So I finally bought one...

[fintail]

Sure. Here's some pics. Personally, I would see what I could do to paint the caps. It makes the car more correct, and I think they look good painted too. Believe it or not, those body color caps get compliments.







It looks a little brighter in sunlight...a very fitting period color.



I hope you have good luck with that car. It sounds like a similar situation to mine. I picked mine up as a teenager - 10 years ago - and used it as a daily driver. I fell for mine the first time I drove it. Although I cannot say the car has been free of expense, it's been a lot of fun, and the money I've put into it couldn't get anything modern and interesting. I think I'll always have it, it's just a great old car. Surprisingly fun to drive, and all in all very reliable. Mine is not a show car by any means...but it has a nice patina built up, and I am still leaning towards never doing any actual restoration work.

[WANT '71 280SEL]

What work have you had to do to yours? I agree with you regarding the FI BTW, but I took what I could get. Now, if my car had velour AND a 4 spd. on the column, then it owuld be perfect. I do think it use to be a stick though by the VIN. (I call it a VIN even though VIN's weren't around then, I just want to correct myself before some smart allic says something )
Thanks
David

P.S.
Would you have any suggestions on how to paint them? I read one post where a guy said he put tape on the star then CAREFULLY went around cutting off around the edges so just the star and the oiutside was covered.

[fintail]

In 1997 my car had some decent mechanical failure - a broken ring - and I decided to have the engine taken down. I then discovered it was pretty worn. It never had great oil pressure and always smoked a bit at startup. So at that time, with the aid of a semi-competent local mechanic, I just repaired what needed to be done. Rings, valve job, and a few other internals. It cost me a chunk of change and I still don't have total faith in the work...but 7 years later it runs like a champ with great pressure and barely smokes.

A few years later the worn kingpins were getting to annoy me, so I had them and some bushings replaced. I had no idea how to do this, so I had a local MB specialist do it. I got the kingpins and parts on ebay very cheap, and also put shocks on the car at this time and had a steering bushing replaced, and the box resealed. It made a huge difference.

Once on a trip about 100 miles from home for a hockey game, a transmission cooling line broke and rendered the car undriveable...on a cold rainy night in February. Strangely enough someone on my team knew a mechanic there and I had it fixed for almost nothing. That person was also impressed by the structural condition of the car. My fintail is originally from CA and underneath is pristine, but there are a couple of areas that might need proper fixing, especially on the drivers side, some slight bubbling on the rear fender behind the wheel, most of all.

I guess that's about it. In 1998 the generator died, but I look at that as a consumable, and I had it rebuilt locally and installed for an acceptable price. A couple years after that I had an electronic ignition system installed. It makes a huge difference, no more messing around with points, and the car runs better in generally every respect. If you can get one of these, I would recomment it if you are going to use the car as a daily driver.

My next expense, barring any unforseen mechanical issue, will be a set of wide whites for it.

For the caps I would just mask them and paint them as someone suggested. I don't think it would be terribly difficult. I have never painted mine, and they aren't perfect, but they are good enough.

[Hector111]

Hi David

Congradulations on the car.

Mine is a 61 SB. I'm in the middle of taking it apart for painting.

I found rust in one spot only - the front cross member where the bumpers attach. I got a good used one from a member.

All of the chrome snaps off.I took out the side windows to get at the felt weather strips and window channels. While I was at it, I also pulled off the cloth coated wind lace and all of the rubber molding. Also all of the seats came out as well.

I cleaned the vinyl seats with laquer thinner an a scrub brush - came out great.

I found a local distributor of window felt, rubber and channel. I will replace all for about $150.

A body guy gave me a great tip - slide a thin wire under the windshield rubber to prevent paint build-up. The wire lifts the rubber slightly so paint will go under. Wire is removed after.

So you see one thing leads to another and a clean-up turns into a restoration. So far I have not spent alot of money - just work. The simple engineering makes things easy to do.

[WANT '71 280SEL]

When you say window felt, are you talking about the actual window track that is covered with fabric or the piece that goes around the door frame with the fabric on it. I'm attaching a pic. of the driver's side area. On the left it shows an obvious part needing attention. It the part one that serves much of a function? I assume it's just for wind reduction? Also, are you replacing the windshield or door seals? If so, where are you sourcing them from? I had an aftermarket seal put on my SD and it leaks between the window and seal now, just like it use to. I took it back to the place and they supposedly "fixed" it, but it still leaks and now I'm giving up on the idea of a sealed 116.
Thanks
David

P.S.
Where do you get all your parts from? I'm talking about things in general from brake shoes to window channel felt?

[Mark DiSilvestro]

According to the VIN/Chassis number 111012-12-092380
the eigth digit (2) indicates automatic transmission.
According to the serial number (last six digits) the car is an early '63. According to my information, the 220S got front discs in April 1962, but no dual circuit until '64, so this car should have front discs with a single circuit brake system.
I believe that other number ending in 23262, on the paint tag, is a body ID number, not a chassis number.

Happy Motoring, Mark

[Hector111]

David

First here is the felt strip
http://www.crlaurence.com/ProductPages/Y/YM3096_10864.html?Origin=

the rubber door pillar
http://www.crlaurence.com/ProductPages/A/AV4745_18526.html?Origin=

Glass channel
http://www.crlaurence.com/ProductPages/5/5V36_17130.html?Origin=

unfortunatetly I bought the trunk seal from an overpriced web supplier - before I found CRL and paid $120

I think this would work for the trunk at $50 for a 50 ft roll!!
http://www.crlaurence.com/ProductPages/A/AV4742_18543.html?Origin=


You'll see that they have release chemical spray for getting the old stuff off and also special adhesive for gluing the new rubber.

The windlace you can repair yourself by gluing new cloth to the metal frame that pulls off.

