Box in Trunk

[Louiehenry]

Hey guys!
I was in the boot of the car last night and I noticed a black metal box on the left side that backs up to the wall and has a wire with what looks like a pump control of some sort! I was wondering if any of y'all had one in yours and what it is? There is also what appears to be a plastic cover for something in the center, right up against the wall between the boot and the passenger area. Any ideas? I couldn't quite maneuver myself to see what kind of tool it needed to take it off. There is a tiny bit of an opening where it's not secured tightly, and I couldn't tell if there was anything in it! It's about an inch to an inch and a half tall.
Thanks!

[Rodolfo]

a picture says more then thousand words,

Rudy

[Louiehenry]

I know /: should have snapped one when I was in it this mornin

[Cees Klumper]

The metal box is a new one for me, never heard of that before, but the other thing is a plastic cap for (I believe) the mounting bolt for the rear axle carrier.

[mmizesko]

LouieHenry,

Some of the late model 280SL's had a first aid kit mounted in the back of the trunk, But there wouldn't be a wire going to it.  Given your other posts about amps and speakers, I bet someone mounted an amp back there, and since you subsequently said that they removed an amp from the car, i bet that's it.  I bet the wire is your power supply, but that's a guess.

Mike Mizesko
Columbus, OH

[KevinC]

Thinking a box added for the separate amp as Mike stated or perhaps it may be for a rear mounted automatic antenna? Check out the diagram and see if that's what it appears to be (?)

[Louiehenry]

I think y'all might have thrown enough pieces at me to fix/ answer most of my problems! Thank all of y'all so much! This means the world!

[KevinC]

LH,

Please still post some pics when you can and of course let us know how you make out with everything. Also, you can call the trunk a trunk and not a "boot" as you are in the US 

Kevin

[Cees Klumper]

Kevin, you mean 'call the boot a trunk because' etc   

[KevinC]

LOL... Right!

[Louiehenry]

This is the box and the speakers that are my bane

[mmizesko]

Louie,

The little bump on the shelf in the front of your trunk looks like it has wires going to the speakers.  Could this be your amp?  As for the pic of the drivers side of the trunk, I don't know what I see.  maybe a wire for the power antenna??

Mike Mizesko

[Louiehenry]

Sadly, I have no idea what that box in the center is, for, it's riveted in and I can't remove, but the speaker wires go forward from there
The box in back is still a mystery

[ja17]

Hello Louiehenry,

No big mystery. The small black box in the center is the cover for the rear differential mount. The speaker wires, most likely, just pass through. The big plastic box on the side seems to be the factory charcoal canister which vents and collects fuel  and fuel vapors from the fuel tank. This was an emission feature on the later W113 cars.

[zoegrlh]

Joe is 100% correct on both counts.  The vent box on later models was placed on passengers side and was made a little different.

[Louiehenry]

That would explain why it has vacuum tubes running out of it!