Greater Washington Section MBCA

Since childhood, I've loved Mercedes-Benz automobiles.  In fact, my high school yearbook quote was "I pledge allegiance to Daimler-Benz."  To this day, people who know me say, "I saw a Mercedes-Benz and thought of you, Omar."  While earning a degree in the History of Art at William and Mary, my professors encouraged my belief that just because most people take cars for granted doesn't mean car design cannot be worthy of the status "Art."  Good design is good design.  Because we took the twentieth century automobile for granted, and because today's cars appear so homogeneous, I expect to see great examples of car design in future art history textbooks.

I believe scholarship worthy of architecture is what the automobile deserves and am on a personal journey towards the definitive iconology of the automobile.

Omar Abou-Zied
Chairman, Concours Committee
The Greater Washington Section of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America