Old Car Phone Antenna on Rear Window - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

#1 06-06-2003, 09:12 AM

Hey Gang,

I recently bought a 300SD and it has one of those old style car phone antenna(e) installed on the rear window from the previous owner. There is a part stuck to the outer glass as well as inside the car.

I want to take it off and believe it was originally adhered by using heat. Someone said if you can heat up the glass you can then remove it.

Any insight here? Would be greatly appreciated. I want to remove it but need to be careful as we are talking about 20 year old glass.

Thanks in advance!

#2 06-06-2003, 11:51 AM

I can't imagine the inductive pick up OR the antenna being installed with heat. Two sided tape or silicon seal will hold it on there forever. Just use a wide plastic tool of some kind and pry it off. Then use a razor blade to scrape off the rest of the glue.

Good luck,

rickg · #3 06-06-2003, 11:58 AM

I've left mine on. Adds a nice touch to the looks of the car to me

surfblau · #4 06-06-2003, 12:29 PM

I have the same. You should check carefully, because it looks to me that there is a hole through the glass there.

For my part, I want to get the curly, pig tail short antenna that should screw into the piece you describe, just to get that vintage look.

Let me know if you see any suppliers of those antennas (when I asked at a local cell phone/radio shack place they looked at me saying -- whats a carphone).

alec

sixto · #5 06-06-2003, 01:54 PM

I've removed two of those. I chisel them off then scrape off the glue residue. Some residue is really stubborn.

Alec, JC Whitney used to sell fake antennas.

Sixto
95 S420
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD

JPL · #6 06-06-2003, 02:03 PM

Wouldnt it be cool to get your hands on one of those car phones and hook it up? I have the mike above my sunvisor and the antenna, but no phone in my 126. Any thoughts, tips?

J

rickg · #7 06-06-2003, 02:11 PM

So THAT'S what that thing near the visor is! I was gonna take it out, but wasn't sure if it was part of the phone system.
My car had the complete phone system when I bought it, but after finding out they're too dated to get working again, I pulled it out and tossed it. But still have the antenna, the "black box" in the trunk, and the now-I-know-what-it-is-microphone by the visor. There's also a plug of some kind at the base of the center console at the rear. Must be a phone jack for something, another phone maybe?

JPL · #8 06-06-2003, 02:28 PM

Hey Rick;

Glad I could be of help!

That black box in your trunk (on the Pass side) may be the anti-theft system. That's what mine is. Check it to see if it works. After a drive, close all the doors in your car, but dont lock them, then a few minutes later, open one of the rear doors. HONK-HONK-HONK. Blinking headlights etc...quite a show. Also if you open the frt pass door with the non-Master key, it goes off. It also goes off if someone bumps your car too hard while trying to wedge thier way into a tight street parking spot. I've come out of my house to glare at my neighbors the first few times this happend. Nowadays, theres always plenty of room between my and my neighbors cars!

J

#9 06-06-2003, 03:43 PM

Thanks for the tips all.....Man, I want to scrape mine off my "Hildegard" ASAP. I think it detracts from the classis lines of the car.

Wish I had known somebody wanted one of the old pigtail antennas as I threw the one away that came on my car!

have a good weekend all.

alan911 · #10 06-08-2003, 03:08 PM

Too bad you guys threw the phones away. These are the old style 3 watt phones (vs. 1/4 watt digital cell phones) with the hands free mic. above the visor and speaker in the handset.

With 3 watts you could be in a mineshaft or a tunnel and not get cut off. Still have mine. Works great. THe "black Box" is usually located in the passenger side footwell, not the trunk.

They can be reactivated. All you realy need is the ESN # of the phone. Any phone company can read it. Only downside is, they're not digital and some of the phone Co's don't want to mess with analog phones anymore.

rickg · #11 06-08-2003, 10:35 PM

Sure, NOW you tell us this.

We had a discussion about these old phones over in the "Open Discussion" thread awhile ago, and more than one person said they couldn't find anyone that would provide service to these things anymore. So we concluded they weren't any good at all anymore. Oh well. I hate phones in the car anyway, and don't even carry a cell phone.

Crowe · #12 06-09-2003, 10:18 AM

Removed one this weekend using brake cleaner and a box cutter. Worked great!

alan911 · #13 06-09-2003, 10:43 AM

I hate'em also and won't carry around a cell phone. But I like the idea of having it in the car just in case. The other positive is, when they're hard wired to the car, like this one, no need to keep charging it. By the way, if anyone still has one, Verizon (my phone co.) will activate it for you FREE just to get you as a customer. Now of course, they're offering me a free cell phone just to get me to convert over to digital.

rickg · #14 06-09-2003, 10:51 AM

What we did for a phone was to buy one of those pre-pay cell phones from Wal-mart. The phone cost something like $10 or $15 bucks, and then you use a phone card for time. No screwy phone bill to mess with. Then we just buy a 30min card before taking a trip, and we have a phone for emergencies, or to call the relatives when we get lost trying to find their house. Good thing is, even when we use up the time on the card, we can still use the phone to dial 911 any time.

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