The driving adventure was supposed to start from Bogotá and head west towards the coffee triangle (Eje Cafetero), the place where the best coffee in the world grows. But a storm changed the itinerary at short notice. Some tunnels and roads leading from Bogotá to the coffee triangle between Medellín and Cali were suddenly no longer safe to drive through due to heavy rain. Road trips in Colombia can be very adventurous – and Colombians often have to be flexible. The Mercedes-Benz Club Colombia proves to be flexible. So the three-day trip is not cancelled, but now simply goes in a different direction. Instead of heading west, we head north from the capital. “Off to El Dorado!”, says club member David Eusse, 58, who is a logistics genius.

El Presidente: Gonzalo Gutiérrez Grau, 67, next to him in the 1964 W 112 his girlfriend Mariluz, 60, is co-founder and president of the automobile club.

An diesem Mittag aber bleiben die Menschen stehen, zücken die Handys und zeigen staunend auf das, was da vor ihren Augen vorbeirollt. Sogar beim Cricket-Spiel der heimischen Mannschaft gegen die Westindischen Inseln wird das Bild im TV kurz eingeblendet – jemand muss es dem Sender vom Handy aus zugespielt haben: drei klassische Mercedes-Benz, die erhaben durch den Verkehr gleiten. Es sind betörend schöne Autos, so makellos herausgeputzt, als kämen sie frisch vom Band: ein 220 SE Coupé der „Heckflossen“-Baureihe 111, ein
190 SL und eine 170 S Limousine, damals „Innen­lenker“ genannt. Chromblitzende Zierleisten, funkelnde Stoßstangen­hörner, majestätische Kühlerhauben, in denen sich die Palmen spiegeln

Witness: Her W 116 has already been used as Ana Gabriela García Ariza’s wedding car. Here she is driving through Villa de Leyva in the S-Class.

Ana Gabriela García Ariza and her W 116.

Early Friday morning, Ana Gabriela García Ariza, 45, a lawyer by profession, picks up the reporters from the El Dorado hotel. Bogotá’s international airport also bears the name “El Dorado”. According to legend, gold treasure is said to lie at the bottom of a lake nearby, sunk by the chief of the indigenous Muisca. And the road trip now takes us exactly there.

Ana Gabriela drives up to the hotel in her 280 SE, built in 1979. She very lovingly and surprisingly calls her stately classic “el niño”. The photographer is carrying a lot of equipment and is pleased with the large boot of the S-Class. From the capital Bogotá, a good 2,600 metres above sea level, with eight million inhabitants, we head to the neighbouring city of La Calera.

Glorious panorama: Around 2,000 metres above sea level, lush green and very fertile.

Lush green.

 The landscape is lush green, the clouds are almost within reach at still around 2,000 metres above sea level. This is the meeting place for the other Mercedes aficionados. One by one, the club members arrive: in another W 116, a 450 SEL, a W 113, a R 107, three W 123s, two W 201s, a W 124, plus two rarities from the early 1950s: a 170 Sb (W 191) and a 300 Sc (W 188). 

The latter two attract the enraptured glances of passers-by in particular. The journey continues to Sesquilé. Close by: the lagoon of Guatavita, the former capital of the Muisca and the source of the legend of El Dorado.

Steeped in legend, the lagoon is located in the middle of a nature reserve.

 “I’ve owned the W 116 for a good 20 years, having bought it from my step­father,” says Ana Gabriela. “The 280 SE has accompanied me in the most important moments of my life, for example at my wedding 13 years ago. My sister also rode in the car on her wedding day.” The W 116 is not her only classic. She also owns a W 123 from 1981 and a W 124 built in 1995. She likes to roll up to the start of rallies with her cars. The mother to one daughter has already won several trophies at racing events. She can also do a lot of repairs and adjustments herself, should that ever be necessary. “That’s definitely an advantage at rally events.” How did she get into car racing? Ana Gabriela doesn’t have to think twice: “Since my earliest youth, I have adored the former Swedish rally driver and Mercedes-Benz brand ambassador Ewy Rosqvist.”

An diesem Mittag aber bleiben die Menschen stehen, zücken die Handys und zeigen staunend auf das, was da vor ihren Augen vorbeirollt. Sogar beim Cricket-Spiel der heimischen Mannschaft gegen die Westindischen Inseln wird das Bild im TV kurz eingeblendet – jemand muss es dem Sender vom Handy aus zugespielt haben: drei klassische Mercedes-Benz, die erhaben durch den Verkehr gleiten. Es sind betörend schöne Autos, so makellos herausgeputzt, als kämen sie frisch vom Band: ein 220 SE Coupé der „Heckflossen“-Baureihe 111, ein
190 SL und eine 170 S Limousine, damals „Innen­lenker“ genannt. Chromblitzende Zierleisten, funkelnde Stoßstangen­hörner, majestätische Kühlerhauben, in denen sich die Palmen spiegeln

Street festival: The club travels through Ráquira which awakens a folk festival mood.

Colourful classics.

Inside the other yellow, red, green, silver and black classics sit expectant men and women, families with children, who have a driving adventure of around 500 kilometres ahead of them. The youngest participant on the road trip is just three; the oldest, Álvaro Vargas, is already 84 years old. 

Álvaro Vargas and his W 191.

Álvaro even speaks a little German. Why is that? “In the early 1960s, I did a two-year apprenticeship in Germany to become a spare parts specialist,” says Álvaro.

