Soft top chrome trim & Jump seat ?

[Ben]

Firstly I put a new soft top on my 230SL last year in place of a tacky non-original vinyl one however I never refitted the chrome trim that goes alomg the roof above the rear window on the rear most bow !

Was this only on 230SL's ?

It looks like it just taps in. If I refit it should I expect leaks or is there something I can use to prevent them ?

Can someone who has done the above give any advice ?

Also do you folks think it would be possible to manufacture a rear jump seat.I'm not out for originality but I'd like it to be as close as I can reasonably make it. Also I'd like to be able to return the car to its present state, is that possible ?

What changes need to be made ?

Any advice would be great, thanks ?

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.

[Douglas]

ben, by all means, put the chrome strip back in. a rubber mallet should work just fine. yes, it was only on early 230 SLs. no, it won't create any kind of leaking; it's purely ornamental.

#11304410018260

[Richard Madison]

Ben:

If the rear jump seat was installed by the factory or the original dealer, the car has a sunken footwell between front edge of the seat and the driver side interior wall. To do this, the driver side rear "seat" floor was removed. I have this piece for my car which can be re-installed if the jump seat is ever taken out. I've heard that a jump seat added-on later has no foot well.

Once in a while jump seats come up on e-bay...that may be the best way to create a jump seat for your car.

Richard M

[Douglas]

ben & richard,

a transverse backseat can be easily added to any 113 car (perhaps not a california coupe. can't comment on that.)

you'll need an original (like richard's) to create the proper patterns for the carpeting & seat, but i would think that would be the hardest part.

Douglas Kim
New York, NY
#11304410018260

[Ben]

Thanks everyone for your input !

I'll re-fit the softop chrome over the next few weeks !

Summer project will be to construct a jump seat !

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.

[n/a]

Ben,
regarding the jump seat, last year Luca Meroni (whom you should know well) had one made by special order of one of his clients.
I personally provided the "maker": a best frind of mine happens to be one of the best (if not THE best) Italian guitar makers, so he knows a thing or two about woodworking...
He made the two pieces of the jump seat for a nominal fee because he was intrigued by the unusual work (he's one of those guys who seem to work only for pleasure) but he said it was such a complex thing to do without "industrial" tools that a second (or third) example would have been quite "unlikely"
Main difficulty was the extremely tight tolerances required to make everything fit into the car. Also, the two pieces have a lot of non-straight cuts (diagonal, curved, etc.)
Don't know if Luca Meroni found anonther source, but you can check with him.
In any case, he said that the trimming part of the work was comparatively very easy (for an experienced trimmer)
Only thing not to worry about is reversibility: jump seats (should) just mount and un-mount without permanent changes to the car.


Duro
Italy

[George Davis]

Ben and all,

my car has the jump seat.  To install it, both of the rear parcel shelf pieces come out.  The seat bottom goes behind the passenger seat and clips onto a metal bar near the middle of the car, and the seat back has a mounting screw with a rubber "nut" that goes through a small hole in the side panel.  The nut is installed from inside the soft top boot.  If I'm not mistaken (and I could easily be), cars that were not ordered with the jump seat don't have that hole.

The parts of the seat are indeed somewhat complicated in shape, as Duro said.  In addition, the upper passenger side seat belt bracket interferes with the seat back, and I can't mount the seat back without removing the upper seat belt bracket.

All of which leads me to suggest this, if originality is not a priority:  just make a simple seat frame from two pieces of plywood attached at right angles, and add cushion and trim to make it look nice.  Just sit it on the passenger side parcel shelf.  Take out only the driver's side parcel shelf to make foot room over there. Wouldn't be quite like the original, but a whole lot easier to make, and avoids the seat belt problem.

On the driver's side, under the parcel shelf piece, is another small carpeted piece of wood that makes the floor where the rear passenger's feet go.  That would be pretty easy to make.

Good luck, whichever way you go!



George Davis
'69 280 SL Euro manual

[n/a]

Regarding mounting of the rear jump seat. I had a Eropean 250SL that I bought while in Germany. It was fitted with the jump seat, which according to Peter Ruhl, was original. The seat back used two snaps to fix it into place on the side portion of the bulkhead between the cabin and the soft top compartment. Theses snaps were at the top corners of the back cushion. The bottom cushion was not fixed, it simply slid under the lower end of the back piece. Both parts of the parcel shelf were still fitted.

Regards,
Stan

[DavidAPease]

My original (according to the build card) jump seat was the same as George says: clip for seat bottom, threaded rod through side into softtop compartment for back, small carpeted footrest in the well on the driver's side.  Incidently, the "nut" for the rod (or screw) from the back appears identical to the beige plastic nuts that hold on the taillights.


-David Pease
'66 French 230SL

[George Davis]

Stan, was your jump seat full width across the back, with passenger(s) facing forward?

I think there were 2 types of jump seat, the type described above, and one where the rear passenger sat sideways.  That's the type David and I have.

George Davis
'69 280 SL Euro manual

[n/a]

George,
My jump seat did not face forward. The seat back was mounted on the right side, and faced the left (drivers) side.
The car was a Euro 1967 250SL automatic. All the attributes that I can recall were the same as the late 230SL. ie: doorpanels, handles, etc. I did not have the build card, so do not know with 100% certainty that it was original. However, a widely respected W113 authority told me at the time that it looked original.


Regards,
Stan

[George Davis]

Thanks Stan, that's interesting about your jump seat.  It would seem the design was changed somewhere along the line(?).

George Davis
'69 280 SL Euro manual

[Douglas]

i think we're talking about 2 different things -- there was the transverse jumpseat for roadsters, then there was the "bench seat" for the "california" coupe. the coupes had 2+2 seating.

(i guess you could call a roadster with a jumpseat a "2+1.")     :-)

i've never heard of a factory bench seat in a roadster. has anyone else?

Douglas Kim
New York, NY
#11304410018260

[George Davis]

Douglas, I think you're right, and I was somehow trying to imagine a California coupe rear seat in a roadster.  Don't mind me, I confuse myself easily!

George Davis
'69 280 SL Euro manual