German Car Zone

After reading and translating this I am truly impressed with this man and his passion for the brand as well as his work. If I ever go to Japan (yeah, right) I would have to meet to this dude.


Masao Kozu - Japan's number one Mercedes-Benz fan.


The Scans




Meet Masao Kozu. Masao is probably Japan's biggest and most hardcore Mercedes-Benz fan. Mercedes-Benz is a brand that is well-liked and admired in the Land of the Rising Sun and Masao would soon get a taste for them.

Kozu was born on March 17, 1931 in Hamamatsu. He began studying engineering at the National University near Tokyo and soon specialized in aeronautical engineering, specifically engine design. In the 1950s he began working for Japan's emerging new aircraft sector designing and engineering jet engines. When you ask this quiet and respectful gentleman about his hobbies, he'll give you a small shy smile and gently say "Mercedes-Benz and drawing". . Masao was first exposed to them at age 20, when he began drawing cars. At first he only drew Cadillacs and Buicks, but then one day he saw a pre-World War II Mercedes 320 Cabriolet B on the street and fell in love with its harmonius design. Soon Masao began collecting photographs and materials on Mercedes-Benz cars and that's when the addiction started. Since then, Masao has dedicated his free time to drawing only Mercedes-Benz cars. In over 30 years he has drawn over 3,500 drawings of Benz, Daimler, Mercedes and Mercedes-Benz cars ranging from the beginnings until present-day models virtually covering every single product ever created from this company, even prototypes.

In 1960 Masao came to Stuttgart for the first time to visit the old Mercedes-Benz Museum. When he entered the museum he was immediately confronted by a 1937 AVUS racing car which he only knew from pictures. "I was in such awe from seeing this car that I literally began shaking and had to control myself", recites Masao. He drew 60 pictures on that day. Then in 1986, at the 100-year celebration of Mercedes-Benz, Masao again visited the museum with some pens and paper to sketch the new additions to the museum. A diehard Mercedes-Fan like Masao cannot be held back and he again visited Germany in May of 2006 when the new Mercedes-Benz Museum opened its doors to the public. For five weeks he stayed in Stuttgart visiting the museum often and drawing all 160 exhibits and 30 other Mercedes' which he spotted on the streets. On average, Masao requires just 30 minutes per drawing.

What does Masao drive? A 1953 Mercedes-Benz 170S which he bought in 1963. Back in the 1950s a brand new 170S would have cost two million Yen. The 170S had been in an accident so Masao was able to buy it for 100,000 Yen and fix it up. He has kept this faithful and reliable car and continues to use her as his daily driver. His wife also drives a Mercedes-Benz product, a 190E.



Kozu's garage: His 1953 Mercedes 170S and his wife's 190E.

Since his retirement in 1990, Masao has settled down in Kawasaki, a neighbouring city of Tokyo and dedicated his life to drawing Mercedes-Benz cars. Throughout his house, Masao has a collection of over 1,300 miniature Mercedes-Benz cars on display which he has collected over the years. Aside from Mercedes-Benz, Masao enjoys music. His favorite composers are Beethoven, Brahms and Mozart. His passion for Mercedes-Benz and his desire to understand the copies of original factory documentation that were supplied to him by Mercedes-Benz (to aid him in his work) has led Masao to even learn German. He speaks the language fluently and continous to travel to Germany to improve his language skills and perhaps spot the latest Mercedes-Benz cars on the streets.

The W201 looks prestine. Maybe will hook him up with a good deal on a W212.

Worth a try.

By the way, the article also mentioned that he has two sons and they together have 5 kids and both his sons are also Mercedes fans. Good to hear.

Wow! talk about dedicated fans

And this is something which sets brands like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Jaguar etc. apart from others. Their older cars are capable of creating people like Masao Kozu. I'm waiting for the day when we'll read about [Insert a name here] in Lexus Classic magazine.

^Bruce

But he also loves other cars, so he doesn't qualify. Masao Kozu loves MB 110%.

^ But he loves it the most and would take it over any german car

Nice article. Thanks for posting it Christian

Humm maybe we can turn at least one of his children into BMW or Audi fan boys

Oh and what a model collection