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Prior to 1952, only 34 new Mercedes-Benz
automobiles were registered in the United States, but enthusiasts were
hard at work to form a club. In 1955, Dr. Milton Allen, who lived in
Summit, NJ at the time, petitioned Daimler-Benz in Stuttgart for
permission to use the name and trademark for this purpose. Concurrently,
some Chicago members of the British Mercedes-Benz Club were forming
their own organization. Both of these groups established clubs and were
chartered in 1956. The Chicago group was affiliated with the British
club, and the New Jersey group used the name Mercedes-Benz Club of
America.
Dr. Allen served as the first National President of MBCA, and
interestingly enough, he is still a member. He now resides in Richmond,
Virginia and belongs to the Central Virginia Section.
At the same time that Dr. Allen was organizing things on the eastern
edge of the country, a group of enthusiasts in Los Angeles, led by Bill
Castle, was organizing the Western Region of MBCA, and by September 1956
the club reached from sea to shining sea. When Dr. Allen left office in
1957, the club had already grown to 500 members in 19 states. The
Chicago group merged with MBCA in 1959, and MBCA then became the only
club for Mercedes-Benz enthusiasts in the United States. There are
presently more than 125 factory-authorized Mercedes-Benz clubs in the
world, and MBCA is by far the largest.
The club has grown rapidly since then, and now has over 27,000
members assigned to more than 80 local sections. Each section conducts
its own activities, publishes a newsletter of information about events,
and has its own officers and bylaws. Sections frequently organize joint
events with neighboring sections, and all MBCA members are welcome to
attend any MBCA section event.
The preceding text was copied from the
MBCA website. Additional information about the national
organization, its people and its activities may be obtained there.
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