Heckflosse rescue

[meltedpanda]

looking great, same color interior of my 220

[Bad Benzo]

Just a small update, I got my car running and driving reliably. All the plugs and wires were mismatched, causing a nasty misfire. I changed the plugs and wires, which seemed to resolve the problem instantly.

The car also had a leaky wheel cylinder and the clutch pedal would stick to the floor. I traced the clutch issue to a swollen hose, which blocked the flow of fluid in both directions. I'm waiting on some parts, namely the column shifter bushing, but it's mobile and I've put a handful of miles on the car. The engine in this thing loves to rev, and is very responsive! Sure, it's certainly not a fast car by modern standards, but I was genuinely impressed by how quick it felt for a car of this era.

The suspension is nice, a little floaty, but I genuinely didn't expect anything else for a car of this age. Someone overhauled it in the last few years with new Bilsteins on all four corers, so I'm not too worried about it. I'm currently trying to figure out why I don't have any turn signals; it might be that the PO swapped the Euro headlights for US quad rounds and there are some lingering wiring issues.

While this isn't my first Mercedes-Benz (I've owned several and driven many more), but it might be my favorite. Putting the W111 next to my current W116, it's cool to see the evolution of the Sonderklasse between the 1960s and the 1970s. I appreciate all the hallmark design details that carried from the W111 to W108, and later W116.

Although I really like my W116, I think the fintail checks way more boxes for me. This car oozes style, class, and luxury, but is simple to operate and is very easy to work on with basic tools. It boggles my mind that these cars are so under appreciated compared to later models, or even the W111 coupe.

[t walgamuth]

I owned two finnies. They do ooze quality and class! Good luck with your work on them.

[Bad Benzo]

Today I was driving my fintail around for a few hours and a buddy of mine gave me a 300SEL 6.3 Hot Wheels car as a Christmas gift. My dream Sonderklasse collection is complete, I have my W111, a 109, and a W116!

[cth350]

next year you can upgrade that short little W111 to the W112 long body. -CTH

[Bad Benzo]

Originally Posted by cth350

next year you can upgrade that short little W111 to the W112 long body. -CTH

Haha! Funny you mentioned that... I may be adding a W112 coupe to the fleet!

[Bad Benzo]

I was driving this car for a few days before I discovered a large puddle of brake fluid under my pedals after the car had sat for an evening. I pulled out the master cylinder and it was definitely leaking badly at the rear.

This is the original ATE master cylinder, and from what I could tell, it is either no longer in production, or quantities are very limited and command quite a premium during the supply chain nightmare we currently live in. Pelican didn't have it, and neither did any of my other go-to suppliers. I was getting quotes for in-stock master cylinders anywhere between $500-750 for something NOS. The rebuild kit for this particular unit is also NLA according to my local dealer and other retailers. I found one rebuild kit on eBay for $250, and that was just too much for me to swing.

I saw in another thread that one member with a Pagoda used a GM rebuild kit for his vacuum assisted master cylinder with a 1" bore. I removed the old internals and measured the bore on my master cylinder. It has a 1-1/8" bore, which is identical to a 1958-1960 Ford Thunderbird or an early 1950s GM 3/4 Ton truck. Looking at the Ford and GM rebuild kits side by side, the guts look almost identical to the original ATE kit. I ordered a Ford rebuild kit from my local NAPA store and it was available this morning for pickup. Everything is looking pretty good!

I stripped down the master cylinder, honed the inside to remove the small etching on the cylinder wall, and prepared it for a fresh coat of paint. Tomorrow I will reassemble the master cylinder and hopefully be back on the road!

[Bad Benzo]

So I've been busy working and driving this car since the my last post.

First of all, I threw some snow tires on my old W114 steel wheels and ran it through most of the winter here in Rochester, NY. I live very close to the shore of Lake Ontario, so we get a lot more snow than most other places in the USA. I loved passing ditched Subarus and other SUVs in this RWD relic with a 4 speed manual on the column.

Honestly, this was a superb car to drive in the winter, and it handled really well! I have plans to take the car off the road next year to fix the extensive rust on the floors and bodywork, so I wasn't too concerned about exposing it to the elements.

[Bad Benzo]

In January, I found a 1960 220S outside of Binghamton, NY. This car probably could have been saved 15-20 years ago, but it had obviously spent some time outside that accelerated the deterioration. The car was mostly original, I couldn't find any filler on the body, but I believe it was repainted at some point. Unusual 4 speed on the column with full leather interior; this was the first time I saw a sedan with leather interior.

Sadly, a local parts picker beat me to the car; he damaged the dash and some other pieces before I found it. I was able to rescue a significant amount of necessary and rare parts to make my car whole, including the wooden door trim, accent trim around the grille, and a dent free grille. It also had an armrest and center seat cushion! I wanted to go back to grab the doors, manual transmission and a few other pieces, but the car was crushed later in the week.

Attached photos show the pictures from when it was dropped in the yard, and what I brought home.

[Bad Benzo]

Back in May, I refinished a set of 15" W186 Adenauer wheels and painted the original hubcaps black to match the roof. I also took the liberty of painting the tops of the white doors black to match the roof, as they would have been at the factory. (the white doors came off my 220S, which is why they did not match)

The 15" Adenauer wheels were a great improvement, I have more modern tire choices and the ride quality with better rubber made a significant difference. I tidied up a few interior details after the Binghamton parts haul and realigned all the doors so they open and close easily.

At this point, I have put about 1,500 miles on the car, and it has been a tremendous daily driver. It burns a little oil, but that's about it. No weird issues or downtime since I got it, very reliable. It's quickly becoming my favorite Benz; this car has a lot of personality and it is very easy to work on.

While I am not an attention seeker, local car show folks aren't very interested in it when I show up at cars & coffee or cruise nights. In fact, most of the people at meets are pretty dismissive, which is a bit of a bummer. If anything, I get many negative comments about the overall condition, being unrestored, or things to that effect. Explaining that this is a recent acquisition, a work in progress, or something I enjoy doesn't seem to change their attitude. A rusted and smoking muscle car, on dry rotted tires from 1988 will gather a crowd, but my 220SE is crowd repellant.

On the road is another story, I cannot leave the house without somebody stopping me to chat about the car. Non-car people think it is very cool, and even regular car enthusiasts seem to recognize it as something unusual in our area. It seems like the W111 was a VERY popular car in my area in the 1980s, especially for young drivers and college students. I am hearing a lot of stories about how someone owned grandpa's old 220 and drove it to prom, or used it for college and lived out of it when they started a new career. It really puts a new spin on how I look at the fintail, and what kind of people drove these when they were new and still relatively common.

[meltedpanda]

here area few of my journeys, lots of great info and help in these threads from many members'
for your nighttime reading enjoyment LOL

Dolly - Finally My Finny - The Journey Continues

1971 220

[cth350]

the car show folks might be a little more interested if the doors and fenders were from the same part of the color wheel. Am enjoying seeing this car. keep at it.

-CTH

[Bad Benzo]

Originally Posted by cth350

the car show folks might be a little more interested if the doors and fenders were from the same part of the color wheel. Am enjoying seeing this car. keep at it.

-CTH

Hahaha! Thanks for your support. I found that the car show people accept imperfection when it is an old domestic, or even a 1990s Japanese car with an unpainted bodykit, but not when it is old and German survivor. A harlequin Corvair shows up to the same meets and elicits a much more positive response.