1960 Mercedes-Benz Ponton 220SE Cabriolet

In the spring of 2022, I finally surrendered to my desire to add a Ponton to my Mercedes-Benz fleet.

The Fleet

• 1961 190SL (W121) four-speed
• 1970 280SL (W113) four-speed
• 1988 560SL (R107) automatic

This first set of photos enticed me to buy the car.

The color is DB 629G Cream (a.k.a. Cream Yellow), although I suspect it might have been altered to be a bit more yellow.

Lots of chrome, leather, and wood.

There was a pretty decent selection of cabriolets at the time. I drove a few, but settled on a 1960 European specification example that I found in La Jolla, California.

At some point in its lifetime, an M180.941 engine (two carburetors) from a W111 220Sb Fintail sedan had been substituted for its original fuel injected engine. While I was not concerned by this substitution at the time, I soon became concerned with the cars lack of originality.

Through the International Ponton Owners Group (IPOG), I found a correct engine (M127.983) sitting in California with member Bob West who passed away one week after I purchased it. He shipped the engine to Metric Motors for a complete rebuild. Later in 2022, I sent the Fintail engine to member Wayne Rockall in New Zeeland who reports it is running perfectly in his Ponton sedan.

Correct M127.983 fuel injected engine.

Note the early style cold start system without the injector nozzle.

The famous U-shaped sub-frame (a.k.a. "Fahrschemel") from which the Ponton gets its name (that's one theory anyway).

My correct engine arrived from Metric Motors, and the 18-month process of converting her back to original (or nearly so) was started. Obviously, this is not the economical way to buy a Ponton, but the process was mostly fun!

The car was delivered to me “nearly complete” by The Creative Workshop in Dania Beach, Florida in February 2024 in time for a concours d'élégance. I say nearly complete as the car was built with the later cold start Bosch injector into the air log.

A machine shop made this period-correct air intake plenum injector nozzle.

Because we could not find the injector nozzle that goes into the air log, the car was set up with the “older style” cold start circuit. The car still had the three relays/thermo switches behind the driver’s side bulkhead, so again I was bothered by the lack of originality. As hard as I tried, I could not come up with the injector nozzle. Less than half of the 1,112 fuel injected 220SE cabriolets produced had this later set up. That was going to be a hard part to find, so I bought a donor car – a 1960 black/red 220SE coupe. Originally the plan was to switch out the cold start circuits to have what was needed on the cabrio but ultimately, I decided to have a machine shop duplicate the injector, and reassemble the coupe as built. Once done, I was able to sell the coupe rather quickly to a collector.

Tires: BF Goodrich Silvertown radials 185/80R 13

The top goes up too!

Now back to original specifications, the cabriolet is the pride of my fleet, and stops traffic regularly on her frequent jaunts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Without the people and contacts from the IPOG, I honestly don’t think I would have been able to accomplish this labor of love!

Jeff Stanley
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
July 31, 2026

Created: July 31, 2026 / Jeff Miller
Last Update: August 01, 2026
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