Welcome New Member: Richard Copeland

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1 The Tri Star Mercedes - Benz Club of America LAS VEGAS SECTION Volume 25/6 November/December 2014 Welcome New Member: Richard Copeland <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Special Edition>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Normal Brunch at Spanish Trail Country Club November 16, 2014 at 10:30 Installation of the newly elected Officers and Board Members for the 2015 Term will be at the Holiday Event on December 10, 2014 Mercedes Benz Club of America The Tri Star Las Vegas Section Newsletter 723 S. Casino Center Blvd Las Vegas, NV

2 The TRI STAR Mercedes Benz Club of America Las Vegas Section 723 S Casino Center Blvd. Las Vegas NV Officers: President: Tommy Alvarado woodyreed@gmail.com Vice President: Paul Kruger pjtkruger@hotmail.com Secretary: Beatrice Werner beawsmart@hotmail.com Treasurer: Sara Aguinaga jazztoo@cox.net Board Members: Charles Benson merc250c@embarqmail.com Ann Geskes geskesanntrvl@aol.com Don Loyd Ty Hilbrecht nth@hilbrechtandassociates.com Stephen Marshall srmhealthsyst@aol.com Alan Nelson scotswahae@aol.com Mitch Spoor mitchspoor@yahoo.com Chris Murray is our Webmeister. His address is: cmurray@avissa.com. Please send change of Address to the National Office and to your Editor. The Number for the National Office is: Or go to for Membership information. Our web site is a great source of late breaking schedule changes, of the TRI STAR, and much more! Suggestions for ways to improve the web site are always welcome. Make sure to visit the site often. You will find updates and new information only a click away. Officers for 2015 President - Paul Kruger Vice President - Brigitte Sutherly Secretary - Beatrice Werner Treasurer - Sara Aguinaga Directors: Barbara Cameron, Sherre Frost, Ann Geskes, Ty Hilbrecht, Don Loyd, Sam Mannino, Stephen Marshall, Alan Nelson Past President: Tommy Alvarado

3 Bob Cottam: in Memoriam: Bob passed away earlier this year and the Las Vegas section asked me to reflect on my friendship with him. I first met Bob when he and Alice organized a Utah National Parks tour in I was a member of the MBCA, LV but my first love has always been Porsche. In 2002 I was the proud owner of a new Boxster, and I petitioned Bob and the Las Vegas Section for permission to drive my Boxster in the Utah event. Bob was a car guy no question about that. He was VP of the MBCA, National from 1967 to He also claimed a term as President of the Rolls Royce Club, and while in military service he rallied Porsches in Europe. When he learned that in addition to the Boxster I also owned a 65 Porsche 356 SC Coupe we became vintage car buddies. Bob grew up in Los Angeles, His dad was a prominent Hollywood dentist. Bob worked in a gas station servicing Donald O Connor s Talbot Logo, he went to high school with Allard racer and car collector, Bill Pollack. He lived a few blocks from Indy racer Duke Nalon, and dated Duke s daughter. He counted Phil Hill and Ken Miles as friends. But the story that blew me away was sharing breakfasts, as a pre teen, with Shirley Temple. In the mid 90 s Bob and Alice participated in my No Frills Iron Bottom Motoring Tour, a three day vintage event, in California, for pre 1975 cars. They brought their vintage Mercedes 450 Sedan, and Bob and his car were a valued addition to the event. On March 5, 2006, a group, of otherwise sane, car guys invited me to participate in Once In a 100 Years event. Check the date 3/5/6, and it is obvious that this was a Porsche 356 Club event. I called Bob and asked him to be my co-driver, he jumped at the chance. We toured from Pahrump to Death Valley and were the guests of the Las Vegas PCA at the track. I m pretty sure that was Bob s last run in a 356, and the grin on his face was priceless. I was 75 at the time and Bob was a couple of years older. We both joyfully signed up for the next event on 3/5/2106. If you think we re nuts you might not understand the term car guy. Ed Pasini

