Mercedes-Benz has compiled a list of all the notable anniversaries it will celebrate in 2023, and it's a long one. Throughout the year, Mercedes-Benz Classic will elaborate on these memories as the dates pass.
The first celebration looks back on an achievement from 40 years ago. 1-20 January 1983 was when Jacky Ickx and Claude Brasseur won the Paris-Dakar Rally in a Mercedes-Benz 280.
20 years before that, the women's classification of the Monte Carlo Rally saw the Ewy Rosqvist/Ursula Wirth team achieve victory in a 220 SE rally car that was campaigned from 20-26 January. But motorsports are not the only highlights of 2023.
On 28 January 1938, Rudolf Caracciola set a world record on the Frankfurt-Darmstadt motorway, achieving a speed of 432.7 kph - just shy of 270 mph. That record stood for 79 years.
The next milestone will be on 9 February. 25 years prior, in 1998, the first A-Class vehicles equipped with the automaker's Electronic Stability Program as standard rolled off the assembly line.
Also in February, the 23rd will see Mercedes celebrate the 95th anniversary of Hans Herrmann's birth. He was a works driver for Mercedes-Benz in 1950, when the automaker reentered motorsport.
4-14 March 1993 is when the Mercedes-Benz 500 GE V8 special edition premiered at the Geneva Motor Show. This is described as "a harbinger of later G models with V8 engines," such as today's G-Class.
5-15 March 1998 saw the unveiling of the 208 model series CLK Cabriolet and the E55 AMG Estate (station wagon) at the Geneva Motor Show, while 14-24 March 1963 was when the W113 230 SL was presented. The "Pagoda" hardtop version was the first sports car in the world with a safety body, but Merc was innovating long before that.
130 years ago, the Chicago World Fair took place between 1 May and 31 October 1893. Here, what was then known as Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft displayed the first operational automobile in the US.
Come 10 May 1993, the 30th birthday of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class 202 model series will take place. This is noteworthy because all cars since were given the "Class" nomenclature.
2 July 1903 was when Camille Jenatzy won the Gordon Bennett race in a private Mercedes-Simplex despite competing in a less powerful 60-horsepower version of the car because the 90-hp version was damaged in a fire.
From 13-21 August 1983, the Mercedes-Benz 190 E 2.3-16 set three world records and nine class records at the high-speed Nardo test track in Italy.
27-31 August 1963 was the occasion of the Spa-Sofia-Liege Rally, which Eugen Bohringer and Klaus Kaiser won in a W113 230 SL.
8 September will mark 70 years since the presentation of the W120-shape 180 to the press in 1953. The "Ponton" saloon, with its elegant design, accounted for up to 80% of Mercedes car production between 1953 and 1959.
9 September will mark the 100th year since the Benz Tropfen racing car achieved success at Monza. The car, named after its teardrop shape, was the world's first competition car with a mid-mounted engine, and we all know how revolutionary that would prove to be.
Sticking with performance vehicles, 9-19 September 1993 is when the C36 AMG, E36 AMG, E60 AMG, and SL60 AMG were revealed at the International Motor Show (IAA).
10 years later, the IAA took place between 9-21 September, and Mercedes used the occasion to premier the stunning SLR McLaren and the Vision CLS design study.
On 12 September 1898, delivery of the world's first car with a four-cylinder engine took place. The Daimler "Phoenix car" had just eight hp to offer from its 2.1-liter engine. 125 years later, Mercedes-AMG is responsible for the world's most powerful production 2.0-liter four-pot: the C63 S E Performance produces 469 hp before hybrid assistance, which gives it a final figure of 671 hp.
The W100 Mercedes-Benz 600 debuted. Also known as the "Grosser," an adaptation of the German word for "grand," this luxurious limo previewed the opulence offered by today's Mercedes-Maybach models.
Mercedes is remembered for safety technology as much as for luxury and motorsport, and the 220-series S-Class is a good reminder of that. This car debuted from 1-11 October 1998 at the Paris Motor Show.
From 4-14 October, Merc will celebrate 95 years since the world premiere of its first passenger car with an eight-cylinder inline engine, the Mercedes-Benz 18/80 hp Nurburg 460.
On the 1st of November 1998, Mika Hakkinen became Formula 1 World Champion, with Team West McLaren-Mercedes also bagging the constructors' title.
19 November 1968 was the occasion of the presentation of the 114 model series ("Stroke/8") coupes in Hockenheim. The nickname comes from the year it premiered, and some 1.9 million models were built since pre-production work began in 1967 and concluded in 1976.
22 December 1913 is when a modified version of the "Blitzen-Benz" set two world records at Brooklands.
23 December 1953 is when the W187 22 Coupe was launched, "establishing the brand's tradition of luxury-class coupes."
There will be much for Merc fans to look back on this year, but we have no doubt that the automaker will continue to look to the future. Numerous exciting models are on the way, including a new AMG GT sports car.
