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Monthly Newsletter of the Pikes Peak Section of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America.
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Welcome new members!
Inside this issue:
View From the Peak 2
Top-Down Drive 3
2016 Potluck Dinner 3
2016 Schedule 4
Bugs Bunny 5
Valentine’s Dinner 5
MHS Events 5
PPS Shirts 6
Desert Stars Event 6 Der Marktplatz 7
Click 7
P3 Phase III 8
DIY Session Recap 8
Tokyo Vision 9
Brazilian Grand Prix 9 C-Class Cabriolet 10
Faraday E-Car 10
Steve Crosby
Luci Cruz-Laporte1998 SLK 230
Eddie Lee
David & Marti Wallner2004 SL 600
Newsletter of the PIKES PEAK SECTION
DECEMBER 2015
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2015 Holiday PartySunday, 13 December 2015
5:00 p.m.It’s holiday time! Sunday, December 13 is when we kick off the season in style with our annual Holiday Party at the El Paso Club in Colorado Springs. This is going to be a memorable evening for our members.
The evening will be a nostalgic nod to the elegance of the past when guys and dolls dressed “to the nines” and enjoyed an evening of conversation, dining, and fun. So, dig out your cummerbunds and bow ties and your sparkly jackets and heels. It’s time to dress up, people!
We’ve changed up the menu a little this year. The entree choices are now prime rib, mixed grill (filet with grilled shrimp), or chicken cordon bleu. There is also a
vegetarian option available upon request. Dessert options include cherry cobbler, devilish chocolate cake, or eggnog bread pudding, all with ice cream. The cost is still a very reasonable $59 per person.
Fill out the reservation form below and send it in today - seating is limited. Dead-line to register is 8 December. Or you can give Judy Bennett a call at 719-576-9737 to get on the guest list.
View From the Peak by Andrew NelsonSection OfficersPresident:Andrew [email protected]
Vice President:Judy [email protected]
Secretary:Mary [email protected]
Treasurer:Julie [email protected]
Directors:Stan [email protected]
Glenn [email protected]
Henry [email protected] Sylvia [email protected]
Dave [email protected]
Webmaster:Robert [email protected]
Editor:Judy [email protected]
Regional Director:Michael [email protected]
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‘Round the BENZ is published monthly by the Pikes Peak Section of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America (MBCA), Inc. Articles and ideas are the opinions of the writers and no authentication is implied as to the validity of any infor-mation contained therein. Explicit permission to republish any article with proper attribution is given to all sections of MBCA, Inc. Articles for publication consideration should be mailed to Pikes Peak Section, MBCA, Attn: Editor, 4335 Penhurst Place, Colorado Springs, CO 80906 or, whenever possible, emailed to: [email protected]. Deadline for receipt is the 18th of the month prior to the month of issue.
Pikes Peak Section members are encouraged to support the advertisers in our newsletter. They help to make this publication possible.
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December is here and that means it’s time for our section’s annual Holi-day Party. If there is only one event you can attend, this is the one. The venue is once
again the historic and elegant El Paso Club in downtown Colorado Springs. Please join us at 5:00 p.m. for a wonder-ful evening of fellowship, fine dining, and fun with your fellow Pikes Peak Section members. We also review the past year and present our section’s 2015 awards. Space is limited so please RSVP no later than 8 December.
The following Saturday, December 19, we will repeat a December tradition and have our Top-Down Lights Drive. We bundle up, put the top down, open all the windows, and tour Christmas lights dis-plays. This is also a pot luck, so please bring a dish to share - crockpot or des-sert, and $10 per car to cover beverages and hospitality costs. Please RSVP so we know how many will attend.
We have a tentative schedule for 2016 section events. We will still be meeting on the third Saturday of every month at 9:00 a.m. at the Egg & I Restaurant for breakfast with a fun run or other sched-uled event to follow. We’ve got many great events planned for 2016 so always
check our newsletter, our Facebook page, or our website for exact details on all the fun things to do.
We’ll also be continuing our Paved Peaks & Passes program, aka P3. For 2016, it will be called “Parks & Rec.” Judy Bennett is currently hard at work locating sites all across the Front Range that will be interesting and educational. Please contact her to sign up and get your passport to these fun drives.
