I found a 1963 220s in my neighbourhood!

[baker462]

I found this forsale, right down the street from me!

1963 MERCEDES BENZ 220S 6 CYLINDER 4 SPEED STANDARD. RUNS AND DRIVES EXCELLENT , LOW KMS. REQUIRES SUBSTANTIAL BODY WORK, BUT STRUCTURELY SOUND FOR PARTS OR REPAIR

[TheDon]

looks like it has euros...

You never know what can be nextdoor

[Jim B.]

If you save her, your reward is to get to watch the barber pole speedometer whilst shifting the column 4 speed and having euro lights showing you the way at night!!!

[mercmad6.3]

Too Much RUST to bother with...Sad but true,the 220 S or SE is too common .if it were a 300SE or a convert. then yeah it's worth buying but once you get rust in a W111 anywhere below the belt line the car will cost far more than it is worth to get repaired.As parts it's virtually worthless because they are such strong well built cars there is no demand for used parts.
I know,I've sold a mint ,Rust free black 220 SE on the 'bay ( $400AUD) Plus enough perfect parts for another 6 cars...1 year later the buyer on sold them for $100...after realising that it was beyond his finances to get the car road worthy .

[TheDon]

Those cars dont seem common to me..

[mercmad6.3]

Originally Posted by TheDon

Those cars dont seem common to me..

They are in the Mercedes World. A car that was both blessed and cursed by 'over engineering'.
Maybe not common in the Chevfordmopar sense but there are a lot more around than you realise.
With a W111,if you are going to buy one, buy the very best you can afford with a service history.There are precious few of us out here who have any experience whatsoever on them,especially the 220SE so just getting a simple service done properly can be almost impossible.

[pj67coll]

It does look like it has some rust issues but if it were me I'd still check it out carefully. I guess I'm an iconoclast but the resale value of such a car is meaningless to me. I love those W111's. Everybody should have a finnie at least once.

- Peter.

[Tomguy]

Honestly it looks like the glass from the euros are the only things worth money on that car. It looks pretty far gone. Unless you want it for a "Frankencar" - something you'd rebuild with a unique drivetrain - it's probably not worth what the seller wants.

[TheDon]

Originally Posted by mercmad6.3

They are in the Mercedes World. A car that was both blessed and cursed by 'over engineering'.
Maybe not common in the Chevfordmopar sense but there are a lot more around than you realise.
With a W111,if you are going to buy one, buy the very best you can afford with a service history.There are precious few of us out here who have any experience whatsoever on them,especially the 220SE so just getting a simple service done properly can be almost impossible.

I need to look harder then.. I want something along the lines of a 108 ^_^

[riethoven]

The heckflosses were always ugly to me. I remember the old Mercedes-Benz logo from the 70's. "Mercedes-Benz will never be contemporary" I think they sold out to US 50's styling with this car. The sedans are worth almost nothing, but coupes and convertibles bring a fair amount. If you want to bring this car back, make it a labor of love and figure on never selling, or being disappointed when you do.

Does it have a sunroof? I had a buddy with a light green 220S that had a sunroof and leather interior. It was a cool old car, just ugly IMHO.

[300SDog]

Not ugly, in fact arguably the best styled interior of practically any MB sedan except for the Pontoon Bathtub Benz. Also easily the best for driving on ice and snow, an outright beast with 4 wheel snow tires that can drive through unplowed snow more than a foot deep.

Rust behind headlights is incurable, thats the problem. But everybody should own a fintail at least once in their life. And 1963 was an excellent year! New enough for disc brakes, old enough for deluxe interior trimmings and an amazing firewall air flap that pushes heat like you wouldnt believe.

Hell, you'd be hard pressed to find a better vehicle for battling Canada Winters.


(edit: Mercmad, am not sure what you mean by over-engineered. Perhaps the multi-zerk fitted kingpin suspension knuckles? Strikes me as overbuilt not over-engineered. Amazing rebuildable electric components too, many of em with porcelain chassis. About the only thing over-engineered on that car is the fuel tank breather apparatus - but then there's also the Zeniths.

[Jim B.]

Originally Posted by riethoven

The heckflosses were always ugly to me. I remember the old Mercedes-Benz logo from the 70's. "Mercedes-Benz will never be contemporary" I think they sold out to US 50's styling with this car. The sedans are worth almost nothing, but coupes and convertibles bring a fair amount. If you want to bring this car back, make it a labor of love and figure on never selling, or being disappointed when you do.

Does it have a sunroof? I had a buddy with a light green 220S that had a sunroof and leather interior. It was a cool old car, just ugly IMHO.

The Heckflosse cars were stately cars, and most definately influenced by 1950's American car styling. But so were many other German cars of that era; take a look at the DKW Junior, Opel Kapitan, Ford Taunus and other cars from those years and you can see it.

The heckflosse sedans aren't collectible, but the good ones are really nice.

I almost bought one, it was a 1965 220SE automatic, burgundy with palomino, 93k miles with a rebuilt engine, an original California black plate car in the family from new, all books stamped up to date, from the MB dealer in Santa Barbara, body, interior, and wood in mint condition, a Medical student selling it who needed the money, asking price $1200.00

I should have bought it, and a friend still teases me about it. But it was in June of 1972,
and I only had $900 in the budget and was nervous about such a fancy car, I had never driven a Mercedes before. I still remember the large upright seats, huge ivory steering wheel, the crisp handling, four wheel disc brakes barber pole speedometer, and all that beautiful zebrawood it had.

Utterly different than any American car I ever experienced. Still think about it once in awhile.

There are still some heckflosses around unusual corners of the world: Peru, Cambodia, Lebanon, West Africa, where you wouldn't think to find them, but of course they are working cars, not trailer queens

[meltedpanda]

grand look, but it would need significant work, I will buy those headlights it the owner wants to part it

[ADP]

I kind of like those bulbous underdog cars.

Yeah, they are far from sexy and sophisticated (like my *108 is?) but in the midst of all their American contemporaries they stand out.

Plus even in '63 they were mechanically so far ahead of American cars - they are fun to drive even now.

Ann
*I prefer to think of my 108 as "stately"