Mercedes-Benz Ponton Photo Gallery

1955 Type W180 220a sedan

owner: Fred Schumacher / Caracas, Venezuela / more photos

This photo was taken at a friend's wedding in April, 2008. This RHD (Right Hand Drive) Ponton came from the factory with maroon paint. The previous owner had it re-painted with reference to the factory two-tone option. The original Becker radio is not working at present. I have only owned the car for six months. I am the fourth owner since new. This car would have been a very brave and expensive purchase in the UK in 1955 as the war with Germany had ended only ten years earlier. There was a lot of negativity towards German products back then. This attitude no longer prevails today, thank goodness!

Photo submitted: May 1, 2008

1955 Type W180 220a sedan

owner: Carlsson Ng / Toronto, Canada

The Type 220a sedans can be distinguished from the 220S by the lack of a chrome accent strip on the front fenders.  The rear fenders of the 220a had the same accent  strip as the 220S models.  Above: Carlsson's 1955 Type 220a before restoration.

June, 2003: Carlsson Ng's 220a after an extensive restoration.

Autumn, 2003: Carlsson Ng's 1955 Type 220a after the restoration.

text and/or photos updated: December 10, 2002 / June 5, 2003 / January 10, 2004

1955 Type W180 220a sedan

owner: Moosa E. Moosa / Massachusetts

more photos

1955 Type W180 220a sedan with Webasto sliding sunroof

owner: Bjerne von Schulman / Visby, Sweden

more photos

1955 Type W180 220a sedan

owner: Emilio Castillo Gavira / m146761@yahoo.com / Cádiz, Spain

This car was my grandfather's since new.  It has more than 1,000,000 km on the clock and I restored it completely ten years ago.  I love it because I traveled in it a lot of times when I was a child.

Photo submitted: January 24, 2005

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1955 Type W180 220a sedan with Webasto sliding sunroof

owner: Marwan Nusair / Cincinnati, Ohio

From the nostalgia archives, here is a picture of me with the 220a back in the late 1960s. From the appearance of everything I am homing in on 1968 or 1969. Today, car and driver are still together, but with some differences: my hair has not been black in some time, and it is a lot shorter now by choice, there are about 40 extra lbs of me, and the car is in better shape now than it was then.

Marwan Nusair with his Type 220a Ponton sedan in 2007

My grandfather had a friend of his buy the car during a long visit to Germany in 1955, and then drove it to Jordan with the oval German plate on it. I still remember that since it was so odd to see an oval plate. He gave the car to me when I graduated from high school in 1965. 

Regards,
Marwan Nusair

Photos submitted: November 27, 2005 and sometime in 2007

Type W180 220a sedan

owner: Nick Thompson / UK / more photos

1956 Type W180 220S sedan with Webasto sliding sunroof

owner: Griff Lambert / glambert@sbcglobal.net

Los Angeles, California USA

Griff writes: "I bought the 220S in 1975 from its original owner who was a German Mercedes-Benz mechanic who purchased it factory-new in Stuttgart, and brought it to California in 1965.  It has been reliable transportation for me for over twenty five years".

Photo submitted: September 22, 2001

Rare photo of a Type 220S Ponton with a steel sunroof made by Webasto. The canvas sunroof was far more common on the Mercedes-Benz Pontons.

1957 Type W180 220S sedan

owner: Christopher Craig / Dallas, Texas USA

more photos

1957 Type W180 220S sedan

owner: Mark Kurtz / markkurtz@adelphia.net / Saranac Lake, New York

Photo submitted: January 13, 2003 / Whiteface Mountain in background.
Email address updated October 30, 2005.

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1957 Type W180 220S sedan

Owner: Patrick Garcia

This 1957 Type 220S sedan (metallic gray, with red interior) underwent its first restoration in 1986 when it was purchased from a gentleman in Washington. The restoration was about a 7 on a 1-10 scale. I purchased the car in the spring of 2004 seeing that it was rusted out in an empty gravel driveway surrounded by trees. 

Since then, it spent 1.5 years having other restoration work completed. This car is beautiful and must be seen to be appreciated! I upgraded the wheel size 2 inches. These are 15", and the normal 220S wheel size is 13".

