Hello, My names luke, and Im more of a vw guy, but I think I may have come across a pretty good deal. Im not sure this goes here, or the vintage forum, but the car is a diesel, so I will put it here. At a local pawn shop I found a 1961 Mercedes 4 door sedan (I forgot the model ) The body is almost perfect, the inside is pretty nice to (except the mexican blanket seat covers). The main thing is, it's a diesel, and I know nothing about these. It hasnt been driven for a few years, but it still runs and drives. I am looking to find a new vintage daily driver for around town, seeing as pretty much everything on my my 66 bug is wearing out. Are these cars decent? Are parts hard to find? The guy wants around $1500 for it.

See www.mbzponton.org for all the info you want. There is also a link there to join the IPOG/Ponton discussion group where you can ask the other 600 ponton owners about the car. Great group.

Len
'59 220S Cabriolet

Is it a round body, one of the old bathtub Benz's? Hell that sounds like a steal for one of them.

It will be nice to drive around IF you are patient, and you dont drive around people prone to road rage. The old diesels were very, very slow. Classy ride though.

__________________
1959 Gravely LI, 1963 Gravely L8, 1973 Gravely C12
1982 380SL
1978 450 SEL 6.9 euro restoration at 63% and climbing
1987 300 D
2005 CDI European Delivery
2006 CDI Handed down to daughter
2007 GL CDI. Wifes

Yes, its one of the old ponton models.
Im not to worried about speed. Like I said, I drive a 66 bug with 45 hp motor.

hey, don't knock the 45HP beetle, it only weighed 1800Lbs, or so, and it could scoot. the ponton will be Much slower on takeoff, but able to hold speed pretty well. you're gonna miss the tweet tweet of the VW 66 huh? still on the 6volt system IIRC I had a 65 in the mid 80's and I still miss the tweet of that motor... I don't miss the bad brakes or heat though!
John

__________________
John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

i had a 66 and a 72. even with three friends in there and the rear end nearly dragging, it still was pretty peppy with the 1500 in there. will not miss the 6 volt headlights though, thats for sure.

__________________
1980 300D

All my beetles (7) were '70s models, really thought I had made it when I had gotten into the dual-port models and electric defog blowers, I think my '72 would run over 70MPH!!! Well, I was a teenager and it was faster than my motorhome.

Sounds like it could be a good find in a classic Benz, check the ponton group to find what to look out for on that car, most classics can bury you if you don't know the weak points to check out.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff