Not for the faint of heart.

Still deciding wether or not to retsore it ourselves or take an inventory and sell it. There is a lot of parts. It may be very close to complete once we get the chassis in the next few weeks. There is some rust in the bottom of the main body piece, but the rest of the panels are very straight and only have surface rust. I think there i some potential here!

http://www.thedreyerfamily.com/M220A.htm


Let me know what you Mercedes knowledgable people see.

I'm use to old domestic trucks!

Greg in Texas

BIg problem with re-assembling someone elses project is not knowing how it came apart and which fastener went where. Did your uncle save all the screws, nuts, bolts, clips, brackets, etc... Did he label all or any of it? If not, you may need to find and examine some detailed 220 photos or even an actual 220 Cabrio at a classic car show.

On your previous post, you asked about the wood. How good are your woodworking skills? Keep in mind that, in addition to any cosmetic wood interior trim, these Cabrios have structural wood framing inside the doorframes, sills and other body panels. Is it intact or rotten?

Happy Motoring, Mark

__________________
DrDKW

Wow. That's a lot of parts. Quite an undertaking but what a reward at the end!

__________________
1970 280SE Coupe W111
Chassis Number: 111 024 12
Engine Number: 130 980 12
Exterior Color: 180 - Silver Grey Metallic
Interior Color: 243 - Leather Light Red
Transmission # 004470

You are right - not for the faint of heart.

Trouble is, not a lot of people who can help you with this no matter how much they want to help. The guys who know do it for money.

__________________
Chuck Taylor
Falls Church VA
'66 200, '66 230SL, '96 SL500. Sold: '81 380SL, '86 300E, '72 250C, '95 C220, 3 '84 280SL's '90 420SEL, '72 280SE, '73 280C, '78 280SE, '70 280SL, '77 450SL, '85 380SL, '87 560SL, '85 380SL, '72 350SL, '96 S500 Coupe

Unfortunately. my uncle did not disassemble it. That was the SchnappHeads...If it makes it any better, they were Germans :-) This car has been back to the homeland at least once!

It looks like you've got the makings of a rumble seat in the trunk, lol.

Meanwhile am reminded of "bring back" captured Mausers from Normandy Beach. Captured weapons were stripped of their bolts and thrown into two piles: one was bolts - the other was stripped rifles. Then when troops retrieved their souvenirs at the docks, they picked one random bolt and one stripped rifle..... that's one reason its so rare to see German Mausers with matching serial numbers on bolts and recievers in the USA.

You might try the same approach with assembling piles of trim, interior stuff, suspension, etc from that pile of bones.

Yes, the rumble-seat is there.

I guess I should clarify the history a little. My unlce got it from his uncle many years ago. My Great Unlce, a bit eccentric, was still using it around the farm to haul hay etc.....My uncle acquires it and proceeds to haul it around the world hoping to work on it at some point. He hauled it to Germany at one point, where I beileive it was disassembled but never reassembled. My uncle thinks there was more drinking Schnapps than wrenching going on at that shop! My uncle hauled it back to the states where it has stayed covered in a Texas garage for years. The Chassis is at a Cousin's Cousin's shop a few hundred miles away, and little work has been done to my understanding. I have not seen it yet. I suspect it is disassembled as well.

We'll go get the chassis soon.

There really is a lot of parts here. And many of them are in good to very good condition. I think most of the wood pieces are at least recognizeable enough to reproduce. It is off the trailer and in my shop now. I'll start trying to ID pieces soon. I may need some help with that. SO feel free to speak up if you think you can ID various pieces of the convertible mechanism, suspension and drive-train and trim.

Should I just proceed with trimming the main body to nothing and take it to a decent shop for rust repair and paint prep? I figure that will cost $3-5k just for the main part of the body. What do you call that main piece: Cab, unibody? I need to learn the right terminiology.

Sounds like a Perpetual Project, that can be handed down from generation to generation!

But seriously, check the body, cab, tub, shell (It's not a unibody because it has a separate chassis) for the condition of that structural wood in the sills and door frames. Be sure to advise the body shop. Wouldn't want any torches applied to body panels with wood inside!

When you finish stripping the bodyshell, be sure to mark, label or otherwise identify the parts you remove. You may want to draw diagrams and pictures.
It takes more time, but it's a good idea to reinstall whatever screws, washers and other fasteners back into each removed component, or tie them on in a little plastic bag, so they will be there when you put it back together.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

GTex, here are some pics of a 1937 230 Cabrio-A which can give you an idea what the car looks like completely assembled. Nevermind the model year, MB worked from old pre-war blueprints when they build cars in the early 1950's.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6315&item=2488831714&rd=1

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Last edited by 300SDog; 09-03-2004 at 04:45 AM.

Thanks. I'm quite sure the rear seat does not mount like that, if it is original. It just won't fit like that. It may indeed go in the cab and fold down when the top is down, instead of as a Rumble Seat..

That's good info. At least I have somemore pics! Ive got a book with good pics of the 1952/53 220A. I'll try to scan some later.