Would it be possible to drive through almost the entire USA and make people donate to the ALS Association on the way? Can we combine the celebration of life that is so very much embedded in travelling the good all way through a magnificent country with a serious concern for helping other people that suffer under a still incurable sickness? We say: “Yes!” Welcome to the Drive of Hope, a private charity tour event for the ALS Association (“Community of Hope”).

And this is what we want to do: Bringing a Mercedes sedan (“the Empress”) back home to Germany after more than 50 years in the US. We will drive the old lady through all 48 main land states of the USA, starting in Portland, OR, early July 2017 (planned). We will encourage people on our way to get informed about ALS and the great things the ALS Association does to help the victims of this dreadful disease. Yes, and we will ask for donations, contributions that we go directly to the ALS Association. Duration of ride: Open. Organized and supported by friends and family of the Empress Project, a German-American non-profit team effort.

 

The car:

The story the sedan car we will use started 1965
in Sindelfingen, Germany, the home of Mercedes-Benz. The name of the ‘main actor’: „The Empress“.
This name was given to a Mercedes 190c by its proud American owners over 50 years ago.

It all started with a trip to Germany. An
American couple visited in 1965 Mercedes
Benz in Sindelfingen and they fell in love with light-blue sedan, a Mercedes 190c, the so-called ‘little fin tail’. The boughtthe car, took it for a beautiful trip through Europe to be finally delivered in the USA. Having arrived in California, the new owners had to realize that something was wrong: the car had a manual gearbox. A disaster!