Marqued

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500,000 miles later, this single-family Mercedes is still making memories

Photography by LBI Limited

“One owner” — It’s an increasingly rare sight in the classic car world. While owning and caring for an object for decades seems like a foreign task in today’s world of planned obsolescence, there are still classics out there that date back to the owner who first placed the order and picked up the keys. And chances are, they have great stories to tell. This humble 1976 Mercedes-Benz 300D is one of those cars.

Images courtesy of LBI Limited

Currently in the custodianship of collector car enthusiast Adolfo Massari who runs LBI Limited (@lbilimited), this 300D was ordered new in Horizon Blue by his grandfather, Umberto Luciani and has remained in the family since. More than 500,000 miles later, the car is a family photo album on wheels and symbolizes their realization of the American dream. Emigrating from Mozzagrogna, Italy at age 22, Adolfo’s grandfather came to Philadelphia laying electric wiring in roads, and later joining the Army working as a tailor stationed in Germany without speaking much English.

They toured around the whole country in the car. My grandfather hooked up a CB radio to the car for the road trip, and my mom would have call signals. They were “Eagle One,” and the whole family would talk to the truckers in trucker language.

Fast forward 10 years, he was happily married to his Italian bride, Antonietta, and running a successful construction company. Adolfo recalls, “My grandfather saved up a bunch of money and wanted to do something nice for the family, so they all went down to 69th Street in South Philly to the Mercedes dealer there at the time and bought the '76 300D. They said they bought the diesel version because if they ever wanted to go back to Italy and bring the car, diesel was cheaper. For some reason, they didn’t get the turbo diesel — just the base diesel, the one that can't get out of its own way. My mom and my uncle helped him pick out the color for the pin-striping on the side of it.”

Collector Profile: Adolfo Massari Mercedes 300DCollector Profile: Adolfo Massari Mercedes 300D

Images courtesy of LBI Limited

I remember being in the backseat of that and the distinct Mercedes smell. It's a weird, rubbery, typical German car smell. Every time I get in the car, I smell that, and it's comforting.

The Luciani’s were also keen on adventure, “that year they toured around the whole country in the car. My grandfather hooked up a CB radio to the car for the road trip, and my mom would have call signals. They were “Eagle One,” and the whole family would talk to the truckers in trucker language. Every major stop they made, my mom, who's an artist, kept a scrapbook, which is really cool to look back at now. When they came back from the trip, they drove it daily. They put something like 300,000 miles on the car through the late '90s”, Adolfo continues.

Adolfo's mom's scrapbook chronicling their road trip in 1976, surrounded by brochures from the places they visited

When Adolfo was born, he was immediately woven into the car's story as well, “when I was a kid, I would have trouble sleeping, so my grandmother would put me in the back of the Mercedes. That was the only way I would fall asleep. She would drive me around the neighborhood and I'd eventually fall asleep. I remember being in the backseat of that and the distinct Mercedes smell. It's a weird, rubbery, typical German car smell. Every time I get in the car, I smell that, and it's comforting.” Now a leading classic car purveyor, Adolfo attributes some of these early memories to his passion for cars that have played a large role in his career.

In the late ‘90s, Nonno Umberto finally upgraded to a new S-Class and shipped the 300D to Italy to serve as the family’s runabout whilst visiting. Later, he fell sick and was unable to go back and see the car or drive it again. Adolfo stepped up. Compelled to rescue the car and bring it back to the states he put plans in motion to have it shipped home.

He just burst into tears, just smiling and crying. It just meant the world to him to see his Mercedes again that he hadn't seen for such a long time and that he had so many memories with.

Collector Profile: Adolfo Massari Mercedes 300DCollector Profile: Adolfo Massari Mercedes 300D

Images courtesy of LBI Limited

“It was just sitting there, languishing. It had been sitting there dormant for about eight years at that point. I eventually arranged for the car to be picked up from our family's house in the Abruzzo region where it was and get it to the port. There was all of this bureaucratic stuff I had to go through with the port in Italy and it took two months getting it over here. But once it finally happened, I picked it up from the port. It hadn't been run for many years. I cried seeing the car because I was seeing it for the first time in such a long time, and the memories that we created in that thing, it just made me tear up. I popped the hood, put a battery pack on it, and it started right away.”

Images courtesy of LBI Limited

Adolfo wanted to share the car with his grandfather once more. He recalls, “I surprised him with it at the house. I pulled up into the driveway, and I said, ‘Hey, Nonno Umberto. Come outside. I have something to show you.’ He eventually came outside with his walker, and he was just... totally shocked, totally surprised. He just burst into tears, just smiling and crying. It just meant the world to him to see his Mercedes again that he hadn't seen for such a long time and that he had so many memories with.”

He would tell me, ‘That's how you have to treat these things that you buy and you work hard for.’ It was his old-world mentality.

Photo taken by Adolfo on the the day he reunited his grandfather and grandmother with the car

“To see that whole story come full circle right in front of my eyes, and the fact that I was a part of it, just really made me happy and proud that I did something like that for him prior to his passing away. I got to take him around the block one more time,” Adolfo continues.

The 300D now lives at the LBI Limited facility in Philly, “I just take it out every once in a while. Put some wax on it to keep it nice, like he did. He'd wax it every Sunday without fail. He would tell me, ‘That's how you have to treat these things that you buy and you work hard for.’ It was his old-world mentality. It's going to stay in the family for sure.”

Images courtesy of LBI Limited

The Massari’s single-family ownership with the 300D is nostalgia in its deepest form: 500,000 miles of smiles and stories that remind us why we love cars in the first place. Here’s to another 500,000 miles and keeping the lineage going.

More about LBI Limited

You can keep up with LBI Limited by following them on Instagram @lbilimited and by visiting their website.


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