Our Do-It-Yourself Tech Session was another successful outing. Dave Wil-liamson and Mercedes-Benz of Colorado Springs once again proved how valuable membership in the Pikes Peak Section can be. We washed and waxed our cars, changed our oil and filters, fixed fuel lines, and changed light bulbs - to the tune of hundreds of dollars in savings.
It has been another triumphant year for the Mercedes AMG F1 racing team. In another dominant season, they captured both the Drivers and Constructors Cham-pionships for 2015. As of this writing, they have won 15 of 19 scheduled races and are likely to win the season-ending race in Dubai. They’ve been hard at work on the development of the 2016 race car and in all respects, should have another great season next year. However, Ferrari is fast improving their car and will be a much greater challenge to the Mercedes F1 team next year.
As always, drive safe, and I will see you down the road.
AndrewSign up for the Holiday Party today!
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“...there will be
places to go
and lights to
see.”
Top-Down Lights Drive - 19 December 2015Saturday, 19 December 2015
6:00 p.m.
The lights will be bright on the night of 19 December (we hope!) - that’s when we gather to put our tops down and turn up our heaters. Bundle up, Pikes Peak Section, because it’s time for the Top Down Lights Drive. We’ve got a route planned and, weather permitting, the drive will be great.
If you would like to attend, we ask you con-tribute a small dish - cookies or dessert or something more substantial, such as meat-balls are always good. We will be charging
$10 per car to cover the cost of beverages and other hospitality costs.
We plan to meet at Steve & Barb’s house at 8560 Candleflower Circle in Briargate at 6:00 p.m. to drop off our dishes. We won’t linger there since there will be places to go and lights to see. With maps in hand, we’ll venture forth in groups of 4 or 5 cars.
The drive will last approximately 1 to 1-1/2 hours. When we’ve seen our fill, we’ll regroup at Steve and Barb’s to partake of holi-day cheer.
So, sign up and give us your phone num-ber and email address and we’ll make sure you have all the details. Please call Steve or Barb Dierks at 719-593-9557 or email him at [email protected] to RSVP.
2016 Potluck Dinner - 31 January 2016One of the highlights of our annual Sec-tion schedule of events is always our Pot-luck Dinner. This year, we’re holding it on Sunday, January 31, 2016. That’s the week before Super Bowl 50 in San Francisco. This gives you plenty of time to attend both our Potluck and the game - we’re hoping, of course, that the Broncos will be one of the teams playing! And it’s the week before your New Year’s resolutions actually kick in.
So, everyone, break out your favorite dishes to share. We will all bring hearty appetites and expectations of a gustatory
extravaganza! Main dishes such as casse-roles and crockpots, salads, and desserts are on the list of things to bring.
Give Dave Williamson a call at 575-7976 by 25 January to let him know you are coming and what you will be bringing. We’ll have a surprise raffle and we’ll be awarding our Paved Peaks & Passes traveling gnome, the Platinum Posterior Award, to some lucky traveler. Please plan to join us for this fun-filled evening - your taste buds will be glad you did.
Highlights from 2015
Good friends, good food Platinum Posterior Award winners
Auctioneers Jaydn & Glenn
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The Best or Nothing!
The 2016 schedule of events is here. Check out the fun things your Board of Directors has planned for the Pikes Peak Section in 2016.
You’ll notice that we have no particular Fun Runs scheduled for January through March. That’s due to the vagaries of the weather in the Pikes Peak region. We will revert back to the original premise of the Fun Run and decide on a spur-of-the-mo-ment activity the day of the event.
We’ve got two rallies, four dinner events, a visit to the Space Foundation, a ride on the Georgetown train, and some wine and
beer tasting on tap (pun intended!). We’re also going on a picnic with the Mile High Section in July - location and date TBD.
The other highlight of our 2016 calendar is the weekend trip to Mount Rushmore and Devil’s Tower. Planning is underway so stay tuned for details.
So we think we’ve got a great mix of events for 2016 - we’re sure everyone can find something they’d like to do. Pick your favorites and mark your calendars. We’d love to see you on the drive.
