I Drove 140 Years of Mercedes-Benz Automobiles at Monterey Car Week 2026

It's been a minute since January 29, 1886, the day Carl Benz applied for the patent on his Patent-Motorwagen and invented the personal automobile as we know it. 140 years, six months and 15 days later I landed at SFO, climbed into a $279,900 Mercedes-Maybach S 680, and drove to the Monterey Peninsula where more than 100,000 automotive fanatics descend on the region to celebrate all things automotive; the ancient classics, the gaudy hypercars and everything in between.

We've come a long way from Benz's sputtering Patent-Motorwagen; the Maybach I'm piloting is so advanced it reads the road ahead with a stereo camera and softens the suspension before the pothole arrives, while massaging your backside and warming your chest with a heated seatbelt. As many brands do, Mercedes-Benz leans hard into its heritage during Monterey Car Week, importing several classic vehicles from Stuttgart and its Classic Center as well as some key future product.

My vehicle-by-vehicle test drives at Monterey Car Week encapsulated 140 years of automotive history into a weekend. Here's a chronological play-by-play of the highlights that gave me an overarching perspective on how far we've come, and where we're headed.

First up, the 1886 Patent-Motorwagen that started it all. Carl Benz faced seemingly insurmountable odds when championing his vision for internal combustion transportation. Why mess with success when horses did the job? Confronting this proto-car in 2026 reveals the stark lunacy of Mr. Benz's idea. The Mercedes-Benz Classic Center's faithful replica idles hard enough to shake the leather saddle. "The first seat massager!" said the Classic Center's jovial Nathan Lander.

Steering is a crank that turns the unsprung front wheel through a toothed rack. Speed comes off a sleeve valve under the seat, and the brake is a hand lever acting on the countershaft belt pulley. The windscreen-free driving experience is simple and elemental, yet weirdly thrilling.

My next conquests are the 1938 Mercedes-Benz 320 Streamlined Saloon and 540K Streamliner. Conceived during the peak of Adolf Hitler's autobahn ambitions, these finely engineered cars were built to deliver unrivaled speed, aerodynamic efficiency and comfort. The 320's 3.2-liter inline-6-cylinder engine produced a modest but notable 78-horsepower, while the 540K graduated to a supercharged inline-8-cylinder good for 180 horsepower and a top speed of 185 kph, or 115 mph. Wearing an alloy body that measures a drag coefficient of 0.36, a figure Mercedes-Benz Classic confirmed in its own wind tunnel in 2014, the 540K in particular looks as fast as it feels. Though their performance numbers pale in comparison to modern cars, driving these two on 17-Mile Drive made me feel like Car Week royalty, their stately silhouettes cutting elegant lines across the rugged California coastline. It takes a bit more work to manage the Streamliner due to its gearbox’s weak synchronizers, which require deliberate shifts and the occasional double-declutch in order to avoid grinding. However, the overall vibe was surprisingly refined for the late 1930s, a mood that flipped on its side with my next ride.

Falling on the other side of the spectrum was the Mercedes-Benz 190 E 2.5-16 Evolution II, a street-legal homologation special whose huge wing and flared wheel arches betrayed its DTM racing roots. While only 502 of these pugilists were ever produced, prices dipped at one point so much that this particular example was snapped up by an automotive journalist and modded with race upgrades like further lightweighting and an interior rollcage. The high-revving 2.5-liter inline-4-cylinder engine was a riot to spool up, with its close-ratio 5-speed manual gearbox delivering punchy thrust. Rocketing up and down the coast reminded me how unhinged racecars from the late 1980s and early 1990s were. It's a testimony to the Mercedes-Benz staff's open-mindedness that this unorthodox example is a coveted part of the museum collection. With average sale prices approaching $280,000 and the record above $540,000, this race car for the road speaks to the desirability of motorsports-derived homologation specials.

Leaping ahead to present day, I was treated to a ride in the 1,169 horsepower AMG GT 4-Door Coupe and its camouflaged SUV counterpart. Using axial-flux motor technology for remarkable energy density and efficiency, the sedan version is anticipated to be able to recharge 286 miles of WLTP range in just 10 minutes. As demonstrated on an empty road, acceleration is gut-rearrangingly quick. They also provide convincing simulacra of internal combustion engine noises and gearshifts despite lacking an engine or transmission.

The merging of nostalgia-driven sounds and futuristic tech marks a crucial inflection point between past and future, a moment in time when the baton of legacy is being handed to the next generation of enthusiasts. While inarguably quick and surprisingly efficient, we won't fully comprehend the historical significance of this aggressive new crop of EVs until this moment is well in the rearview mirror.