The Volkswagen New Beetle, the Mini Cooper, the Ford Mustang—all cars designed with a nod to the past. But when we saw the F-CELL Roadster, we thought: Okay, now Mercedes-Benz has nodded further into the past than anyone.

 The high-wheeled, open two-seater is a reinterpretation of Karl Benz’s Patent-Motorwagen. Powered by a fuel cell rather than a single-cylinder combustion engine, and steered by wire rather than with a tiller bar, the 21st-century update was actually a special one-off project done by a group of Mercedes-Benz interns and students. Oh, and, as I’m sure Mercedes design chief Gorden Wagener would insist: It’s not “retro,” it’s “heritage design.”