2016 Schedule of Events
January
16 Breakfast and Fun Run
31 Annual Potluck at MB-CS
February
6 Bugs Bunny at the Symphony
14 Valentine’s Dinner at Mimi’s
20 Breakfast and Fun Run
March
19 Breakfast and Fun Run
April
16 Breakfast and “Springs” Rally
24 D-I-Y Tech Session
May
21 Breakfast and Monument Trifecta
June
18 Breakfast and Parks & Rec Drive
July
TBA Joint Section Picnic
16 Breakfast and President’s Rally
August
20 Breakfast and Fun Run
27 “Dinner and a Movie”
September
17 Mount Rushmore/Devil’s Tower Weekend
October
11 Section Elections
15 Breakfast and Georgetown Train
November
19 Breakfast and Space Foundation
20 D-I-Y Tech Session
December
11 Holiday Party
17 Top-Down Lights Drive
“...a great mix
of events for
2016 - every-
one can find
something
they’d like to
do.”
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PREVIEW OF COMING ATTRACTIONS!
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Holiday PartyDate: 5 December 2015Location: Mt Vernon Country ClubCost: $65 per personContact: Max Townsend, 303-770-1128, [email protected]
Mile High Section EventsFor more information, visit the MHS website at http://www.milehighmbca.org
Bugs Bunny at the Symphony - 6 February 2016Bugs Bunny at the Symphony celebrates Looney Tunes and its legendary stars! See everyone’s favorites—Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Sylvester, Wile E. Coy-ote, Road Runner and more—projected on the big screen while the Colorado Springs Philharmonic performs the extraordinary original scores live.
This concert has thrilled audiences around the world, spotlighting classics like What’s Opera, Doc?, The Rabbit of Seville, Rhap-sody Rabbit, and Baton Bunny.
Watch your newsletter for details on ticket prices and times.
Plan to take your special someone to Mimi’s Cafe for a specially planned Valentine’s Day dinner. For $30 a per-son, you will enjoy a 3-course meal with beverage, provided from a menu chosen just for us.
Mark Sunday evening, February 14, on your calendar as you plan your 2016 events. See our upcoming Section news-letter for more information and sign-ups. Mary and Stan Bixler are the event plan-ners.
Valentine’s Dinner - 14 February 2016
Breakfast & Fun Run - 20 February 2016We wrap up an action-packed Febru-ary with our monthly breakfast and fun run. Meet us at The Egg & I Restaurant at Citadel Crossing at 9:00 a.m. for a leisurely meal.
We’ll review upcoming events and discuss what we want to do after breakfast, so bring your ideas and weather-permitting, we’ll give it a try.
“Mark
Sunday
evening,
February 14,
on your
calendar....”
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Pikes Peak Section ShirtsTime to show your MBCA spirit, Pikes Peak Section. We’ve found some new shirts that look spectacular - light blue for the ladies and darker blue for the gents.
Your choice of cotton pique or polyester. For more details, please contact Judy Ben-nett at [email protected] or 719-576-9737. The order form is below.
Desert Stars M-B Enthusiasts DinnerThe Desert Stars Section is hosting an event during Auction Week in the Phoe-nix/Scotts-dale, AZ area.
Barrett-Jackson, RM, Gooding and other car related auctions and events take place from Jan 23-31, 2016. The Arizona Con-cours d’Elegance judging at the Biltmore Hotel occurs on Sunday, Jan 24, 2016.
With all the beautiful cars with the stunning prices or unbelievable bargains, and so much eye car-candy, many dazed auction attendees are seen wandering the desert for days. So how do the MBCA Desert Stars celebrate the Auction-mania? They get beautiful cars to gawk at, eat a great meal together, and enjoy the fellowship of the group.
They will gather at Scottsdale’s Maggiano’s Little Italy in a beautiful private dining “room
with a view.” The local Mercedes-Benz dealership, Schumacher European Ltd., will bring new Mercedes-Benz models to explore. Also, behind the scenes tours are being planned during the auction week and will be available for Mercedes-Benz Enthu-siast participants.
