Kevin writes: I purchased the
car from a client who
is 80 years old and in a retirement home. Allen
(my client) purchased the car on June 20, 1970 from Turner Motors in West Chester,
Pennsylvania.
The car had about 18,000 miles on it and the salesman at Turner told
Allen that it was traded in on a new car by one of the DuPonts, which in this
area (West Chester being 30 minutes north of Wilmington, Delaware) is about as common
as the name Smith. At the time, he
worked at University of Pennsylvania in the labs and a friend of his kept bugging him to sell
it to him. On January 20, 1973 he
caved in, and sold his friend the car. At
that point the car had 24,650 miles on it, and from then until January 31, 1983 a
“Little Blue Book” was maintained on the car. With the exception of tune-ups, tires and oil changes there was very
little repair work done. It
was repainted on September 20, 1976. A
voltage regulator was replaced at 31,500 miles and a front wheel bearing was
replaced at 36,000 miles. The motor
mounts were replaced at 55,732. Master
cylinder was replaces at 56,000 and one or more wheel cylinders were replaced at
59,000.
The car was parked January 31,
1983 and on October 11, 1996 Allen’s friend called him and said “Allen, you
always regretted selling me the car, and it’s been sitting in the garage for 13
years so if you want it, come an get it, it’s yours. Allen
spent the next three and a half years puttering with the car. He tagged it, but never put it on the road, and ended up renting a garage
at the retirement village where he now lives to keep the car. In mid 1999 knowing I was a car buff he started telling me how much I’d
like the car and how he’d love for me to have it. I told him I appreciated that, but had just purchased a 1956 Lincoln Mark
II and really didn’t need another project. Well he kept after me but never came right out and said what he wanted
for the car. One day I was out at
his place and he kept encouraging me to take this car (which at this
point I hadn’t even seen yet). Finally
we went to take a look. It was solid (especially for a vintage
Mercedes-Benz) and had the largest sunroof I had ever seen. I asked him what he wanted for
it, and he said he’d like to get out
what he had in it. Up to this point
I hadn’t realized that he didn’t pay anything for it. When
I asked him what he wanted for it he said $1,500 to which I declined. Not
knowing the exact value of the car but having a great appreciation of it’s
condition I told him I’d purchase it but he had to take at least $2,500. Allen would hear nothing of the sort and we argued for 15 or 20 minutes. Finally he said that if I wouldn’t give him $1,500 then he’d sell it
to someone else. What can I say, he
wore me down. The only thing he
requested was that he could stop by and see it every now and then. I
told him when I got it on the road he could stop by and take it out.
Once I got the car, it sat in a
storage shed behind my Lincoln until I could build the barn I had been planning
on since 1995. At that time, the
plans were drawn and my bride informed me that there was no way that was being
built until we added on to our present home which we had planned on doing when
we originally purchased it in 1991. Last
spring I finally got to build the barn (yes we are also enjoying our three year
old addition).
I committed to not
starting on any of the cars until I had everything set up. One of the things I installed was a twin post asymmetrical lift, which
was great as it kept the car up in the air and out of the way. In
April 2002 I went out to the barn to get something and one
thing lead to another, and I pulled the wheels off to have a look. I can’t say I was surprised, as I knew the car had no brakes and one
rear wheel was not real interested in turning without a lot of convincing.
As we all know once you get into
one of these projects it just doesn’t make sense to go half way as there’s
too much work pulling things apart again. I
had a bad axel seal on the left rear so I pulled both axels and renewed the
seals and bearings. I’m also in
the process of renewing all rear suspension bushings and other wear items,
shocks, rear boot, brake hoses. It
just seemed to make sense to drop the gas tank, clean it and replace all those
hoses at the same time. Last but
not least I ordered a stainless exhaust system from Timevalve today. The wheel cylinders need to be rebuilt and the shoes need new
bindings. The wheel cylinders have
been glass beaded, and the shoes will be sent to Rochester Clutch &
Brake thanks to a recommendation from Henry Magno (Magno Restorations). Tom Hanson at Caliber Motors has become my new best friend! Note
that Tom worked at the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in Irvine, California after
Caliber Motors.
I can’t say enough about the knowledge and service Tom has provided
since I dipped my toe in the water.
My goal at this point is to renew the brakes and suspension,
and get the car on the road for a couple of years and enjoy it. This will also give me an opportunity to work out all the little bugs
before I begin the refinishing process. The
car is very complete and as I said quite solid.
With the exception of the forward area of the rear wheel well, and some other
minor areas (light buckets, fuel door mounting, small section of the inner
fender in the engine compartment) the car is in great shape. The repaint is okay
(not great), but will buff up to be acceptable. I’ve even thought about spot repairing some of the areas
and just repainting and blending in those areas. My goal is to change the blue to the maroon / burgundy that was available
in 1958. The car's saving grace is that it was always garage kept and
pretty well maintained. We’re
looking to get a lot of years of pleasure from this one.
