Well, like most of you, I never thought I would see the day when the FrankenBenz would lurch to life. Last Saturday (May 4, 2013) was that day. Of course there are still a few things to do to the car (engine final setup, a few cosmetic issues such as window winder covers, custom floor mats, engine cover, speedo calibration, wipers and washer nozzle, trunk badge and a few other annoying details) but the car drives, is titled, tagged and insured, and attended the first car show in Howie-In-The Hills, Florida (The Festival of Speed at Mission Inn)
There was a lot of interest in the car and a lot of people who were appreciative of the hard work involved in getting this project completed. I have been at it for 20 years and have certainly endured my share of woe. There were many times I just wanted to sell it for parts and crush anything that remained to just get back at it for nearly crushing me. Overall, it was an interesting experiment in endurance. I realize that the 113 group will have a love/hate relationship with FrankenBenz. For the lovers, thanks for all of your support and thanks, too, to all of those who helped to steer me towards parts and resources to make this car a reality. To the haters, well, Mea Culpa. If any solace may be found by the purist, please take it in the fact that this car was pretty much headed for the junk yard ... it was a rescue puppy. (see early photos) Also delight in the fact that what it cost me to finish this car was likely well in excess of what it would have cost for a frame up restoration of this car when you factor in all of the brigands and rogues who took advantage of me and the car over the years.
As for the high quality work that was done, there are a few people who deserve honorable mention. I am not mechanically inclined. In fact on the occasions when I did pick up tools to help out with the car, I probably did more harm than good. I am also not a patient person. I have had several people tell me I must have had incredible patience to wait 20 years for this car. Anything but. But I am persistent (as several of my former girlfriends have told me) and that has been an asset in many areas of my life. I will not mention all of those who screwed me along the way, but this car has now been in 14 different shops 20 different times, 4 different engines, three sets of wheels, 4 wiring harnesses ... I'll stop now before I start getting angry ... the best thing about a crappy past is that it is behind you.
So to Lorenzo Morizio, thank you for you steadfast dedication to seeing this car completed. Lorenzo's ability to shape metal and his fine eye and unwavering commitment to detail and excellence is unparalleled. This car is probably the reason Lorenzo has abandoned body work but has taken his talents to his burgeoning business in refinishing auto parts to make them look like whatever you want ... wood, carbon fiber, hundreds of different patterns. It is a dipping process that is truly spectacular. He did the carbon fiber inserts on my wheels but I have seen him do parts for cars and motorcycles that are unbelievable. Lambourghini dealerships are now using him for some of their custom work. His website can be found at
www.AquaTransformations.com. Honorable mention goes to Lorenzo's neighbor Robert Taylor for helping revamp some of the technical issues such as brakes, rear end support, fuel system and wiring in the car. After a few bad wiring jobs, Robert completely rewired the car and got everything working properly. He eventually became frustrated with the car and both personal and business issues caused him to stop any future work on the car.
Rick Prospero from Rick's Auto in Indian Harbor Shores, Florida (
www.ricksfabshop.com), is the guy who figured out most of the mechanical aspects of the car. Once the basic body work (body, floors, sheet metal) were completed, Rick began the transformation process hacking, cutting and welding his way towards making everything fit, and believe me when I tell you there is precious little spare room anywhere. Rick is a mechanical genius. Although he specializes in muscle cars, he was able to give FrankenBenz the heart of a beast and the soul of a poet ... beautiful exterior lines preserving the elegance of the 230SL with the get up and go of a rocketship. It went back and forth to Rick a few times as the project evolved but he got on it and stayed on it until it was mechanically sound. The work he accomplished was spectacular.
Chris Bible from Bible's Auto Interiors (
https://plus.google.com/100352786939793014887/about?gl=us&hl=en) began the interior process and did my seats for a start, but had to decline further work on the car due to illness in the family.
Tony from Tony's Auto Interiors is, quite simply, an artist. (
www.tonysautointerios.com - yup .. it's spelled right) The craftsmanship of the interior finishes is amazing. He also had to follow one of the nightmare installers, a stereo and interior design guy - THAT guy kept calling himself the "world champion" - anything but ... Tony had to pretty much re-do everything the "champ" had done.The end result, though, is very high quality. Honorable mention also goes to Antonio who redid all of the accessory electronics after "the Champ" finished his hatchet job, Antonio ended up rewiring the stereo, alarm, keyless ignition, low voltage wiring throughout and the EFI computer. Like so many on this project, though, Antonio had to drop off as he changed real jobs and was no longer able to focus attention on the car.
Frank Rodriguez and Gerry Picart from Superior Custom Orlando (
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Superior-Customs-and-Audio/168932716527833) finished the job. The door panels, power windows and locks, electronic glitches and cleaning up the car fell to Frank and he did a great job. Frank is another one of those guys who is rock solid. In fact on the first night of the car's freedom, the car ended up outside a restaurant not being able to start. Of all of the parts that got changed out in this car, there were a few old parts left. The brake light switch was one of them. Hey, it's a plunger switch. It works. Why change it? Well after nearly fifty years (twenty of which were sheer dormancy) this switch gave up the ghost. I smelled it as it burned and the brake lights fizzled to dark. No big deal usually, except for the fact that the car won't start if there is no signal from the brake and the clutch switches since the keyless ignition is wired through them. You have to step on the brake and clutch to start the car. Frank came out at 10:00 at night to wire in a jumper to get the car started until we could get it back to his shop the following day. Try and get a Mercedes mechanic to do that!!
Finally, once the car got on the road, it wasn't running right. Rick Prospero had told me that the computer needed to "learn" the car and would run rough until it did. Not so much ... it ran very poorly once it made it onto the road and unfortunately Rick was backed up with other projects for months. A local shop called Central Florida Auto Repair, owned by Frank, took it under his care. Frank is an old-timey car builder and GM guru. Within a short time he was able to ascertain that the computer and throttle position sensor were dodgy and got it sorted out. Although Rick would have been able to get it right if he would have had the bandwidth to spend the time on it, Frank is much closer and it's nice to have someone local to bring this car to.
So, although those mentioned above will probably never read this blog post, I wanted to go on record as thanking those who did the real work on this car. And now, without further ado ... I give you ...
FrankenBenz