So, if you plan to be in the Phoenix area during this time, consider joining the week’s events and finish off the week meeting Desert Stars and other visiting members in a fun location with great food and more cars. You’ll meet some new folks, knowing everyone shares the same love and enthu-siasm for Mercedes-Benz and other great marques.
The Enthusiasts Dinner is on January 30 at Maggiano’s Little Italy, 16405 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, AZ. They require your paid registration by Jan 20, 2016. Call John and Roberta Phin at 480-272-8851 for more information. We look forward to seeing you there.
“...con-
sider joining
the week’s
events....”
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Der MarktplatzE350 Michelin X-ICE Studless Winter Tires 245/40R 18. Set of 4; purchased new last winter and used for less than 1k miles. Tread depth is 10/32d
(New is 10.5/32). The E350 is going to Arizona and will not need winter tires. New was over $800, will sell for $400. Call Bob Lyle 719 209-8207
Wanted. C36 or C43 sedan. 300SEL 6.3 sedan. Call Pete at 719-599-7100 or email [email protected]
Running Board Trade. I have a 2012 ML 350 that needs running boards. I’m looking for someone with a 3rd generation ML who has running boards but re-ally wants rocker panel covers. Let’s trade. It’s not a
hard job to do and we’ll each save over $1000. Contact Dave Car-penter at 719-532-0257 or [email protected]
Roof Box Cargo Carrier. Price reduced! $300 cash only or make an offer. Contact John or Hilda at 548-8322 or [email protected]
2000 SL-500 hardtop (black and perfect) with storage stand for $1,000. Plus I’m interested in purchasing a ‘04/’05 SL-500, Black on Black or Black on Gray, the usual stuff - perfect and low mileage for around $20,000 - $25,000. Call Rick Palmer 597-5241.
Mercedes CD Changer – 6 disk, $80, 002 820 5989, with frame-holder and velcro cover. Call Har-vey at 331-1212.
This just in from the latest edition of the MBCA e-newsletter, Click, a quick wrap-up of news, dis-counts & special events:
Announcing StarFest® 2016! Wednesday August 3rd- Saturday August 6th, 2016. The Minuteman Section invites you to New England for 2016 StarFest®! StarFest® 2016 will take place in Con-necticut’s “Quiet Corner” with lush Green Valleys and picturesque Hilltop Farms, it’s also know as the Antique Capital of Connecticut. From
the seashore near the host hotel, to the lush green-ery near the host track, the two linked by a short trip on I-395. Spectacular scenery and iconic New England towns await your discovery. Registration for StarFest® is open now. For more information, visit MBCA.org.
2016 Germany Tours. Travelers will enjoy guided tours of the Carl Benz Museum in Ladenburg; the Daimler Workshop in Bad Cannstatt; AMG facili-ties in Affalterbach; the Mercedes-Benz Museum and Brand Center in Unterturkheim; the Technical Museum in Sinsheim; the Bad Cannstatt Engine Assembly Plant; the Classic Center in Fellbach and the Sindelfingen assembly plant that covers more ground than the entire principality of Monaco. This trip is $2,500 U.S. per person plus airfare.
For more information please contact Jim O’Sullivan at 843.671.2079 or [email protected]
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Planning for Phase III of our Paved Peaks & Passes driving event is underway. If you haven’t been intrigued by Phases I or II, stand by to have your socks knocked off. Phase III is called Parks & Rec. Inspired by the TV series, your Parks & Rec pass-port will be taking you to small towns in the Front Range and southern Colorado that we haven’t visited yet.
We’re working hard on the passport and ex-
pect to have it operational by 1 April 2016. In addition to the many parks that abound in Colorado, many commemorating notable dates in history, you can expect to see museums, railroads, trading posts, mines, national landmarks, cemeteries, opera houses, gardens, and much, much more.
If you’d like to join in this driving Colorado experience, contact Judy Bennett for infor-mation and to reserve your passport.
