chenry

Was driving in Orange County (SoCal) on surface streets and traveling in the other direction was a pre-production car…you know all taped up with black tape…front and back end pretty well covered…when I got close I realized it was a MBZ…appeared to be mid-sized and certainly was a 4-door…I’m scratching my head on this one…by default I’m thinking it was an E-Class…the S is out so an S wouldn’t be taped up…or maybe it was the C…the new C is being launched soon right? The more I think about it maybe it was the C…it was a lot more “swoopy” than my w211 and I know the w211 is just getting a minor face lift so the body will be the same (pictures have been posted here)…and this looked a lot different than our cars….oh well I had my camera and everything…too bad two lane road and no way to turn around / So what is the next 4-door MBZ to be launched?

coloboardin

did it look like this?

https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w211/124673-new-e-class-2007-a.html

chenry

yup...and that makes sense...because I was getting an "S" vibe as I looked back as it past...but that didn't make alot of sense at the time...but now that I see this picture that's probably what it was...

why oh why did it have to be on a two lane road where I couldn't turn around...I even had my canon digital SLR with me

Brian_I.

The "5506" S classes (w221) are still taped up coming out of the Carson facility. It could have been that.

ruykava

hmm, but the taped-up E still looks just like an E, at least body-wise. if it was that you should have had no problems recognising it i think. time to practice your handbrake U-turns! oops, can't do that on the MB footbrake now can you :P

Edude

Can someone please tell me WHY they tape up the mule cars? Is it because they are trying to hide the looks of it, or is for some type of the airodynamic testing? anyone ?

DWP

The former. It's to stimulate the mystery/buzz factor of the restyling in the automotive press, and in online places like this forum. Think of it as an automotive striptease ... in the case of the C&D photo, M-B didn't really have to drive the car down an LA freeway to "test" it, as if a restyling needed to be field-tested. M-B would probably have been disappointed if nobody had snapped a "spy" shot.

chenry

I can’t believe this..last night I’m heading to a hockey game with my wife…traveling from Orange County to L.A. (for a Kings game) and on the 605 (freeway) heading north (about 20 miles from where I saw the car last)…I see the car again! No camera with me this time…

MB Fanatic

I'm very dissapointed in you man. However, that looks like the new S class. I saw the same car in OC you are talking about and for sure it had to be an S since there is no way in hell Merceds would redesign the E to look that close to the S from the rear especially.

I guess we will just have to wait and see what the final redesign will look like.

chenry

OK did a little more research and it is certainly the new S I am seeing and not the E…