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Old 11-16-2008, 01:42 PM
Todd Miller's Avatar
Todd Miller Todd Miller is offline
1966 250SE Coupe Owner
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: San Luis Obispo, CA
Posts: 500
Quote:
Originally Posted by Biodiesel300TD View Post
Monday I am going to go look at a 60 220Sb. I'm not to familiar with these, anyone have suggestion on this to watch for and pay attention to?
These fintails are fantastic cars, but you really have to be careful when you buy them. You're better off paying 6 grand for a really nice one, then to pay $500 for one that "needs work."

As has been mentioned, rust is the #1 issue. Everywhere the tires can throw mud and water needs to be closely inspected. As do the wells on either side of the trunk. When the trunk drains get clogged, the trunk wells fill up with water and rot out. Under the rubber trunk mat will also rot from sweating if the trunk has gotten wet from bad drains. The windshield rubber gaskets dry out and leak, and then the carpets get wet. This rots out the front and rear floors, so lift both the carpets and the insulation and look at the actual floor metal. I've seen floors rotted out on the inside, but they hadn't broken through the thick rubber undercoat on the outside......so looking under the car, the floors looked great. But lifting the mats showed there was nothing left of the corners of the the rear floors.

If the engine runs, check for blow-by by removing the oil filler cap when the engine is running. If the wind is chugging out of the valve cover like a steam locomotive, you know she's worn out inside. Sometimes this condition will improve dramatically by driving the car alot after a hot oil change and replacing 1/2qt of engine oil with ATF. But you'll only see an improvement if the blow-by is due to the piston rings being gummed up from the engine sitting and not driven. If it's all worn out, there's no cure other than rebuilding.

All of the rubber around the doors, trunk and windows will likely be shot, as will the cloth windlace around the door openings. All very expensive to replace.

It a car that would take 30k to restore, and only be worth 6k when finished, so be picky and buy the nicest one you can find.

They are fantastic to drive and get the looks and the compliments where ever you go........definately worth owning and you can step up to 14" wheels and big tall tires and make them a very nice daily driver. You can also slip a w108 4.5 V-8 car's rearend assembly under them and have even lower rpm's out on the freeway (I've done this to my coupe, and it was already on 14's.)

If you'd rather own a diesel version, the people who bought my 1968 w110 (one of only 500 built in the last months of w110 production) fintail 2 years ago are looking to sell it. It's really in incredible condition: white with a perfect red interior. 4 on the column, $1,000 worth of brand new German Square Weave carpet in red, and a Becker am/fm with matching slave cassette deck! It also has a/c, but the compressor is not mounted. New tires, and I'd just rebuilt the engine prior to selling it to them. I think they've put 1,000mi on it in 2 years.
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1966 W111 250SEC:
DB268 Blaugrün/electric sunroof/4 on-the-floor/4.5 V-8 rear axle
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