Mercedes-Benz Shows Off Some G, S, and AMG in D-Town
Mercedes-Benz didn’t hold any press conferences at the 2017 DFW Auto Show. It didn’t need to, though. Its cars spoke for themselves.
In their own silent, non-verbal way, they conveyed messages such as “Come take a look at me” and “Take a seat” and “Don’t you like my paint job?” We did…and did…and did.
The S-Class Cabriolet was a beautiful sport yacht of a car, large without seeming lethargic. Its red interior livened it up visually even more.
Its more aggressive cousin, the Mercedes-AMG GT, had some of the S’s curvaceous grace, but the haunches of a car that’s more about open roads than open-top driving.
As good as those cars and the rest of the Mercedes range looked, we were most drawn to the pair of G-Wagons at the event. The white G63 inspired fantasies of finding out how quickly we could get it covered in mud at an off-highway vehicle park. It’s an eye-catching sculpture (seemingly made with only a T-square), but we think it would look even better with some earth on its slab sides and in its tire treads.
However, that wasn’t our favorite G-Class. That distinction goes to the matte olive green G550. It looked as if it was made to fling up some muck off-road. Although it may not have had the power under its hood that the AMG model had (or its cool side pipe finishers), it had more of a military edge to it. The only mall crawling we could picture doing in the G550 was over the rubble of one in a zombie apocalypse – with at least one of the three diffs locked.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