Do-It-Yourself Tech Session RecapThe Fall Do-It-Yourself Tech Session was a productive endeavor. Dave Williamson and Mercedes-Benz of Colorado Springs rolled out the welcome mat for the Pikes Peak Section. Five members took advantage of the opportunity to get their hands dirty and save a bucket of money. They changed the oil and filters in a ‘98 ML and replaced a $1.50 lightbulb in a 2000 ML. However, that particular fix actually cost $3 because the driver (won’t say who) dropped the first bulb behind the dash where it immediately became a permanent spare. Fuel lines got unclogged and 2 Star beauties got a fresh wash and coat of wax. All this to the accom-paniment of fresh coffee and donuts, cour-tesy of Dave.
This is one of the many benefits of MBCA membership in general and membership in the Pikes Peak Section specifically. Twice a year, the dealership opens up its service
bays to any of our members to work on their Star cars. From brake jobs to oil changes, to tire swapouts, you can do it all at the meas-ley cost of $10, payable to the Section. They provide service technicians and open the parts department - all gratis to our section.
If you are paying your neighhorhood me-chanic the going rate for maintenance on your Star car, you might want to reconsider, at least for minor repairs. Remember, an oil change can cost upwards of $140. You can do it yourself for the price of the oil ($40). That’s a savings of $100, or a nice dinner out with your honey.
Our next DIY Tech Session is in April - just in time to take off those snow tires, change the oil and the filters and get ready for sum-mer driving. We know Mercedes drivers are savvy shoppers, so considering the savings potential, we hope to see more of you there.
Paved Peaks & Passes, Phase III
“This is one
of the many
benefits
of MBCA
member-
ship....”
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Mercedes AMG’s Nico Rosberg drove flawlessly at the 2015 Formula One Brazil-ian Grand Prix to take out the win. But it was no easy task as his Mercedes team-mate and newly crowned world cham-pion Lewis Hamilton challenged him throughout the race and only really gave up towards the end. The Briton, who in Brazil claimed his seventh fast-est race lap of the season, eventually crossed the line second, approximately 7.7 seconds behind the leader.
Following the Brazilian results, Hamil-ton’s lead in the 2015 Drivers’ Champi-onship extends to 363 points. Rosberg is second with 297 points and Vettel is third with 266 points. In the Construc-
tors’ Championship, Mercedes enjoys 660 points and is followed by Ferrari with 401 points and Williams with 257 points. The final race on the calendar is the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Mercedes Wins Brazilian Grand Prix
Mercedes-Benz is fully embracing the concept of autonomous cars, seeing them as a means to transform the way we inter-act and use cars. We got our first taste of Mercedes’ vision for a world where driv-ing will be optional with the F015 Luxury in Motion concept unveiled at the start of this year, and Mercedes followed it up with the Vision Tokyo concept at the 2015 Tokyo Mo-tor Show.
The Vision Tokyo is in the form of a small, self-driving van and is described as a lounge on wheels aimed at “Generation Z”, i.e. anyone born after 1995. In designing the concept, Mercedes said it wanted to show how the car of the future can be turned into a living space, and in this regard it has loads of connectivity technologies to keep its oc-cupants from getting bored.
Instead of a conventional windscreen, the Vision Tokyo features a continuous stretch of glass panelling that provides excellent visibility while also being capable of dis-playing information. There are also large, wraparound LED screens at the rear, and information can also be presented as three-dimensional holograms within the interior space.
As mentioned, the Vision Tokyo is fully
autonomous. As a pointer to the potential for autonomous operation and the comprehen-sive system of vehicle environment sensors that this requires, one of which is a 360-de-gree camera, there is a fin on the roof that integrates all of the technology .
However, should the vehicle owner want to take over and do some driving, a seat forming part of the main lounge pops out and faces the direction of motion. A steering wheel, too, is then moved from a standby position into a driving position.
Drive comes from a plug-in hybrid setup combining a lithium-ion bat-tery, hydrogen fuel cell stack and electric motor(s). With a full charge of the batteries, the Vision Tokyo should be able to cover approximately 120 miles, with this figure rising to just over 600 miles when a full tank of hydrogen is used. The use of pressure tanks made from carbon fiber-rein-forced plastic was envisaged for the storage of hydrogen in the concept.
