Finally running after 18 years of sitting!!!!!! - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

JordaanDMC-12 · #1 03-16-2009, 03:39 AM

FINALLY after sitting in a barn for 17 years and sitting in a dirt lot for 1 year, my 1970 220D is finally back on the road. She still has about three more issues until I'm driving on public roadways, but we're almost there!!!

A little bit of back round: I acquired this old girl from an "Exotic Motor Cars" dealership here locally. My dad does detail work for them, so as we were waiting for them to cut us a check, my dad and I start talking to the man at the desk about old MB Diesels, he tells us he has an old 70 220D that they bought but don't have the room nor the time to fix it up and put it for sale. When we asked how much, he said the repair bill which was around 500$ "would take the title".

Right after this my dad and I went to the dirt lot where it was sitting, we loved it immediately and talked to the mechanic who was really cool and nice, he said that the injection pump was bad and it was running on only two cylinders. We were assured that once the IP was replaced we'd having a 100% working, running car. When he unlocked the gate to show us the car, we were totally amazed how nicely the interior was preserved! All that was wrong was it was dusty. Didn't have much hope for the paint though as it looked VERY faded and the front left tire was flat.

I was so excited and at the time had my 83 240D... Well months went by and it sat in that same spot. We talked to the mechanic time to time and asked if and when he was going to work on it. We always got the same reply "I'll work on it this weekend" but it just never got done... We weren't in big rush at all though because I had my 240D and the 220D was just going to be a fun car to have and preserve. Well, I came across a great condition 300D which I ended up selling the 240D for.

I ended up not liking the 300D and gave it back and received full refund and everything, but since I had sold the 240D I had no car.... I knew that the 220 was sitting there and decided to start pushing this mechanic HARD CORE! It had been sitting in the lot for 6 months and upon thinking about it more and more I started getting irritated on why it wasn't done yet. Now I know he is a busy busy mechanic with tons of cars, but we were going on 6 months and still nothing, and what got me was, he told us it was only a days work.....

Month number eight passed by and still no work had been done even though we had been promised multiple times that it was going to be worked on, it was starting to become very frustrating because I REALLY needed a car. Still more pushing and it got us nowhere, the car still sat there and I was starting to get fed up with it. I decided I would at just tow her home and clean her up/cover her until we could find someone to actually get something done. So AAA came to the rescue and freed her from that gated prison. The mechanic was kind of angry but it wasn't his car and personally, I didn't give a crap. It had no keys, which were supposed to be ordered by the mechanic but of course nothing happened there. The tow truck guy just dragged her on straight on the truck and off we were to my house. My dad immedialty started working his magic and the car came back right before our eyes. Once we had finished cleaning her up, she seriously looked like a new car. It was awesome.

The only problem was it still wasn't running. So we made an appointment with a mechanic who seemed really good, and German lol. Well we got a call from our old mechanic and he said that he was going to work on it Saturday. So we decided to give him just one more chance. Well it ended up paying off because he got 90% of everything done on Saturday and I was driving around the block later that day. It runs so good! It's a 4 speed floor shift and man... it goes into gears so smooth. It's rides so nice too. It literally came back to life. All that needs to be fixed now are: It leaks oil after driving, a hose leaving the brake fluid resivior going to the clutch is leaking and the rubber band type things that hold the exhaust up need replacing. Aside from that the car is purring like a kitten. The idle sounds better than my 240D ever did!

I'm so VERY VERY happy and I can't wait to start driving it around town and its first semi long trip to open her up and blow out all the built up crap! I'm posting pictures from when she was being towed to how she looks now. I'll have to post a video of her running on youtube!

Special thanks to user "Strelnik" Thank you so much Darryl! This would have not been possible without your help! also to everyone out there who helped me with questions and advice! Thanks so much!!!! You all helped one more diesel get back up on its feet!

JordaanDMC-12 · #2 03-16-2009, 03:41 AM

Cleaned Pictures

H-townbenzoboy · #3 03-16-2009, 04:04 AM

Lookin' sharp!

#4 03-16-2009, 04:13 AM

Very nice!

HighDesert Benz · #5 03-16-2009, 06:38 AM

What a find, she is a beauty! I see what you meant, that interior is spectacular.

Well done on bringing her back to life, enjoy the ride. You've earned it!

LNGfish · #6 03-16-2009, 07:42 AM

Looks really nice. First time I have seen a shift stick in a MB eventhough I read about them. It looks Classic for sure. Good luck with getting the items done.

LNGfish · #7 03-16-2009, 07:45 AM

Many many years ago, I think my Mother told me some thing:

She told me something like; "Why do you want such and old car for",

I replied: "Mom, this car had no idea how old it is".

It sort of makes sense with the car you have.