Is there any decent online presence for the Fintail? Any owners forums or such? I've found a couple Facebook groups but there is little activity and no option to post.

I'm especially looking to source some 14" wheels, however moving forward I'd like to find a good source of info as I am a complete Fintail Noob.

Go Ebay and MB of North America and the classic center. You can get CDs of all manuals and booklets.


There are other forum groups that specialize in Fintail. I belong to one called Heckflosse, which is the German work for fintail.
These guys are international, multilingual and helpful. If I still had a Fintail, I'd be more active with them. But I sold all mine.


Good Luck!

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Strelnik
Invest in America: Buy a Congressman!

1950 170SD
1951 Citroen 11BN
1953 Citroen 11BNF limo
1953 220a project
1959 180D
1960 190D
1960 Borgward Isabella TS 2dr
1983 240D daily driver
1983 380SL
1990 350SDL daily driver alt
3 x Citroen DS21M, down from 5
3 x Citroen 2CV, down from 6

posting with FINTAIL in your question will help you here. I have one I am restoring and know a bit and know many who know more than me . The Ponton group also can be helpful. Remember a lot of the years and models have many of the same parts ( and problems)

Also , as far as parts and someone who can even fix your broken ( I assume) clock is JeffreyNMemphis on this forum

Give him a shout

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Ron
2015 Porsche Cayman - Elizabeth
2011 Porsche Cayman - Bond,James Bond
Sadly MERCEDESLESS - ALways LOOKING !
99 E320 THE Queen Mary - SOLD
62 220b - Dolly - Finally my Finny! Sadly SOLD
72 450SL, Pearl-SOLD
16 F350 6.7 Diesel -THOR
19 BMW X5 - Heaven on Wheels
14 38HP John Deere 3038E Tractor -Mean Green
84 300SD, Benjamin -SOLD
71 220 - W115-Libby ( my first love) -SOLD
73 280 - W114 "Organspende" Rest in Peace
81 380 SL - Rest in Peace

This forum here is often helpful but doesn't have the sheer numbers the Heckflosse group has. Feel free to post any questions or concerns or pictures here though

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1972 280SE 4.5
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1999 Chrysler 300M - RIP @ 221k

I don't think a lot of people have Fintails, at least not here in America. In the past ten years, I've only seen one Fintail on the road besides my own (although I heard reports of another local Heckflosse sighting a couple years ago). I think so many of them have rusted away over the years that there are very few left in operational condition.

That being said, there probably isn't any big on-line presence for Fintails besides the resources listed above. But they are still excellent vehicles!

Now to your question about wheels: I would recommend that you not bother with 14" wheels. You can get 185 80R13 passenger car tires (the correct size) from MAXXIS at an OK price:

4 New 185 80 13 Maxxis MA-1 Tires P185/80R13 90S 1858013 | eBay

I use those tires on my vehicle with good results. I had them mounted by a local mechanic at about $15 a tire.

One source of 14 inch wheels would be the 108 from 1966 to 1968. The hubcaps are different (the finials used those pointed stobs to hold the hubcaps, the 108's used embossed flanges to secure the hubcaps) but I think they will fit.

The last ones I saw on eBay went for $100 each. You would need five wheels to have a correct spare.

The early 108's also had the small hub caps withe optional chrome beauty rings so they don't miss the 110 look by much.

Can anyone speak to the fact of if they fit or not?

"Go Ebay and MB of North America and the classic center. You can get CDs of all manuals and booklets."

Ask about those CDs though. As far as I know, they will only run now on machines that have Windows XP. If there are Mercedes shop CDs that run on Windows 7 or newer, I would love to know about them. The Mercedes Classic shop guy said there were not.

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1965 220SEb Manual

The CDs are crap to use compared with the Big Blue Book(s).

The Big Blue Books are pretty easy to get for the Finnies too (especially compared to the W123s). The one you want is the 1959-1967 manual. If you wait around for a while, you can get one at a good price.

I have BBBs in conditions from terrible to mint. If you contact me I'm sure I can set you up with something that you will be happy with.

Maybe I am just old but I agree with this. The CD's might have that 'last forever' quality but they also have that 'very difficult to search through' quality.

I need to be able to turn from page to page quickly when I am trying to unravel a problem that covers two or three pages.

One last comment about factory manuals.....

These were written to be used by Techs that had been through Mercedes training programs. You need to be rather up there on the wrenching skills to use them quickly.

But they are still the best thing out there and if you ponder them long enough you will discover your answers.

I find the BBBs to be easy to use in terms of very precise instructions. The organization of the BBB is not intuitive, but matches the grouping that Mercedes uses with EPC, etc. So sometimes it's difficult to find exactly what you want to find, but when you do, the instructions are excellent.

Hardcopy vs. CD - Hardcopy only works for me - I need to flip pages, and also to set the manual on the fender and have it handy to look at. The only thing that I think is potentially useful on the CD is the ability to print out a page and mark it up.

Wow thanks for all the replies everyone!

I thought I had chosen immediate email updates, but obviously hadn't; off to correct that shortly.

The car arrived yesterday, unfortunately it isn't running. I'll post that issue up separately. Otherwise, I'm very happy with the car.

I'll post up some pics as soon as I figure out an alternative to Photobucket now that they have screwed us all.

I found 14" wheels at Vintage Euro Parts. They were good to deal with, and the shipping was very cheap.

Thanks, I was aware of those, but had already invested in Vredestein Sprint Classics in a 14" as I had found wheels from a private seller. Unfortunately the seller went silent on me leaving me with 14" rubber and no wheels.

Thanks I'm pretty certain that is what I ended up with;

https://vintageeuroparts.com/index.php/chassis-number/w111/details-about-4-mercedes-6x14-wheels-w113-w121-190-230-250-280-sl-113-spare-parts.html

As you said the hubcaps fit. I may invest in the trim rings later.

I'm very interested. If I can support a member here I'm all for it. PM on the way.

Again thanks everyone for all the input!

Welcome to Fintail land!

We are a quiet and peaceful people, ever on the prowl for parts.

On my 1964 190c I went to the local junkyard and got 4 14inch Mercedes steel wheels, they all have the same lug pattern. I think I paid 125$ for all 4. I had to bust the surface rust off of them and paint them up but they looked good. Then it’s just a matter of getting matching hubcaps.

The classic center has been tons of help with finding replacement parts and substituting parts. Less and less is available for these cars every year. I just went through trying to find headlight seals, ended up having to make my own from a sheet of rubber.

Biggest issue is that if you have a W110 Finny you are looking at an entry level car with little to no options from 50+ years ago. They don’t have much of a following, they aren’t worth much, and there aren’t many left. But when you’re cruising and people are breaking necks to figure out what kind of Mercedes had fins on the back it makes it worthwhile.

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