Patrick Garcia
Louisville, Kentucky
JPPG007@aol.com
July 20, 2006

1958 Type W180 220S sedan

owner: Bambang Witono Angkawijaya / Indonesia / more photos

owner: Martin Putnam / msputnam@yahoo.com 
Oakland, California USA / another view
Photos submitted: January 20, 2002

1958 Type W180 220S sedan with Webasto sliding sunroof

Owner: Bob Bush / Louisville, Kentucky
Bob and his bride Virginia on their happy day / April 17, 2004

Photo submitted: January 14, 2005

1958 Type W180 220S sedan with Webasto sliding sunroof

owner: Thomas P. Klose / Thomas@Pontom.de / Halstenbek, Germany

Photo submitted: March 12, 2003

Type W180 220S sedan

Photo taken on September 9, 2002
Suresnes, France (outside Paris) / another view

Photo submitted: September 14, 2002

1958 Type W180 220S sedan

Former owner: David van Duzer / Arlington, Virginia
He bought the car in 1970 for $395 and owned it for 28 years.

1958 Type 220S sedan

owner: Kevin Kuhn / Malvern, Pennsylvania / more photos

Photo submitted: November 11, 2005

owner: Craig Semple / aegean@iberpass.com

The car is in Melbourne, Australia, although I currently work in Turkey.  This 1958 Type 220S has a Hydrak automatic cluch.  I am the second owner.  The first owner (now deceased) drove the car from new until 2002.  It has done 101,000 miles and is in fairly original condition.  I believe it has been repainted at some time in its life - in the original DB 157G (grey beige).  The interior is original red leather, with no rips or any major marks.  It was supplied with all the original books, and sales brochures.  Kind Regards, Craig Semple

Photo Submitted: March 22, 2003

1958 Type 220S sedan

owner: Chris Williams / more photos

1958 Type 220S sedan

1958 Mercedes-Benz Type 220S Ponton rallye sedan.  In this photo, the 220S is participating in the "Albis Bergrennen" (hill climb) near Zürich, Switzerland, which was held on July 19-20, 2003.  It is an old traditional race, revived again this year after a long break.  On a hill climb, you try to drive up a hill as fast as possible. Typically, you have a few trial runs, and then a few race runs.  The best two of your race runs count.  Modifications: The engine is a Type 130.920 from a W108 280S, front disk brakes, roll cage, race seats and harness.  Planned modifications are: fuel cell, suspension upgrades, limited slip differential.

Best Regards,
Stefan Fallet (driver)
October 17, 2003
See Links page for web site

1958 Type W180 220S sedan

Somewhere in France

more photos

1959 Type W180 220S sedan

owner: Osman Kilic / Istanbul, Turkey / more photos

1959 Type W180 220S sedan

owner: Linda Caplinger / Los Gatos, California / more photos

1959 Type W180 220S sedan

Pam & Hans Matter / Capetown, South Africa

more information

1959 Type W180 220S sedan with Webasto sliding sunroof

owner: Marcelo M. / southern Brazil / more photos

This is a photo of myself, my 1959 Type 220S Ponton sedan, and my wife, in February, 1974 in the small city of Paree, East Java in Indonesia. We were still young then, and had just gotten married in December, 1973.  At that time, I worked with a government contractor in Madiun, East Java, and my boss gave me a special marriage present, the (used) 1959 Mercedes-Benz 220S you see in the photo!  It was in very good condition at the time and its color was black.  We were very happy to have this, our first car, and we still (in 2004) keep it in our house in Surabaya, Indonesia.  I moved from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Lakeland, Florida in 1992.  Here in Florida, I have a 1972 W108 280SEL 4.5 (95% original).  I would like to buy a Ponton here if I can find one for sale.  Back in Surabaya, I still have two Pontons: the 1959 220S and a 1955 220a.  Besides that, in Surabaya, I have two other Mercedes-Benz vehicles.  A  1965 W111 220Sb with a 1992 Toyota turbo-diesel engine, and a 1975 W114 250 with a 1990 Nissan turbo-diesel engine.  That is my daily driver when I stay in Indonesia.  Here in Lakeland, I drive a 1995 Mitsubishi 3000 GT every day.

