley with around 50,000 inhabitants – let alone abroad. In 1987 the Henrichshütte was shut down due to the continuing decline of the steel industry in the Ruhr area. The blast furnaces went out in 1987; The steelworks and forge made it to 1993 and 2003, before the lights on the industrial culture went out here as well. Of the numerous events that take place annually on the site of the former steelworks, the Daimler-Fantreff Schöne Sterne is the largest.
Despite the bad weather, thousands came to the Ruhr with their owners from home and abroad with their star cruisers. Among them is Bengt with his sharpened 450 SL – silver outside, black inside. “I installed two turbochargers in the SL and the five-speed automatic from the S 65,” explains the Swedish Mercedes fan in solid German, “the V8 has more than 600 hp and probably around 1,000 Nm of torque. Faster than 200 km / h I haven’t driven it yet. I had to cover the entire engine compartment with heat shields – because of the high temperatures of the two turbochargers. ” The journey from the small town, around two hours north of Stockholm, took over 1,500 kilometers. Bengt and his silver roadster were drawn to Hattingen this time after the pandemic-related cancellation of the large Daimler fan meeting last year. A surprising number of the enthusiasts come from Scandinavia – Martin Petterson, for example, came to Schöne Sterne with his 1972 300 SEL 3.5 from the W 109 series. The Swede brought his dream car from the USA to Northern Europe in 2017 – after exporting it in 1977 and making numerous stops in the United States. “The US registration number N 707 JD at that time was the same number as the private aircraft of its owner Joseph H. Deuerling,” says Martin Petterson. It’s not just the cars – more than ever, the stories behind the star models.
Despite the mostly lousy weekend weather, almost nothing goes around the Henrichshütte for two days – more than 1,800 Mercedes vehicles from the bare 190s in accountant equipment to Kuwait editions of the S-Class to the rare SEC gullwing from SGSm Unimog or G-Class – They have all come and brave the modest weather with joy that the event is taking place despite the ongoing pandemic. The next Mercedes fan is currently leathering his gleaming white Mercedes E-Class of the W124 generation – a former fire service vehicle. “The car was in use until 2015 – it took years before I got it in this condition,” says the car collector from Wetzlar, “it was damaged by hail and so I bought the same white production model and converted everything.” The tired 72 hp Mercedes 200 D, however, has not changed and the two stately round lights on the roof do not make the rattling four-cylinder diesel faster. But the radio car took 30 years and which other W124 has double blue lights and partially electric seats?
A few meters further on the site of the rusted Henrichshütte shows that it can also be more exclusive. Like a string of pearls, there is a whole horde of the Mercedes S-Class W 140 series – mostly with a long wheelbase in luxury equipment with curtains etc. Mercedes collector Pascal chauffeured his brilliant silver S 500 from 1994 to the Ruhr area to the fan meeting. The luxury model, full of picks, had a new price of 174,000 D-Marks at the time and, despite its 240,000 kilometers, is hardly worse off than it was when it was delivered on the former smelter site not far from the blast furnace. Like many other models, he is in absolute collector’s condition.
Some come from the Netherlands, Poland, Belgium, Sweden or Norway, some from Ukraine and Hungary. Anyone who listens to the voices thinks that the German Daimler fans are even outnumbered, it is so international. In this weather, the convertible roofs of the various SL generations remain closed despite the sun breaking through, and the gleaming white SEC gullwing conversion from SGS only opens its entrances under a protective tent roof. With just 57 vehicles produced, many people’s dream car from the mid-1980s is now a sought-after collector’s item, some of which found their way to the United Arab Emirates as a wide body.
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