Tokyo Vision by Viknesh Vijayenthiran
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In August, we first learned of the plans of Chinese billionaire Jia Yueting for a new electric car company rivaling Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA]. It turns out Yueting’s electric car startup is the same Faraday Future that we reported on previously.
Faraday Future is a company based in Cali-fornia promising to start production of an electric car by as early as 2017. The com-
pany is said to have already hired hundreds of staff, many of whom were handpicked from automakers such as Tesla, Ferrari [NYSE:RACE] and BMW.
One of them was Nick Sampson, a former Tesla executive and currently Faraday’s head of R&D. Speaking with Bloomberg, he revealed that Faraday is looking to invest as much as $1 billion in a new plant located in the United States. Among the states the company is considering building the plant in are California, Georgia, Louisiana and Nevada.
Sampson said Faraday will launch a single
model in 2017 but is looking at as many as seven different cars. One of these is thought to be a high-performance model dubbed the Le Supercar, some teasers for which were previously shown. To stand out from the crowd, Faraday plans to offer nu-merous connectivity options, downloadable apps and subscription-based services.
“Our business model is not based around
moving a car out of the dealer,” Sampson explained. “We envision this like a smart phone—the revenue starts once you get the device in the owners’ hands.”
Interestingly, Faraday is actually just the latest in a long line of Chinese-backed firms looking to start production of eco-friendly vehicles in the U.S. Another is Atieva, a Silicon Valley-based firm founded by for-mer Tesla exec Bernard Tse. Then there’s Karma, which was formed from the ruins of Fisker Automotive and due to start produc-tion of the original Karma sedan at a new plant in Moreno Valley, California.
Faraday Electric Car by Viknesh Vijayenthiran
“...looking to
start produc-
tion of eco-
friendly vehicles
in the US.”
Mercedes has a prototype for a new convertible version of the latest-generation Mercedes-Benz C-Class. The car will be
called a C-Class Cabriolet and should be revealed early next year, as a 2017 model.
Like the recently revealed C-Class Coupe, the C-Class Cabrio will be sportier than the C-Class sedan with which it shares its MRA platform.
We can already see that the track of this prototype is wider than that of the sedan, and the car looks to be sitting lower.
As for the roof of the C-Class Cabrio, Mercedes has decided to forgo a retract-able hard-top in favor of a lighter and less expensive soft-top, just as it has with the E-Class and S-Class Cabrio models. The SLK, which is soon to be renamed an SLC, will be sticking with the hard-top option for the time being, though.
C-Class Cabriolet by Viknesh Vijayenthiran
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1 December 2015Board Meeting - 6:00 p.m.Andrew Nelson 719-634-7522
13 December 2015Holiday Party - 5:00 p.m.Judy Bennett 719-576-9737
19 December 2015Top-Down Lights Drive - 6:00 p.m.Steve Dierks 719-593-9557
5 January 2016Board Meeting - 6:00 p.m.Andrew Nelson 719-634-7522
16 January 2016Monthly Breakfast & Fun Run - 9:00 a.m.Andrew Nelson 719-634-7522
31 January 2016Annual Pot Luck Dinner - 6:00 p.m.Dave Williamson 719-575-7976
2 February 2016Board Meeting - 6:00 p.m.Andrew Nelson 719-634-7522
6 Februaryr 2016Bugs Bunny @ the Symphony - 7:30 p.m.Julie Nelson 719-634-7522
14 February 2016Valentine’s Dinner - 6:00 p.m.Stan & Mary Bixler 719-597-1281
20 February 2016Breakfast & Fun Run - 9:00 a.m.Andrew Nelson 719-634-7522
Calendar of Upcoming Events
The Pikes Peak Section Board of Directors meets the First Tuesday of Each Month at Mercedes-Benz of Colorado Springs, 730 Automotive Drive. Meetings start at 6:00 p.m.
All Section members are welcome and encouraged to attend.
Return Service Requested
On the Web at www.mbca.org/pikes_
peak/
To:
‘ROUND THE BENZ
‘Round the BenzEditor
4335 Penhurst Place
Colorado Springs, CO 80906
MBCA Pikes Peak Section
Merry Christmas
