Author Topic: Finished Light Restoration in NE Ohio  (Read 6797 times)

FRITZ68

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Finished Light Restoration in NE Ohio
« on: August 07, 2013, 02:53:32 »
We just finished this car early this year and finally got everything sorted out.  The car was entered in the big Boardman, Ohio car show last Sunday and took a 2nd place in the Foreign car division, with lots of stiff competition, including two other Pagodas.

Fritz

Brian in NL

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Re: Finished Light Restoration in NE Ohio
« Reply #1 on: August 07, 2013, 11:31:53 »
Beautiful! I am not normally a fan of the aftermarket wheel arch chrome, but over silver it looks pretty sharp.

Brian
Brian Akre
1967 230 SL, U.S. spec, 050 White, Black top, 116 Kaviar interior, #17,030 of 48,912;
1997 SL 500 Sport, U.S. spec, 269 Tourmaline Green, Parchment interior, #145,506 of 204,940;
1991 Nissan Figaro, Emerald Green, #15,717 of 20,073;
2014 VW GTI, White, daily driver

FRITZ68

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Re: Finished Light Restoration in NE Ohio
« Reply #2 on: August 07, 2013, 12:42:23 »
Beautiful! I am not normally a fan of the aftermarket wheel arch chrome, but over silver it looks pretty sharp.

Brian

The arches were on the car for many years from the previous "lady owner" who received this car as a gift from her husband who had an office in Frankfort (car was purchased new in Germany from one of his clients).  Being new to the Pagoda World, I did not realize that the arches were not original, or would have removed them when we painted the car.  After the car was painted, but before it was detailed, I posted some "in process" pictures of the car.  At that time was advised of the non-originality of the arches, but it was too late, as the area under the arches was not prepared.  Rather than starting all over on what we felt was a perfect paint job, we had to stay with the arches.  I have seen pictures of other Pagodas with and without arches and agree that on a silver car they add to the appearance, even though technically not original to the car at time of delivery.

When my wife bought this car, the older lady that owned it from the 1970s gave us a very large envelope containing every single receipt on the maintenance of the car during her almost 40 years of ownership, including a receipt for a major engine overhaul back about 5000 miles ago. She also gave me a small roll of seat material that she ordered from Mercedes to repair a small worn area in the driver's seat.  I had both seats recovered while the car was being painted.  We did this paint job in our shop at TP Tools in Canfield, Ohio in the original Mercedes color in a base coat/clear coat. 

We had some minor issues that we took care of - tuneup, new coil, detailed the engine compartment, new rear springs and rubber block in center, repaired rear fender rust and added the two chrome strips on sides of rear fenders which were missing (luckily someone on this forum drew my attention to this), replaced the bottom of the metal  on rear of car under the trunk opening (it had rusted out). No other rust or body work required, but we did a lot of block sanding even though the car looked real good at time of purchase as most of the rust was concealed under the arches.  We also added a new set of Coker "Phoenix" tires and tightened up the carpet, which had been replaced, but was wrinkled and loose in some areas.  The original radio worked, but we had to replace the electric antenna with an aftermarket one from Speedway Motors which works just fine.  We also replaced the exhaust system with official MB parts.

The only thing to tend to now are the heater control knobs which have broken off and I heard they were not easy to replace. My wife drives this car on occasions to keep it loosened up.  The convertible top (was replaced but never used) is intact, but my wife likes the hard top.  It starts immediately, runs very well and is a fun car to drive.

Fritz

Rolf-Dieter ✝︎

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Re: Finished Light Restoration in NE Ohio
« Reply #3 on: August 07, 2013, 14:16:55 »
Hi Fritz,

The car looks super, nice job. The engine and bay looks very clean.

Congratulation on the 2nd spot well deserved!
DD 2011 SL 63 AMG and my 69 Pagoda 280 SL

KevinC

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Re: Finished Light Restoration in NE Ohio
« Reply #4 on: August 07, 2013, 19:01:24 »
Fritz,

Still taking grief on the wheel opening moldings? Fear not...the car looks terrific!

