Reliability is one of those qualities that’s easy to talk about and hard to prove — but few automakers have ever demonstrated it as dramatically as Mercedes-Benz did in the summer of 1983. Rather than wait for owners to rack up six-figure odometer readings, Mercedes-Benz took three brand-new 190 E 2.3-16 sedans to the Nardo test track in southern Italy and ran them flat-out, around the clock, for more than 31,000 miles. What they pulled off that August remains one of the most remarkable endurance feats in automotive history.
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