Aluminum body mystery

[wols0003]

Why in the world was this thread closed?

85 300 SD aluminum body?

[Mister Byrnzoil]

Maybe it was closed by 'MBZ Corporate Officers'

[t walgamuth]

i agree.
with the first poster. why closed? although it has the feel of an urban legend to me. i can find a lot more to believe in barry's story of an aluminum sec which was quite a bit hand made anyway. but aluminum body sd? seems kindof unlikely. imho

tom w

[JimmyL]

Probably all part of "The Settlement"......

[barry123400]

He corresponded with me to some extent after the thread died out. I hope at some point in the future he will agree to let more information out. I think it's safe to say things heated up. I think the forum was just too public at about that time for him to continue posting but perhaps we have not heard the end of the saga yet. This is not a teaser but just the way it probably is. Any member could pm him I guess. I just left it alone until he drops me a line in the future. He said he would and has once already after quite a time had elapsed. If it is possible to pass any information along I certainly would with his permission. Or perhaps if he reads this he may post himself. I feel I do not have that permission at present. The car was for real. Strange this should resuface but understandable perhaps as it was left hanging. I have no current information. He may or may not even still own it for all I know at present.

[speedy72t]

Interesting car - what "settlement" are we refferring to though?

I had an interesting Mercedes anomaly once. I'm starting to forget all the chassis info but I want to say it was euro delivery 114 250. Plain jane car in every way. But it absolutely flew. It had a massive exhaust manifold on it. The engine number matched a typical low comp motor of that generation. Never could find out what the story was but this car definately pulled hard down low and up high.

[barry123400]

Speedy, I also have a 1972 114 coupe that is set up and geared for short track racing. Brought home by a canadian serviceman. Never checked the manifold to see if abnormally large but it is quick. Have no documentation either. Fun car to drive. The car has a normal rear end ratio but strange ratio gearbox. See nothing unusual otherwise on the car. I also have a 1972 114 normal coupe it is not nearly as fast but may have a higher top end. Suspect it may have been some kind of factory version but have never run the serial number yet. Right now it sits in primer in storage as It slid off the track backwards in germany and took me awhile to straighten out the body. Gm dealer took it in trade. When I test drove it I knew it was unusual. Do not think dealer had a clue that it was. Perhaps I should run the engine number as well.

[whunter]

As I recall, the original poster locked the thread.
Last I heard the car was taken out of the USA (undisclosed location) for storage.

The shock in the thread was a MB representative attempted to gain access at a third party shop.

Red flags and warning bells...

Major automakers do not send their people chasing after twenty year old cars without massive motivation = prototype, R&D design aid test vehicle, race test bed vehicle, Euro fleet test vehicle licensed for factory fleet test/R&D only (illegal to sell + millions in fines) or a major safety issue.

[pawoSD]

A car like that would be wonderful so long as it didn't have any corosion issues, think of how much less potential rust area there'd be! It'd even be ok here in the salt tundra! (well....mostly...6" of undercoat on all steel items and it'd be good to go....)

Originally Posted by whunter

As I recall, the original poster locked the thread.
Last I heard the car was taken out of the USA (undisclosed location) for storage.

The shock in the thread was a MB representative attempted to gain access at a third party shop.

Red flags and warning bells...

If that car got out, what else could have slipped past their radar...

If it truly is all aluminium, I'd try to search for all the back owners and see who/how got it into the USA.

[barry123400]

How it got to the usa apparently is known but again perhaps not a good ideal to discuss. What I would wonder is if it was legally sold by the mb corporation. Or got out accidentally. As for the all aluminium, if it extends to the inner body the car would have major safety issues I would think. A medium accident might prove fatal for the occupants. We will probably have to wait for the end of the saga. I originally suggested as perhaps hunter did that our site was just too public. Appears it may have turned out that way. I still think we will hear of this car in the future. I hope this car leads the searchers on a merry chase. Perhaps it will take the legal system to settle it down. I tried to encourage the gentleman to act in his own self interest. As did hunter I believe. But as I said before I do not know the location of the car or it's present owner at this time.

[imdavid28]

I wonder how many people have now refered to this car as the "Mystery Machine"

[twr]

The Mystery car as is now called, is no mystery any more I found that the car was modified with aluminum body panels by a body shop for a TV commercial if the TV commercial was ever aired or not it’s unknown so thanks to
The local publicity and interest the car had. I received a good offer and sold it.
At some point I feel I had a one in a million car, and maybe a special purpose car that was worth a lot of money, any way when I see an 85 MB parked I pull out of my pocket my magnet and............

Cheers

John

[t walgamuth]

whatever.

tom w