“I learned the language there, but I forgot a lot of it long ago. The German language is a difficult one.” He has owned his W 191, built in 1953, since 1966 – almost six decades now. Álvaro explains that he bought the car from someone called Hans back then. And it wasn’t at all easy for him to import the car from Germany to Colombia.  This took several years. But the car was worth every conceivable effort and every expense. “In the last ten or twelve years, I have hardly ever driven the 170, at most taking it to vehicle exhibitions or only covering very short distances. In the years before that, oh, what am I saying, in the decades before that, it was my extremely reliable everyday car,” says Álvaro, who opened a Mercedes-Benz spare parts shop in Colombia in 1978 and also raced for ten years before that, becoming Colombian runner-up in 1971 and even national champion in 1972.

He has brought his prized vehicle to the meeting point on a trailer, but drives it on the roads to join in with the club outing. It’s a matter of honour, he won’t let it be taken away from him. He is just as happy as everyone else that he and his car are along for the adventure trip through the fantastic El Dorado country. By the roadside now: the Sisga reservoir; later, the picturesque towns of Sutamarchán, Samacá and Ráquira. There are fields of flowers, peach orchards, olive groves and even vineyards on the slopes of the mountains. It’s about 180 kilometres from Bogotá to the day’s destination, Villa de Leyva, probably one of the most beautiful and also most popular communities in Colombia among tourists. The old colonial town with its huge plaza, mostly two-storey houses and historic cobblestone streets has often been “the location of historical, also international film productions,” says Ana Gabriela. Shortly before checking into the sophisticated hotel, El Duruelo, Álvaro, who always seems much younger at the wheel, says something that sounds a bit bizarre at first, but which the Mercedes-Benz aficionado means very seriously: “When I get buried, the star will accompany me. Just as it has my whole life.”

Dream road: Álvaro steers his 170 Sb through the mountains of Boyacá.

An diesem Mittag aber bleiben die Menschen stehen, zücken die Handys und zeigen staunend auf das, was da vor ihren Augen vorbeirollt. Sogar beim Cricket-Spiel der heimischen Mannschaft gegen die Westindischen Inseln wird das Bild im TV kurz eingeblendet – jemand muss es dem Sender vom Handy aus zugespielt haben: drei klassische Mercedes-Benz, die erhaben durch den Verkehr gleiten. Es sind betörend schöne Autos, so makellos herausgeputzt, als kämen sie frisch vom Band: ein 220 SE Coupé der „Heckflossen“-Baureihe 111, ein
190 SL und eine 170 S Limousine, damals „Innen­lenker“ genannt. Chromblitzende Zierleisten, funkelnde Stoßstangen­hörner, majestätische Kühlerhauben, in denen sich die Palmen spiegeln

Same genes: Gonzalo (on the right) by the W 112 talking to his son Juan Antonio, 33, who is on the road with the W 188.

Juan Antonio Gutiérrez and the W 188.

Juan Antonio, 33, a graduate in business administration, son of club president Gonzalo, has a “strong hereditary predisposition” as far as his passion for classic cars is concerned. The next very beautiful day at the wheel of the 300 Sc (W 188, built in 1955), on the way through breathtaking landscapes so close to the clouds, he says: “My great uncle and my father always repaired and restored their own cars and instilled this passion in me as a small child. My father was even a racing driver at one time. But when mother became pregnant, he decided to concentrate entirely on restorations and repairs, primarily of Mercedes-Benz models.” Like his father, who accompanied the ex­ped­ition together with his girlfriend Mariluz, 60, in the 1964 W 112, he now runs his own classic car repair and restoration workshop in Bogotá. Juan Antonio’s wife Carolina, 32, tells us during an afternoon drive through town that when he comes home from a long day’s work at the workshop, he usually watches videos with repair tutorials.

“He has an undying passion for his work, he just doesn’t get tired,” she says lovingly, inclining her head. “You have to keep your brain going by constantly learning,” Juan Antonio replies and takes a sip of the fragrant coffee from the thermos flask: “I do what I can and what I love. This is perfect for me,” he says.

An diesem Mittag aber bleiben die Menschen stehen, zücken die Handys und zeigen staunend auf das, was da vor ihren Augen vorbeirollt. Sogar beim Cricket-Spiel der heimischen Mannschaft gegen die Westindischen Inseln wird das Bild im TV kurz eingeblendet – jemand muss es dem Sender vom Handy aus zugespielt haben: drei klassische Mercedes-Benz, die erhaben durch den Verkehr gleiten. Es sind betörend schöne Autos, so makellos herausgeputzt, als kämen sie frisch vom Band: ein 220 SE Coupé der „Heckflossen“-Baureihe 111, ein
190 SL und eine 170 S Limousine, damals „Innen­lenker“ genannt. Chromblitzende Zierleisten, funkelnde Stoßstangen­hörner, majestätische Kühlerhauben, in denen sich die Palmen spiegeln

“It’s like three days in paradise.”

Juan Antonio looks after classic cars, young classics and car collections of mostly wealthy families in Bogotá. He created his own El Dorado for Mercedes enthusiasts in the Colombian capital. And the W 188, which along with Álvaro’s W 191 gets the most applause along the route, actually belongs to one of his customers. “Take the Coupé to the club outing, then you can see how it does outside the big city,” the customer said to him.

Juan Antonio’s summary of this road trip shortly before returning to Bogotá? “Cruising through such a fantastic landscape in this dream Coupé and together with all the other Mercedes enthusiasts – quite honestly, it’s like three days in paradise for me!”

Perfect dinner: To round things off, a typical Colombian meal together: lots of meat and vegetables!