Kevin   

andyburns

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Re: Finished Light Restoration in NE Ohio
« Reply #5 on: August 07, 2013, 20:24:48 »
Hey Fritz,

The car look wonderful.  I really hope mine scrubs up this clean looking.  Can you please please post some pics of the interior.  It looks as if you have a black interior which is exactly what I am just about to go ahead with.  Would be great to see it in context with the silver (same color as I have just painted).

Cheers

Andy
Andy Burns, Auckland New Zealand
1963 230sl
1967 250s w108
1969 BMW 2002
2007 Mitsubishi i car

FRITZ68

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Re: Finished Light Restoration in NE Ohio
« Reply #6 on: August 08, 2013, 00:09:07 »
Here is a picture of the interior.  I had the seats covered, using the material sent to me by the previous owner. They were in decent shape, but the driver's side had a small hole that showed when seats were folded back. The carpet was just fine, as was replaced some time ago, but needed tightened.  It looks great with the silver exterior.

Fritz

andyburns

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Re: Finished Light Restoration in NE Ohio
« Reply #7 on: August 08, 2013, 03:46:06 »
Fritz,  I think I will go for the same combination.  I may go for black carpets havn't yet decided.  I like the look of your though.  Another delema I have is that I have a brand new white steering wheel which came with the car.  I dont think its going to look right against a black interior.  They are heinously expensive to replace.  I think around 700US???  Thanks for posting that its helped me formulate my plan.  Cheers  Andy
Andy Burns, Auckland New Zealand
1963 230sl
1967 250s w108
1969 BMW 2002
2007 Mitsubishi i car

KevinC

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Re: Finished Light Restoration in NE Ohio
« Reply #8 on: August 08, 2013, 21:47:20 »
Andy,

Not to take away from Fritz's car (which does look awesome) but with an ivory steering wheel, parchment, beige, light gray and even cognac are very classy with silver. Maybe some will post pics of their cars to show you?

Also, check out JamesL 's car...

http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=9667.0



It so happens that my wife's daily driver is a new C300 ... dark silver with parchment.  


Kevin
« Last Edit: August 08, 2013, 22:03:55 by KevinC »

FRITZ68

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Re: Finished Light Restoration in NE Ohio
« Reply #9 on: August 10, 2013, 15:05:33 »
Fritz,  I think I will go for the same combination.  I may go for black carpets havn't yet decided.  I like the look of your though.  Another delema I have is that I have a brand new white steering wheel which came with the car.  I dont think its going to look right against a black interior.  They are heinously expensive to replace.  I think around 700US???  Thanks for posting that its helped me formulate my plan.  Cheers  Andy

Andy - In addition to my wife's '68 Pagoda, I also own a 1962 Mercedes 220SEb that is a low mileage car, but the steering wheel was very badly cracked and needed replaced.  I ordered a replacement restored steering wheel from a Mercedes source in California, but the center spline shaft opening was too large, so had to return it.  Since all we had was the original steering wheel, and since it was already off the car, we sanded and prepared it in our shop and painted it in the same ivory color with base coat / clear coat with excellent results.  Before and after pictures attached.

a)  We just finished a restoration of a 1940 Ford Convertible and the steering wheel on that car was even worse than the 220SEb, so we ordered a repro steering wheel. The repro wheels are all black, but a 1940 Ford Steering wheel is maroon with the outer part a light metallic rose tinted beige.  We sanded down the new repro wheel and painted that wheel in the original colors with equally good results.  It can be done fairly easily at moderate cost and considering the normal low miles on our collector cars, could last for years.  If you sand down your new white steering wheel and spray the proper primer on it, followed by base coat / clear coat in black or whatever color you like, you will be happy.  I am not at work, so am not sure of the types of primers available for prepping plastic steering wheels. If you do a little research, it should be fairly easy to change the color of the white steering wheel.   

b) Last year we did a rotisserie restoration on a 1954 Buick Riviera with red and black interior. The original steering wheel was really bad with chunks out of the plastic and cracks and stress marks all over. We probably could have somehow epoxied the thing back together, but a friend sold me a mint, mint original green steering wheel for this car. Other than the wrong color, it was perfect.  We sanded it down, sprayed primer on it and then put on a beautiful coating of the correct red in base coat/clear coat and it looked great and still looks like new.  Since this is a Mercedes forum,  I will not post pictures of our restored Ford or Buick steering wheels unless requested to do so.