- Andy S. Hidayat / July 11, 2004

The vehicle is No. 127 of the CKD (Complete Knock Down) car series which were built / re-assembled at the AMI plant in Port Melbourne. Australian Motor Industries also built Toyotas at the time.

1959 Type W180 220S sedan

"US Mercedes Team" / owner: Kevin Clemens
Participated in the "Around the World in 80 Days" rallye from May to July 2000.

Mercedes-Benz vehicles that participated in the rallye: 1956 190 (W121) / 1959 220S (W180) / 1959 190SL (W121) / 1959 220SE (W128) / 1959 220S cabriolet (W180) / 1960 190D (W121) / 1963 220Sb (W111) / 1963 220SEb coupé (W111) / 1964 220SEb (W111) / 1964 230SL (W113) / 1964 230SL (W113) / 1965 190 (W110) / 1965 220SEb (W111) / 1966 250SE cabriolet (W111) / 1967 250SE (W108) / 1967 250SL (W113)

The preparations and modifications that were made to this 220S were covered in three feature articles of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America's bi-monthly magazine, the Star .  The issues were: March-April, 2000 / July-August, 2000 / September-October, 2000.  As of November, 2003, the car is in the Western Reserve Museum in Cleveland, Ohio.

1959 Type W180 220S sedan

former owner: Ray Ilich / more photos

Photo submitted: November 22, 2002
Richard Priebe died August 6, 2006

owner: Andrew H. Litkowiak / more photos

Type W180 220S sedan

owner: unknown / New Zealand

Type W180 220S sedan

owner and location: unknown

Type W180 220S sedan

Type W180 220S cabriolet

Type W180 220S cabriolet

Paul Russell and Company / Massachusetts / July, 2001

Bob Gunthorp / Chula Vista, California / more photos

Awesome page and great effort. I have been following up with you for the past 4 or 5 years. I used to live in Caracas, Venezuela and I remembered sending you a photo of my 220S cabriolet. I am now living in Florida, USA and brought my Ponton with me.

Ramon Ojeda / ramonojeda@earthlink.net

new photo submitted: June 21, 2003 

1957 Type W180 220S cabriolet

owner: Tom Shields / Palo Alto, California USA
photo: Jeff Miller / April 1997

Type W180 220S cabriolets

owners: Konrad Schoebel (left / 1958)
Scott and Eva Gordon (right / 1957)
Menlo Park, California USA / more photos

owner: Ron van Seventer
Palo Alto, California / more photos

1958 Type W180 220S cabriolet

more photos

1959 Type W180 220S cabriolet

owner: Len Sokoloff / North Carolina USA / more photos

1959 Type W180 220S cabriolet

owner: Donald Cooke / New Hampshire
Don.Cooke@teleatlas.com 

Dove Gray (or Arabian Gray). 140,000 miles, newly-rebuilt engine.

Photo: Scott Gordon / Photo submitted: December 11, 2002

1959 Type W180 220S cabriolet

owner: Doug Broome / douglas.broome@att.net / McLean, Virginia

Photo: Phil Langlois / Photo submitted: April 13, 2003

Type W180 220S coupé

owner: Dr. Wernher von Braun

Dr. Wernher von Braun with his Type 220S Ponton coupé (circa 1960) in Huntsville, Alabama. Note the bumperette has a couple of creases in it. Besides being a famous rocket scientist and engineer, Wernher von Braun was also the director of Daimler-Benz of North America. Mercedes-Benz of North America (MBNA) gave or loaned him several high-end Mercedes-Benz models during his career in the USA.

1959 Type W180 220S coupé

Fernando Del Valle / Marbella, Spain / more photos

1959 Type W180 220S coupé with Webasto steel sunroof

owner: David van Duzer / Arlington, Virginia

David purchased the car in January of 2006 after a fifteen year search.  Prior to that, he owned a 1958 220S Ponton sedan since 1970 (see elsewhere on this page).

1959 Type W180 220S coupé

former owner (1987 - 2007) / Bob Berman
Rose Valley Pennsylvania (just south of Philadelphia)

Photo submitted June 13, 2007

Type W180 220S coupé

owner: Philippe de Lespinay / more photos

Type W180 220S coupé



owner and location: unknown