Free Samples at the Mercedes Benz Tour?

Another great thing to do when staying around Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is to tour the Mercedes Benz manufacturing plant. And we all know that most companies give out free samples of their products to people that go on their factory tour, so we were pretty excited! Most of these luxury automobiles are built in Europe, but this is the only place in North America where a Mercedes is born. This is one of the plants making the Class C Mercedes coupe, but the only place in the world that manufactures their Class G automobiles. So if you see a Mercedes Class G (like the one pictured below), you can be sure it has an Alabama birth certificate.

We made reservations several weeks ago for a tour here, and checked in at the new visitor center on a very rainy morning.

We were really lucky to have reservations for today, since we obviously wouldn't be doing any hiking outside because of the all-day rain.  So we were glad to have an indoor activity that included spending time with a company with a long history of making luxury automobiles.

Our tour would take us for a two-mile hike through some of the most interesting robotic assembly we have ever seen. Then we got to walk beside the line that was doing hand assembly. Our tour guide used words like "supermarket" for the massive parts area, and "marriage" for the station that puts the chassis and frame together. All was very interesting to see, but no pictures were allowed inside the manufacturing plant.

We were allowed to take pictures, however, inside the visitor's center. The center features a museum of some of the earliest cars engineered by Mercedes Benz. This 1927 K Model was created by their chief engineer, Ferdinand Porsche, and had a top speed of 75 mph.

The museum also included some items in the categories of "World's First." Starting from the right, we have the World's First Automobile, designed by Carl Benz in 1886. Next is the World's First Motorcycle from 1885 called the Daimler Riding Car. Moving to the left, the next item is the World's First Motorized Carriage from 1886. The final item on display is the World's First Mark's Wife from 1981.

Besides very old vehicles, there were also very new ones. Mercedes Benz has quite a presence in the racing world, and sporty Mark is standing among some of their sportier models.

As we drove out of the Mercedes Benz parking lot in our old car, we have to admit that we were a little disappointed that they didn't offer us a free sample at the end of our tour!

After 5 days at our camp site at Deerlick Creek Corp of Engineers campground, we were a little sad to leave. It was a great base for exploring this area of Alabama, and a great place to relax. We would have stayed longer, but we had an appointment to keep at our next stop. Come along with us to see where it is!