Changing colors on a steering wheel is not at all difficult once you make up your mind to do so.  You can probably get a good body shop to do this for you at a relatively low cost.  Good luck,

Fritz

andyburns

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Re: Finished Light Restoration in NE Ohio
« Reply #10 on: August 10, 2013, 17:15:17 »
Hey Kevin,  I would love to try for a lighter color on my silver 230sl but just dont have the balls as I havn't seen any other photos of light interiors.  I need the confidence to commit as its a hell of a lot of money and time to change.  I have my one photo of a light color interior on silver but it doesn't show me enough detail into the cockpit.  Initially I thought it was parchment but now believe its light gray.  If anyone know of some more photos I would really appreciate it.  Still havn't ordered the interior so not too late to change if I see something I really like. 
Andy Burns, Auckland New Zealand
1963 230sl
1967 250s w108
1969 BMW 2002
2007 Mitsubishi i car

andyburns

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Re: Finished Light Restoration in NE Ohio
« Reply #11 on: August 10, 2013, 17:24:27 »
Fritz,  I have a couple of friends who have also repaired cracks and repainted the steering wheel.  I came out pretty good but I just dont know if I could muster the strength to do it to an immaculate almost new unit.  I also have been given as a gift a white gear shift nob as well so I have the matching set.  To add insult to injury I also purchased a new set of very light ivory square weave carpet set when I bought the car.  At that point it was painted a non mercedes gold color which went well with the carpets.  I have considered having them dyed but they were not well made to begin with and needed a lot of work to get right so have decided to just ditch them and start again.  Color is a funny thing, even the slightest shad differences along side other colors can either make or break the combination.  I am terrible with mental visualization and really need to see it in the flesh to know if I like it or not.  Wouldn't it be handy to have a friend who was a trained color consultant!
Andy Burns, Auckland New Zealand
1963 230sl
1967 250s w108
1969 BMW 2002
2007 Mitsubishi i car

kampala

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Re: Finished Light Restoration in NE Ohio
« Reply #12 on: August 10, 2013, 20:20:02 »
Andy,

Of course is its a matter of taste and I really like the look of Fritz's car ... but I am in complete agreement with Kevin ... if I had the courage to do a complete build like you are doing I would pick the silver you chose with parchment, beige or cognac.   I believe Rick007 has a silver with Red interior?  Its really great looking as well.  If rick sees this, maybe he can post a photo otherwise you might find a photo of his in the pictures from the Euro Event Sept 2012.   

Fritz, sorry to hijack your thread ... just happen to read this as I'm always interested in what you're doing to your car next ... looking very nice.

250sl - later - manual
280sl - 1971 - Auto - LSD

FRITZ68

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Re: Finished Light Restoration in NE Ohio
« Reply #13 on: August 10, 2013, 22:33:19 »
Very good replies and all of the feedback is very interesting.  Since my car already had excellent charcoal carpet that was replaced by the original owner, and black dash, door panels and steering wheel in mint condition, we made no changes.  However on our personal new cars, we do not like a black interior, as it shows the dust and hair from our indoor cat (Sugar) that transfers from our clothing .  For that reason, if at all possible, we go for a lighter interior. We keep trying to figure out if we should try to match the interior of our cars to the color of our cat, or dye the cat to the color of the interior of the cars?   (Don't even think about getting a different cat - not at all in the cards).

Either way, changing the entire interior (dash, door panels, seat covers and carpet) is a very expensive venture, so think it through carefully.  Unless dealing with a basket case, which I learned the hard way to avoid, I generally stay very closely to what is in the car in the first place to reduce the trauma.

At the car show last weekend, there was a really nice dark blue 1969 or 1970 280SL with an orangy tan interior that really looked nice and I really liked it a lot.  The interior complimented the exterior of the car.

Fritz