Madiba Merc : Check out the customized S-Class sedan that Mercedes-Benz South African factory workers built for Nelson Mandela.
The S-Class was hand-built in just four days by the workers during their spare time while the car’s parts was donated by the carmaker.
It featured an engraving of South African flag and a personalized license plates : “999 NRM GP” — after Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.
The red Mercedes-Benz 500SE (W126) retired in 1998 is now on display at the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, South Africa.
A red Mercedes-Benz 500SE (W126 S-Class) built specially for Nelson Mandela by workers in Mercedes-Benz South Africa is now on display at the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Nobel Prize winner and the first democratically elected President of South Africa was presented with the special gift upon his release in 1990 after spending 27 years in prison under South Africa’s apartheid regime.
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While receiving the keys to the S-Class in front of 30,000 people on 22 July 1990 at the Sisa Dukasha Stadium, Mandela said the color of car would remind him of the blood spilled by South Africans in the struggle to end the Apartheid system.
Dubbed the Madiba Merc, the customized Mercedes-Benz S-Class featured an engraving of the South African flag and a personalized license plates that read : “999 NRM GP” — after Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.
Ahead of imminent release of their national hero, the S-Class was hand-built in just four days by workers at Mercedes’ East London, South Africa plant during their spare time while the car’s parts was donated by the carmaker.
The special red 500SE was retired in 1998 after a brand new S-Class was handed over to Nelson Mandela during a ceremony where the then Daimler Chrysler AG chairman Prof Jurgen Shrempp announced a billion-rand investment at the South African Mercedes-Benz plant.
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