By Lou Ann Hammond| Also by this reporter
12:40 PM Mar, 02, 2007
Even old money can't buy this car -- yet.
But the Silicon Valley millionaires' assistants will be lining up, or cashing in favors, to buy the latest super car from Mercedes-Benz.
The company is being coy about when it might produce the Ocean Drive, Mercedes first four-door touring car since the '60s when the 300d "Adenauer," named for West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, was put to rest.
For now, it's a one-off "design study" that cost around $3.5 million to build. Wired News was one of the first outlets to have a look at the vehicle that Gorden Wagener, the designer behind the Ocean Drive and president of Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design of North America, guesses will cost around $300,000.
The four-door convertible is reminiscent of classic moments in style and exclusivity, when people had time to take a long drive down the coast in a luxurious, long-wheelbased convertible, scarf flying in the air. But no need for that now -- every seat in the Ocean Drive features its own "airscarf" that vents heat around your neck, while the heated seats warm the rest of you.
The Ocean Drive concept features the S-Class' 510 horsepower, 612 lb-ft of torque, twin-turbo V-12 engine. The on-board equipment will include the latest features developed by Mercedes-Benz, including Brake Assist Plus, the innovative Pre-Safe brake system (in combination with radar-based Distronic Plus) and the Pre-Safe anticipatory occupant protection system.
But Mercedes says it didn't just chop off the top of an S-600 and put a new roof on it. Designers stripped the company's flagship car of its entire bodywork. What remained of the floor assembly was fitted with cross-bracing and reinforcements that gave the convertible the necessary torsional stiffness.
The custom bodywork and elegant lines will be the main selling points for this car. The imposing grille is almost a third larger than the S-Class, but it fits the feel of the concept. The absence of a B-pillar and lack of window frames creates a seamlessness between the exterior and interior that's difficult to find in a four-door vehicle. The soft top is crafted of three layers, including insulation and the interior cloth that matches the interior of the car. The soft-top tucks inside the maple, bird's eye compartment behind the rear seats.
The headlamps are arranged in five banks of 35 high-performance LEDs, each housed in their own sheath of Plexiglas. The LEDs provide both the dipped and the main beam functions, and the top edges incorporate a three-dimensional lid. While I was driving a prototype, the Mercedes rep let me know that the 21-inch wheels with 36 narrow spokes were produced exclusively for the four-door design study and were the only ones available to drive on.
The airy interior was designed at Mercedes Benz Design Center in Como, Italy with fabric shipped from Milan. The Ocean Drive steering wheel is not the usual circular three-spoke design. Wagener took cues from race cars and created a wheel with two spokes that are flat on the bottom, giving the driver more leg room. We've all seen cupholders that look like rubics cubes, but the cupholders in this concept are built into the back seat. With the push of a button, gravity eases the cupholder into position.
Mercedes says its engineers are trying to convey effortless superiority, prestige, elegance, luxury and self-confident enjoyment of pleasure and the good life. If that's the case, they should end the "concept" and produce the car.
cl and now this... each one uglier then the previous one 
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