4 THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES We both want to thank all who were at the Club s 25 th (Silver) Anniversary. We were humbled and honored to be remembered as Founders of our Las Vegas Mercedes Benz Club - 25 years ago. We started with 6 of us and because of you, look how we have grown. Thanks also for the gift certificate to the Bootlegger Restaurant, it brings back more fond memories as we also had some special times there as a club. The day was even more special, as we as a club celebrated Oktoberfest in fine style!! Keep our club growing, and lets plan on a 30 th. Fondly, Ty and Mercedes Hilbrecht Socks for Tots Donations: Socks for Tots (all needy, large and small and medium sizes) Just bring Socks to every event and Mercedes Hilbrecht or another designated Member will take care of them. If you want to donate a money amount and the Club buys the Socks, that is okay too. Meet Betsy, the Socks Lady.

5 THE TRI STAR STORY By Norman Ty Hilbrecht I was asked, on the occasion of the Club s 25 th Anniversary, to do a short article for the current Tri Star. My assignment arose from the fact that I served as the first editor of our Tri Star from Volume 1 No. 1, published on June 6, 1991 through Volume 8 No. 6, published in November of Beginning in January of 1999 the publication of our Tri Star was assigned to the very competent hands of Marty Dowling, who continued as editor until our current super star Brigitte Sutherly, took over. Reviewing some of the early issues of our Tri Star reminded me of some of the club s early history. Although the club was not formally chartered until later, the Las Vegas Section was active in early Reading some of the matters reported in Volume 1, No. 1 of the Tri Star, shows that the interests of members then were not significantly different than they are today. For example, the Editorial of the first edition of the Tri Star reported the Boards consideration of proposed activities for the coming year. The matter was reported as follows: The highpoint of the June 4 Board Meeting was the report of Jerry Muench s Membership / Activities Committee. Jerry and members Ed Castle and Boo Campbell complied a formidable list of members (and would be members) to recommend to round out the club s 1991 season. One of those suggestions was to hold a monthly Brunch meeting where members (and prospective members) can enjoy a leisurely get together to discuss club goal, activities and projects. The board liked this one so much, they decided to start at once. Clearly, the only way to present the favor of all the early editions of the Tri Star is to make them available for members to peruse. With this in mind, I have prepared two copies of every issue published by the club while I was editor, so the membership can learn about our sometimes colorful history. We will make them available at the anniversary party and turn them over to the club for its use.

6 The Oktoberfest revisited. There was a huge turnout for the 2014 Oktoberfest in conjunction with the 25th Anniversary of the MBCA Las Vegas Section. Plenty of food, good camaraderie, abundance of sunshine outside and a silent auction inside; which proved to be very successful for the treasury. A big THANK YOU goes to all volunteers who set up the tables, prepared wonderful dishes and of course SPECIAL THANKS to our own Grillmeister George De Grella. All had a good time. Beatrice Werner

