Hood ornaments - During the mid to late 70's, my dad had an MB 200D 'Fintail', painted fire-engine red. As a young tot sitting on the passenger side, I still remember seeing the MB star badge hood ornament sticking out above the cowling scoop. To this day, seeing an MB hood ornament brings back this childhood memory. Though, hood ornaments didn't really disappear, it is now only relegated to a minority of luxury vehicles.

Pneumatic door locks - Also during the late 80's, we had a chance to own an MB 240D when the owner pawned it to us (my dad was running a car repair shop and buy & sell during that time). In one occasion, I was playing with the central door lock and I almost locked myself in because the vacuum ran out and the engine wasn't running. To those unfamiliar with the system, the door locks are vacuum-operated and gets progressively stiff as the vacuum runs out. The same principle applies when you pump the brake pedal with the engine turned off.... the pedal becomes stiff as the vacuum assist is depleted.