The 450

Reflections on an enduring Wunderman family heirloom.

First things first: my apologies for getting this one out late! Life happens.

Secondly: if you were one of the lovely people who managed to make it out to PRS on the 13th for the Orpheus screening, only for the storm to knock the power out — or if you were someone who wanted to come, but missed it — the rescheduled date has been set for April 6th! Mark your calendars, and I will send out the ticket link as soon as it is available.

What’s your status symbol? That thing you bought to show both yourself and others that you had ‘made it’, or achieved something big?

To that end, what’s something you aspire to acquire and then perhaps hand down to your successors?

My grandfather, Severin Wunderman, was a watchmaker known as ‘The Time Lord’. His business was status – the communication of it, the celebration of it, and the inheritance of it via a timepiece that grandparents could leave behind for their children, and grandchildren, and so on.

But what was his status symbol?

As the fires in Los Angeles raged this past January, I received a message from a close family member whose home was, unfortunately, one of the first to burn in the Palisades.

Hi Chloë, it read. The garage was spared and Severin’s 450 is in there. Do you want to take it?

I thought, sure, my home in Los Angeles was the only one of the extended family with a covered and secure place to keep the car. Perhaps that was why I was asked to keep it safe for a bit while they sorted out their next steps.

No, I’m giving it to you.

Which is how I ended up the custodian of what is one of the great Wunderman family heirlooms: Severin’s 1978 Mercedes-Benz 450SL, with navy blue leather seats, a cream exterior, and license plate which reads MONTRES.