About the museum
A lifetime of Mercedes‑Benz, under five roofs.
The story behind the collection: where it began, the name it carries, and the cars in the halls.
The founder
A father’s Fintail.
The spark was a 1959 Mercedes‑Benz Fintail that belonged to Pius’s father. It left a mark that never faded.
That childhood fascination grew, over a lifetime, into a collection of more than 250 cars, most of them wearing the three-pointed star.
The name
Named for home.
Makotopong is a village about 30 kilometres outside Polokwane, in Limpopo, where the family comes from. The museum carries its name to honour that ancestry. The cars themselves live here, in Boschkop, Pretoria East.
The collection
From the 1920s to the modern era.
Pre-war Mercedes‑Benz, Adenauer saloons, a whole family of Pontons, Fintails, SLs from the Pagoda to the R129, coupés, estates and working vehicles. Most of the cars wear the three-pointed star. A few other marques keep them company.
Before the war
Typ 170s, a Typ 200 Stuttgart and a Typ 260 cabriolet from the 1920s and 30s.
Pontons and Fintails
The rounded fifties saloons and the tail-finned sixties that followed.
Working Mercedes
Bakkies, a flatbed and a Ponton ambulance. The star at work, not just on show.
Every S-Class
From the W108 through the W220, plus the 600 Grosser, the 300 SEL 6.3 and the 450 SEL 6.9.
The museum today
Private, for now.
The museum isn’t open to the public yet. It has hosted occasions including Mercedes‑Benz South Africa’s 140-year media day and the Mercedes‑Benz Club’s 40th anniversary. When the doors open to everyone, the waiting list hears first.