New Guy Here With a True "Barn Find" W189?

[JuiceMan]

Originally Posted by klaus kallas

Idle,



Mine has the aforementioned A/C. It is a trunk mounted unit made by Artic Kar. Neat to look at, but as it comes out from the rear package shelf , only useful for the über important heads of state in the back seat.



Mine also has a front bench seat (which, oddly enough, is a rare option) and factory Hella fog lights.



Really would like to learn the history of mine. I can tell it lived around Washington DC in its earlier days and can only assume it was an embassy car of some sort....

Man that's really cool that yours still has the A/C unit in place. An expensive option for sure! Does it still appear to be complete? Also just curious is it a self contained unit it does it have any sort of pump/accessory on the engine itself with lines going back to he trunk (which I know your engine isn't factory but wondering if you might have ran across info on how they were originally setup.

[JuiceMan]

Look what I got today. Original owners manual and Maintnance guide along with some receipts for work/parts from 65-69. A lot of things are leading me to believe that the car may have actually been parked more around the 1974-75 time frame instead of the late 70s. I'm attempting to research that further.

Check out this newspaper clipping I found tucked inside the manual. Zoom in and look next to the key.... If it's blurry the price is $8800

[klaus kallas]

Very cool finds!! That reminds me of the shop my dad used to take one of his old Benzs in the late 70's. They had a gull wing that could have been had for $6000. Of course, that was a fortune to him then (that was the cost of his first house! ) but what an investment that could have been!

[klaus kallas]

Oh, sorry, forgot about the a/c question. It was compressor driven, just all the components usually under the dash were in the rear. Must have taken gobs of freon!

It could probably be made to work, but no real point. Mine will get a street rod a/c kit that goes under dash.

[JuiceMan]

One very interesting thing I've discovered digging through this paperwork is that all documentation claims the car is a 1961 model. However the dash and steering wheel look like a 1957-1960 style. It has the metal knobs instead of the rubber style and the non-padded steering wheel.

So if the car is indeed a 1961 then I assume it must've been a very early one that maybe MB used leftover parts from the 1960 run to build. I can't seem to find any 1961 models online that have the older style dash attributes.

[97 SL320]

Mercedes traditionally made changes as they became available rather than wait for a model year change. This is why providing a serial number is critical when sourcing parts.

Run the $ numbers through this to calculate todays $.

CPI Inflation Calculator

$ 8,800 in 1974 = $42,364.24 today

[Ziad]

TYPE300.COM has all the parts you need to restore the car.

[ejboyd5]

Originally Posted by JuiceMan

One very interesting thing I've discovered digging through this paperwork is that all documentation claims the car is a 1961 model. However the dash and steering wheel look like a 1957-1960 style. It has the metal knobs instead of the rubber style and the non-padded steering wheel.

So if the car is indeed a 1961 then I assume it must've been a very early one that maybe MB used leftover parts from the 1960 run to build. I can't seem to find any 1961 models online that have the older style dash attributes.

Back in the day it was quite common for M-B to offer unsold or late year production cars with a next year designation. As an example, I have a 300 SL which left the plant in December, 1960 and M-B declared and sold it as a 1961. Cars such as yours really didn't have model years like the American cars of the era but rather were the result of many small changes made as necessary over the life of the production run.

[Tomguy]

A 12/60 production date is a 1961 model year. Now if you said it was 12/59 and a 61 model year that'd be different. Production for the "Current" model year typically starts in July or August of the "Previous" year, which is why 2016 models are on dealer lots and have been sold by most makers since September. This can vary of course, especially on new models or refreshes; sometimes production starts way sooner (like in Feb or March, my 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee was made March 2013 and I bought it July 2013). Sometimes it's way later (the 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokees either stated production in Dec or will start in January).

