Original 280SL Auto Batteries!

[Tom Colitt]

Hi

There are two reasons I'm doing a rare posting. The first could be of interest to many Pagoda owners looking for original car batteries. I have found a company that could produce a quite original looking battery at a reasonable cost and I am trying to collect as much information and pictures as I can about the original 1960s Varta or Moll batteries that were used. The information that would be needed is: overall size, color, stickers, placement of battery posts and or straps, color of caps, etc.

I have a little time on my hands before I disappear into my "cave" for the next few months to restore a 1957 300SL roadster. Yes, sorry. I have been led into temptation. Actually, it is not so much temptation, as helping someone out. I really do prefer working on Pagodas all around and now that the first Pagoda I have completely restored has won best in class at three out of three of Southern California's concours d'elegance, I'm wondering what can be done to get a "correct" car battery for the w113. Any help would be much appreciated and might result in a discount on the batteries, if we place a group order?...Maybe someone even still has the original casing that they'd be willing to loan or trade for a new, correct battery?....

I could also use some Blue 280SL interior parts such as the forward, right door pull strap and MB tex dash and window frame pads if anyone has any for sale.

Best, Tom
ClassicAutosLA

PS. I have a few more pictures that I'd like to share from the LA show at the Rose Bowl last week end...., but I don't know how to attach them. Can anybody give me a short description of which button to use and any restrictions? Thanks.

[66andBlue]

... Can anybody give me a short description of which button to use and any restrictions? Thanks.

Hi Tom,
attaching a picture should be easy for a SL113 restorer .. but of course for anyone working on a 300SL it will be a real challenge! 
Anyway when you start a new topic or reply to a post you'll see under the typing area a pointer for "Additional Options...". Click on it and it opens up the line where you can add a link to the pictures (or other attachments) on your computer that you want to post.  It also shows you that the max. size is 256KB and max. number of attachments is four.  You can also use the "Preview" button to chek the looks of what you wrote - but it will not show you the pictures that will be attached later.
Now lets see what you have learned. 

PS Here is additional info: http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=9887.msg65919#msg65919

[mdsalemi]

The collector car world--particular all the old Ford, Mopar and GM gearheads, spend an inordinate amount of money on simulations including those for batteries.

In the world of batteries, quite interestingly a leading supplier appears to be "in the backyard" of JonnyB and Peter Lesler!  Yes, http://www.antiqueautobattery.com/ is in Hudson Ohio a suburb of Cleveland.  They have all manner of "antique" batteries, and list MB among them.  However they don't have specifics for MB as they do for other cars.  One can always call them and see what they have.

Then there is the real ersatz creation you can find at http://www.batteriesareus.com which are cases with "tar tops" in which you insert a modern Optima.

In the UK, there is a creation called the Numax classic car battery, and also, modern VARTA's are available.

Apparently the 190SL Group has been down this road before with batteries, and perhaps people like Dan Caron or Jim Villers can shed light on the subject.

There genererally isn't a shortage of anyone to fabricate these things, it is in getting enough interest together to warrant a small production run.

[Tom Colitt]

Ahhh. Thanks Alfred. I was looking for the "attach" button in the menu options, but didn't see the "Additional Option" button. Let's see if I can figure it out.  Good one about the 300SL :-) So far I'm enjoying the work on the roadster and there are a number of challenges on those cars as well. One of them is how the bird cage frame runs everywhere and interferes in disassembling even the simplest interior pieces.

Michael. Thanks for the link to BatteriesAreUs. I will check them out...

Best, Tom