CRL is a wholesale supplier so you will have to set up a business account they sell to the glass guys who charge you 10x as much for the same stuff.

I priced door pillar rubber and it was some stupid amount like $100 each!!! from another supplier. I own a business in Canada so setting up an account was not a problem. The also have branches in the USA. If you need the stuff, maybe they will drop ship from a US branch and I could order for you from here - I will also have some rubber door seal left from my 50ft roll - that stuff was about $1 a foot - PM me if you need my help.

Wally

[WANT '71 280SEL]

Mark, you were right. FOr some reason I was thinking seventh digit was tranny, now that I looked, the seventh digit shows my car is left-hand drive built in the Fatherland!

Hector, I'll see what I'm going to do regarding my heckflosse's rubber.

Thanks
David

[WANT '71 280SEL]

Mark, I looked at my photos, and something struck me...it has the round horn ring. It's not horizontal after the center cap like the late '63+. So, assuming this car didn't have anchor holes in the B pillar, what would I need to do to add seatbelts then? Would I just drill then tap or would anything else have to be added? My dad's giving me the lecture on me not driving with proper seatbelts. Also, dieseldog has made reference to the seats being different in the early '63 models, anyone know what's different? And I bet this car has the JC Whitney special mirror on the fnder to go over the old mirror hols that use to be there. The door's probably been replaced with a later than '63 model so they put the JC one to cover the holes. The owner said the red streak on the driver's door is body filler, so I assume it was in some sort of accident in its history. He assured me however that that was the only bondo on the car. He checked himself with a magnet all along the car.
Thanks
David

[djugurba]

glad you finally found one... I actually discovered a pretty good looking (but sadly butchered) fintail body at a boneyard yesterday and thought of you, but it looks like you've found a living, breathing car, so no need to resurrect a dead one!
enjoy it!
I had a '67 1/2 volvo 122s that had always been titled as a '68. Both POs thought it was a 68, but it didn't take much sleuthing to figgure out that it was really a year younger. Dual circuit brakes were one benefit of the 1/2 year... I tried to get the DMV to change the registration, but they basically told me 'NO'!!

enjoy it!

[68_Mercedes]

I would definitely check to be sure that the title matches the car EXACTLY. I don't know about other states, but here they do a thorough inspection of all the vin numbers of any car that is purchased and brought in to the state from another state to make sure it is not stolen. If they do not match to a tee, you can't tag or title the car. When I took our '67 to get the title work done and get a tag (it came from out of state), they checked all the numbers on the car to make sure they matched the title (they spent better than 10 minutes checking it over). Like I said, I don't know about other states, but here they check the car over thoroughly. It is sounding as though your car might be a '63, although it is listed as a '65. If this is the case, you MIGHT run in to some real headaches.......... definitely look closely at the serial numbers! If everything doesn't match up, I'd be wanting to know why!!!

[WANT '71 280SEL]

djugurba, I appreciate the thought, but I think this one will require less work than a dead one, though they all end up needing help. Where are you located that you can find finbodies in a junkyard?

68, IN also requires the police or DMV to do an inspection of cars brought in from out of state. The numbers should all match, as all the labels on the car do.

Thanks
David

[Mark DiSilvestro]

David,
In his post, pbaldner said his Fintail 220 had shoulder belts but didn't say whether it was an early or late '63 model. If the floors and seat mountings are sound in that car, installing lap belts is easy.
However, the door post is a hollow steel stamping. If there's no factory shoulder belt anchor, you can't just drill and tap one. You will need to cut an access hole in the door post as small as possible, to fit something like a 7/8" x 1/2" x 4" steel bar with a 7/16 fine-thread anchor hole or an equivalent reinforcing plate with a 7/16 nut. Then fish this anchor up INSIDE the door post into place and bolt it in (my solution). Alternately, you can cut the post open and then weld it back together or cut some or all of the post off and weld on one from a later car that already has shoulder anchors.
If shoulder belts are a major issue before being able to buy a Fintail, before you pay, I suggest you pull the door post trim panel off this car to see if it has factory shoulder belt anchors. This car has already been misrepresented as a '65, so this might be the final deal-killer.

Happy Motoring, Mark

Originally Posted by WANT '71 280SEL

I'll see what I'm going to do regarding my heckflosse's rubber.

[WANT '71 280SEL]

I received a response from him...
Well, I'll just post a copy of it...
"I took these Pictures today. I need to know that we are good for
Saturday. It will cost me 100.00 in gas. With all the questions it
makes me think you are having second thoughts. Hope these pictures
help. I found a small hole in the door trim on the right front side it
is still solid and can be fixed with some fiberglass. It has one small
one between the grab bars on the driver's side. The seat really don't
sag any. There are no tears in the seats. All they need is a real good
cleaning. The rear dash does need to be replaced. As far as I know the
seals have never been replaced. The car has lap belts. The only carpet
in the car is on the hump between the two front seats.
Thanks, Frank
Call me with any questions. 865-805-0520

>>
>>
>>

Frank, could you send some pictures of the back seat? Really, I want to
get a better sense of the interior's condition. Are there any tears, or
sagging to really speak of? On ebay it seems the driver's seat sags a
little, but how is the rear seat and read dash (under the back glass).
Do you know of any of the window seals ever being replaced? Does the
car have any carpet in it? Is the headliner torn at the back where it
goes by the rear seat and finally, does the car have 3-point seat belts
or just lap belts?
Thanks
David"
I responded and told him I'd have to pass. I apologized, and I am sincere, but this car has more rust than was initially told to me. He never mentioned anything about needing floors welded in. Here's some of the pics he sent me of the car, actually the interior's in decent shape considering the age. The door panels aren't badly stained like the rest of them!