7 COLORADO SPRINGS NATIONAL EVENT MBCA PIKE'S PEAK SECTION I drove my Mercedes Benz GLK 350 with Bob Burke as my co-driver to Colorado Springs, CO on Aug.29 to 31, 2014 to attend the "Mountains, Movies and Mercedes" national event. It took us 13 hours of driving and almost 900 miles to arrive by 4:30 PM check in at Hampton Inn Air Force Academy where they blocked off 45 rooms for the MB club members coming from Texas, NM, Florida, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and a couple from New Zealand. There were 32 Mercedes Benz cars and 64 club members attended the 3 days Labor day weekend event. Friday night August 29 at 7 PM was the first day gala reception at Colorado Springs MB dealership where we met all the participants savoring heavy hors d'oeuvres and adult beverages, enjoying camaraderie. There were a lot of club members coming from Texas. Saturday, August 30th, 7:30 AM we met our event HQ host Dan and Cheryl Kerbs in their 2-acre house for breakfast, followed by a scenic drive guided tour to the "Garden of the Gods" by 8:30 AM. the most spectacular spot in Colorado Springs. By 9:30 AM we caravanned to Pike's Peak summit 14,110 ft above sea level where the Rangers reserve our star cars parking corral. I felt dizzy when we reached the summit but the world famous Pike's Peak donuts took care of my dizziness. We had a break check contest at Glen Cove going downhill on the coolest break, followed by 1 PM picnic lunch halfway down on the Peak picnic grounds. By 3:30 PM we met again at Broadmore Hotel El Pomar Carriage House Museum for a tour followed by dinner at the iconic English Pub Golden Bee by 5 PM. Sunday, August 31 at 7 AM, we met again at Mountain Vista Community School for Hot Air Balloon breakfast where we saw different balloons of splendor colors launching from a nearby park into the air. We had free time to shop at Burlington mall. By 2 pm we rendezvous again at Colorado Springs airport, where we lined up our star cars at the airport valet parking in the Departure area. Inside we sampled different beers, drinks and water to quench our thirsts. Every driver received a package of instruction CDs, clues and hints for a theme based rally referring to the mystery of our drive-in movie title. We drove all over Colorado Springs, followed the routes to answer questions provided on the written instructions and end up at the event rally terminus HQ by 5 PM for a barbecue dinner catered by Famous Daves but each one of us had to cook their own barbecue steaks. Prizes were awarded to rally winners during dinner. By dusk around 8:30 PM we lined up our star cars in front of the gigantic screen (one side of a 15 ton cargo truck painted white) for a drive-in movie which we all guessed the title "Knight and Day" with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. We tuned in our car radios to the proper frequency for the soundtrack. There was a drivein movie concession stand of pop corn, Twizzlers, sodas and water. The event ended by 10:30 PM and everyone said their good byes and headed to their hotels to check out the next morning for out of town participants. Our return trip home was a 13 hours high speed via 1-70 switchbacks through Western Colorado Ski Resorts and Utah via a detour short drive to Bryce Canyon in late afternoon and a challenging pitch dark night driving on Zion Park zigzagging road and switch backs to 1-15 to Las Vegas, NV. Lolita Machado

8 Las Vegas Section Mercedes Benz Club donated a Mercedes Benz car SEL to American Disabled Veterans for a good cause on Sept 16, Lolita Club President Tommy handing over Benz car keys to VA Commander Two VA Commanders shared photo with Tommy Alvarado and Lolita Machado.

9 Mercedes Benz Club Las Vegas Section HOLIDAY PARTY Wednesday, December 10, 2014 SPANISH TRAIL COUNTRY CLUB 5050 SPANISH TRAIL LANE LAS VEGAS, NV Cocktail Hour: 6pm 7pm Tray passed Hors D Oeuvres-(No Host Bar) Entertainment & Dancing: 8-10pm Dinner: 7pm DINNER: Salad- Mixed Greens with Cranberries, Walnuts &Raspberry Vinaigrette Rolls & Butter Carving Station Buffet Style Service Tenderloin of Beef with Condiments Salmon Wellington Roasted Baby Red Potatoes & Grilled Asparagus DESERT: Chocolate Strawberries, Crème Puff, Éclairs & Petit Fours Name: Guest: Phone: Member: $68.00 per person Guest: $75.00 per person Make Check payable to: MBCA Las Vegas RSVP & Pre-payment required by December 01, 2014 Mail to: Ann Geskes 5132 Tennis Court East Las Vegas, NV P: This is a reminder of receiving half price rates to the Holiday Event, if a member attends nine MBCA events and /or brunches.

10 Cruises, cruises to everywhere. At first to Lake Mead for a Sunday Brunch on the Desert Princess in September, then on to one to Mexico in October. Where are we going next Year???

11 The attached pictures are of a GPS with a lithium-ion battery that was left in its bracket & on the windshield of a vehicle in the sun, and the battery exploded. Please be aware that temperatures are rising during the summer months and it s important to remove items that contain lithium ion batteries to avoid this kind of disaster. Dear Members, share a car story with all members by sending a short report to be published in the Tri Star. Your Editor

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