Also keep in mind these cars are shipped from Germany to the US on boats. Let's say it was fully assembled at the factory on 12/01/1960. It first needs to travel from the landlocked state of Bavaria to a port, likely rail. It'll probably stay in Germany and leave via a northern port city like Bremerhaven. Figure at least 3 days on rail for it to arrive, because they first won't ship an empty train and second, the train has to travel from Munich to Bremmerhaven. My guesstimate is it's probably 2x the distance as going from Detroit to Chicago. Then at least 2 days at port for packing, loading, etc; then let's say 20 days to cross the Atlantic and arrive in Jersey. That puts its arrival pretty close to Christmas, 12/25; if anyone's working (let's say they are) it still needs unloading and unpacking and a DOT inspection or paperwork, that puts it well into January before a lot porter would even pick it up and drive it to NYC for sale, or pack it onto a hauler for a trip to the destination city. Which is a good week away if it's in LA because the hauler is going to stop off at other MB dealers on the way there to drop off other cars along the way.

[JMela]

Originally Posted by JuiceMan

Check out this newspaper clipping I found tucked inside the manual. Zoom in and look next to the key.... If it's blurry the price is $8800

I don't care if it's 40 years old, I'm calling that dealership for that $8,800 gullwing.

That said, I bet $9k was still a lot of $$ back then for some 'old car'.

[JeffreyNMemphis]

The VIN numbers of The Emerald Bullet and Code Blue were about 6,800 units apart. The original owner of the Bullet picked it out at the factory in Sindelfingen Germany and took immediate delivery September 1962. Code Blue has the earlier VIN number but is titled as 1963. Code Blue was not special ordered and does not have any extras except the radio. It was shipped to a dealer in the USA with a boat load of others and eventually was titled as a 1963 even though it was positively manufactured before The Bullet.

Code Blue has the reverse light switch mechanism in the steering column. The Emerald Bullet's reverse light switch mechanism is integrated from inside the transmission housing, which is the incremental improvement.

When Mercedes made a design change they would use up what they had and from then on use the new parts. Incremental changes like the reverse light switch on transmission are common. Luckily, Mercedes has always had a system of meticulous documentation for changes and parts identification. If you order from the Mercedes Classic Center they will ask for your VIN.

[geen]

here are some pics of a 300d from a show I went to this summer a few miles form home. I no nothing of these cars but though pics of a great example would fit in this thread

[joshhol]

Where in Illinois was this show?

[geen]

It was a fuelfed cofee and clasics show in Barrington IL

[Idle]

Originally Posted by klaus kallas

Idle,

Mine has the aforementioned A/C. It is a trunk mounted unit made by Artic Kar. Neat to look at, but as it comes out from the rear package shelf , only useful for the über important heads of state in the back seat.

Mine also has a front bench seat (which, oddly enough, is a rare option) and factory Hella fog lights.

Really would like to learn the history of mine. I can tell it lived around Washington DC in its earlier days and can only assume it was an embassy car of some sort....

A rambling discourse on trunk mounted A/C......

I knew a guy who installed these back in the 60's. I even helped him install a few of them when he got behind in his work; usually during the summer months.

Trunk mounted units were for maximum cooling. There was the space back there, between the wheels and just under the package shelf, to put in a large unit. I seem to recall they had two blower motors and weighed about 40 pounds. An under dash unit was about five pounds.

They would not only pour out all the cool air you would need but they would do it without blowing the air on you. Some people thought that the blowing air from the dash units was like standing in a draft and was only good for catching a cold.

People that bought these units were normally older so they had grown up before air conditioning was common even in a home. They may not have known much about air conditioning, but they knew to stay out of a cold draft.

There was also the fact that the interior of autos then had expansive areas of glass, untinted glass, and the interior temp would hit 160 F on a summer day. Therefore if you wanted to really cool in the interior 100% an under dash unit was not going to be able to move enough air without freezing up the coils.

I seem to recall the cheapest under dash unit he sold was $200. The trunk mounted unit was $1,800. This would have been around 1968 or so. For some perspective on this I bought a new Dodge Dart in 1968, a 270 with a V-8, for $2,645.

And if you really wanted to go first class you could get the under dash unit and the trunk mounted unit. We only did one of these and it was for a company salesman that wanted to show a customer the difference in cooling during a test drive.