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Tags: Masao Kozu: Japan's Number One Mercedes-Benz Fanatic

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Masao Kozu: Japan's Number One Mercedes-Benz Fanatic
Found this in one of my older "Mercedes Classic" magazines. Scanned and translated it for you all. :-)

-CW

-----------------------------------

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 enough 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.

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. Read Article
Masao Kozu: Japan's Number One Mercedes-Benz Fanatic



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Htay7500Htay7500 - 8/10/2008 4:16:42 PM
+15 BoostDrop the Boost Up the Boost
your comments = EPIC FAILURE x10

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Htay7500Htay7500 - 8/10/2008 4:26:15 PM
+10 BoostDrop the Boost Up the Boost
you really are that jealous aren't you MT?

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StarStar - 8/10/2008 6:57:51 PM
+5 BoostDrop the Boost Up the Boost
Michael Taylor,

so we get from that you are Japanese since you claim to love so much the garbage made in Japan.

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TurboSpyderTurboSpyder - 8/10/2008 7:46:45 PMView My AgentSpace
+6 BoostDrop the Boost Up the Boost
"No man would betray his country like that. No man."

Just look at your parents/grandparents. They betrayed your country by emigrating to another country and for what reason? They figured it was better there.

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sectorsector - 8/11/2008 1:54:07 PM
0 BoostDrop the Boost Up the Boost
MT, the Japanese people are very open minded, imaginative and creative people. If something catches their fancy, they'll embrace it with open arms (ie., they are not racists) no matter where it originated from. You can see this evidence in their history as they are one of the first nations in the east to become westernized. It's not in them to hate a "German marque" soley because it's a German product. Although, I know more often than not, many German fanboys only stick to their German makes because they are anti-Asian, the Japanese are not this way :)

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Agent63Agent63 - 8/12/2008 7:04:43 AMView My AgentSpace
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MichaelTaylor,

You're a troll. That sums it all up for everyone here.

Everyone knows Mercedes-Benz and knows it's the marquee name when it comes to luxury cars. Lexus isn't known worldwide as a car that's in the same class level. It's not hard to see why Japanese love Mercedes so much, hell they made Lexus to take on Benz in the US market.

So to say their Japanese and it's wrong to like anything BUT Japanese is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

Get a life. If it wasn't for Toyota's hybrid technology Lexus wouldn't have gotten so much recognition anyways. Their prestige level is still unknown compared to Mercedes-Benz WORLDWIDE.

Anyways shut up, you waste people's time. You get deboosted so much I think you should just leave this website. Your insight is useless.

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CarboyCarboy - 8/10/2008 4:36:12 PMView My AgentSpace
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Look at Silver1's comment at the bottom of the page. Ahahahahah.

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cycocyco - 8/10/2008 5:28:16 PM
+3 BoostDrop the Boost Up the Boost
MichaelTaylor - click on the link in the article, scroll down...


stomp17stomp17 - 8/10/2008 6:08:24 PM
+7 BoostDrop the Boost Up the Boost
Mercedes-Benz got DIEHARD fans, unlike that cheap, fake Japanese luxury brand.........................

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AlecAlec - 8/10/2008 11:40:27 PM
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You know MB has been in japan a lot longer than Lexus or Infiniti, of course the fan base for MB is wider. So what ever betrayal you think hes doing is rubbish. All of the cars stated he has, came out way before Lexus or Infiniti ever existed.

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xj13xj13 - 8/11/2008 12:48:52 AM
+7 BoostDrop the Boost Up the Boost
sounds like a smart man.

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GennissenGennissen - 8/11/2008 8:34:14 AM
+3 BoostDrop the Boost Up the Boost
Silver1 is officialy an uber embarrassment to the Autospies community

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222max222max - 8/11/2008 12:04:08 PM
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So it's possible for Americans to be completely passionate about foreign makes but not so for the Japanese?

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sectorsector - 8/11/2008 1:39:11 PM
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haha this man probably knows more about MB than MB themselves. Hire this man :) maybe he can head the design team over there.

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wooodwoood - 8/12/2008 12:25:16 AM
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Naturally, he does not own any newer mercedes cars. The old ones are truly reliable. My friend has a 2001 S320 with only 16,000 kms on it. For some reason the battery keeps dying after 3 days of not using the car. The German technician at the dealer said that the car is not being used "enough" thats why it is having problems. They still couldn't find what wrong with the car after a week at the dealer's. Prior to this, he was already advised by the same dealer to replace a grounded sunroof motor and a new battery. Go figure.

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huu76huu76 - 8/16/2008 12:57:49 AM
+1 BoostDrop the Boost Up the Boost
Different generation.

My parents consider Mercedes and Toyota the top two manufacturers.

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