Clockwise from top: Mercedes (first three cars) in Cairo during the 1960s; Henry M Leland, founder of Cadillac, stands next to one of his cars in 1905, which was around the time automobiles first appeared in Egypt, according to French historian Jacques Berque; a Cadillac sales employee with a 1945 model; a high-end Jaguar from a company brochure; an Alfa Romeo ad that ran this spring in the local Lifestyle magazine. (Mercedes photo: Al-Ahram archives)