1966 230 (110) Odometer/Speedometer Stopped Working

I have a 1966 230 (110) that i use as a daily drive (it's the car on the right). I drive it about 15 miles a day, and about 50 miles on weekends, just easy cruising, occassionally i'll hit speeds of 90-100. 110 chasis vehicles have the most beautiful speedometers, the one that changes colours (green, to green/red, to all red as you accelerate). It one of my favourite features of the car. It's the first thing people notice when they see the interior for the first time. Anyway, when getting on the freeway, or accelerating at any time for that matter, the speedometer (when working) bobs around for a couple of seconds until the crazy thing gets to the right speed. It works great, once the speed is reached, it "calms down", and stays where its supposed to stay. However, a couple weeks ago, the ribbon inside completely stopped working. The next day it's started to work again, and the day after that, it only occasionally bobbed from 0-120 miles per hour in a matter of seconds, after about two days of driving, it stopped doing that, and the speedometer, along with the odometer stopped working. The intense bobbing could only be attained when going freeway speeds (60+ miles per hour), until it stopped working all together. Anyone know how this happened? How to go about diagnosing the problem? Or what parts to change or look at? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[MikeTangas]

I'm thinking the speedo cable has gone south. With the erractic speedo prior to the speedo/odometer quitting, that's where I'd look first.

[cth350]

First course of action is to lubricate the cable.

Check the archives here and at http://www.mercedes-veterans.com for instructions how.

After that consider lubrication in the speedo, but that should be done "right". I have seen references to handling the more "traditional" spedo in the 108's & the like. I don't recall info on the bar-graph ones. When in doubt, call Palo-Alto spedometers or anybody else competent.

-CTH