jrpisha

I second that, Dave. Very jealous here too ...

LovinMercedes

Today was an insane day. Spectacular in every way.

Started with a tour of the AMG plant and was amazed to see how one person builds the entire engine from a block all the way up to full completion. The technology that goes into making sure every single piece of the engine is properly installed and then monitored for quality control is just amazing. You can see how proud each person is of the engine that they produce.

Next I visited the performance center where they have all the one-off cars. The things that they do are amazing and far too exotic to mention in just a few words. Unbelievable stuff.

Then we went to the Sindelfingen plant and watched two production areas. The first production area was the S class body shop assembly plant where we saw the car go from single unpainted panels to a fully assembled frame and body ready to enter the paint shop. All of this done by robots swinging large pieces of metal all over the place perfectly putting them together. Just an amazing sight to see.

The second production area we saw was the finish area for the E class and the CLS. This was a combination of lots of detail work done by individuals as well as robots taking instrument panels and putting them through the smallest of spaces perfectly and attaching them by machinery to the body of the car. Saw the car go from a painted frame to a completed car coming off the production line and just too many amazing things to mention. You just can't believe how this is done until you've seen it for yourself in person.

Finally, I went to the Centre of Excellence and visited with the people that worked on my custom order. They put my car up on a big screen and showed me each and every custom aspect of my order. I was very happy and relieved to see that they got everything done perfectly for the instructions to the plant.

This was even followed by better news when they told that my car had entered production and a VIN number assigned. This is two weeks early. Because of the custom nature of my car, the production cycle will take approximately two weeks and the car should now be finished by the original date production was to start. They told me, among other things, that the custom seats were completed today.

As you can tell, I really had one of the best days of my "car life."

B4 status today. More to come soon!

Terminator2029

This is absolutely great news, and it couldn't better outcome of your trip!

ChuckinTucson

I've watched videos of the robots working, but would love to see it in person. Glad everything is working out so well with your custom order. That is going to be one spectacular automobile.

AppleFan1

I am very happy for you LovinMercedes. It sounds like the trip of a lifetime.

xxGenericSNxx

Sounds amazing. Any chance you got to see the custom workshop/designo part of the factory? Perhaps you could've even seen your own car or parts on the production line!

LovinMercedes

The tour did not include the areas where the different parts are manufactured. They pointed out the buildings but we didn't have enough time to go into them.

We were told that parts for a particular car being manufactured are typically brought to the appropriate area approximately 2 hours before the car gets to that particular station. The coordination of getting each part to each individual station given the differences in each car, in itself, is a miracle. The coordination and sourcing is so involved that one wonders how it gets done with so much accuracy. Truly amazing, logistics at it's best.

hyperion667

kind of envious Lovin' sounds really awesome

Kratos-TM

Man, that sounds so cool.....I'm salivating.....

LovinMercedes

I never thought, as an adult male, I would get up each morning looking forward to seeing if a letter and number have changed.



Still B4 since 9/17.

Got to be any day now.

hyperion667

how long has it been now???


they should throw in some free all weather matts for you

schuk

Where you can track your order?

LovinMercedes

I put my order in back in late March and worked on all my custom options back in April and continuing through May. It's been a very long time but frankly, not a surprise as they explained to me that it takes a long time to custom make all the panels that I am having done.

Even though I understand the wait and it was explained to me in the beginning, I want my car!


You track it through Netstar but you need the help of your dealer as they are the only ones with access to that system.

Terminator2029

Don't worry - Netstar does not reflect the order status in real-time, hence the latency. There is a real human being updating your order as they process paperwork and get status updates from each milestone. A couple of days of delay before you see your next status is a norm. Good luck!

schuk

Meaning giving you an access to Netstar?

Terminator2029

Just ask them to send you a screenshot from Netstar on daily basis. This is the easier (and the only) way to get status updates.

sam9187

+1. In netstar my s63 coupe was showing to be on dock waiting for a ship for 2 weeks. My sales rep called production and was told the car is actually on a ship - California Highway.

sam9187

That's what I continue to do and my sales person is nice enough to send me a screenshot regularly

LovinMercedes

I am very intrigued by the sales rep calling "production". Who and where exactly is "production" as I was not aware such a possibility existed.

sam9187

It exists. I don't know if they are calling MBUSA where they have a specific department that has an updated system or are calling Germany. It happened on several occasion with 2 different dealers in TX where they have called a centralized "production" to get answers or status updates that were not in Netstar.

LovinMercedes

Very interesting. Thank you for that information.

LovinMercedes

I went to the dealership today to get an update on my car. The car is still in B4 status. Hopefully, tomorrow finds B5.

I did however find a special treat that is probably as gorgeous as my car is going to be, maybe...

I wish I was posting pictures of my car but no such luck yet.

Hope you enjoy this beauty.

sam9187

Thanks for posting pics. My coupe was B4 for more than 3 weeks. I am not sure why it was in B4 that long but hopefully yours goes to B5 very soon.

LovinMercedes

I woke up early this morning and went to check my e-mail. I found a nice surprise.

I haven't called the dealer today because it's too early, but I already know the status of my car.

I am so happy and the countdown now starts to get my car on a ship and to California.

The Auburn Brown leather is much darker than shown in these pictures but it comes out light because of the flash. There is an area in the last picture which I have marked which does show the true color of the leather.

Here are a few pictures. I will get more pictures once the car arrives and try to get accurate colors of what the leather looks like.

hyperion667

wow! very nice!


I never understood why those speakers are on the bottom of the door BLOCKED by the seat LOL