Cup Holders

[treedoc]

Cup Holders

The other day she who thinks she must be obeyed was fussing about opening and closing the 280's glove box lid, looking in the side pocket and centre parts tray and generally muttering away, so I asked, foolishly, what she was looking for?
The sanitised version of the reply goes something like this.

"Where's the cup holders, or dosn't this old bucket have any, why do you always have to buy such ancient and primitive vehicles?"

Well I can put up with a lot but not having the 280SL termed "primitive" which meant I had to do something and quickly, I found a foam block we use in one of our tree injector systems fitted firmly into centre parts tray, sent it off to our seat cover manufacturer to have it covered with matching sheepskin to our set covers and as you can see from the images below der frau has nothing more to complain about.

[mdsalemi]

Hats off to your lovely.  I thought it was only us crazy Americans who insist upon Cup Holders.

When the first Ford Mondeo came out to the USA, it was clear that the European engineers were CLUELESS on how to engineer something as simple as a reasonable and functional cupholder.  When I was in Peter Lesler's E-Class wagon recently--late model, but not brand new--it was clear that the engineering on that cup holder was pretty bad, too.  I'm a little annoyed that they removed some in my new Ford Flex!  Each seat used to have two available, they are down to ONLY ONE!  What were they thinking?

Glad you were able to make her happy with your invention!

[douglas dees]

Hats off to your lovely.  I thought it was only us crazy Americans who insist upon Cup Holders.

When the first Ford Mondeo came out to the USA, it was clear that the European engineers were CLUELESS on how to engineer something as simple as a reasonable and functional cupholder.  When I was in Peter Lesler's E-Class wagon recently--late model, but not brand new--it was clear that the engineering on that cup holder was pretty bad, too.  I'm a little annoyed that they removed some in my new Ford Flex!  Each seat used to have two available, they are down to ONLY ONE!  What were they thinking?

Glad you were able to make her happy with your invention!

Michael: The Mercedes engineers always felt that you should drive in your car not drink in it  and then you stop at a rest stop on the autobahn and have real coffee in a porcelain cup and saucer. They resisted cup holders for a long time. I don't drink coffee in any of my cars unless my wife makes me drive her to university at 7:30 am and I hold cup between my legs as I accelerate to worpspeed on the 401 highway to get her to work on time. Then I can go back home and have a civilised cup of coffee at home.
 Here's to a good cup of Viennese coffee.
Doug Dees
Toronto

[mdsalemi]

I hear you Doug, and I know the drill.

Remember, though, the US automakers were accused of "not providing what the customer wanted".  The US is one of the larger markets for MB, and regardless of what the Viennese-sipping engineers are trying to social-engineer in their largest market, the facts are unbelievably clear.  Americans want and demand proper cupholders in their new cars, because they DO drink in their cars, and no amount of "what the XXX engineers think" will change that fact.  This is a USA versus the world kind of thing--it would be improper to blame just MB engineers.  The Ford-Werke guys in Koln are no better based upon my Mondeo experience.  And, BMW was soundly pounded for improper cup holders on the Mini as I recall.  You have to know your market even if you don't believe in it.

I must say, it is pretty nice you can still get good coffee in a Tim Horton's along the 401 in a proper china cup.  It isn't porcelain, but thank goodness it isn't plastic either.

[graphic66]

I use a roll of duct tape sitting in the tray. It works great and comes in handy every now and then. The first Saturn's rolled off the assembly line without cup holders also. I guess they were pretty primitive in many ways, as they have gone the way of the dinosaur.

[mdsalemi]

I use a roll of duct tape sitting in the tray. It works great and comes in handy every now and then. The first Saturn's rolled off the assembly line without cup holders also. I guess they were pretty primitive in many ways, as they have gone the way of the dinosaur.

Now that's a great idea and simple too.  What Hauser may have needed the other day (see another post on friends) was a roll of duct tape!  If you are using it to stabilize your water bottle in your Pagoda, you'll always have it handy!

[tuultyme]

At our drive up to the techsession at Black Forest Rich Sacks drove up in his 71 280SE 3.5 Cabriolet and said he slipped his coffee on himself.  It was good he did not spill it on his seat; great looking car.  Like I said before we do have cup holders in our cars, just have to have the right cup.

[hauser]

I have been working on a combo armrest / cup holder.  I am still looking for the right components for the pull out holder.

[Ulf]

You can actually get small cup holders shaped as a ring made from heavy rubber to be placed in the middle compartment between the seats (if you remove the carpet), they're pretty handy - will find a link when I have the time.
Btw - it's "Die Frau", not "der frau" in German - assuming that she is not a transvestite in which case I'm not sure...
 

[Ulf]

Here's another handy one http://www.mughuggers.com/

Ulf

[johnshenry]

Nice.  Did you make some fuzzy dice while you were at it???

 

[Witt]

Here's another handy one http://www.mughuggers.com/

Ulf

........being of the old European school, I don't belief in cup holders and drinking while driving......however I installed those "Mug- Huggers" on the music stands for our garage band named "Open House" because I used my brothers realestate signs, after he retired, to fabricate sturdy music stands.

CHEERS !
WITT !

[UJJ]

Btw - it's "Die Frau", not "der frau" in German - assuming that she is not a transvestite in which case I'm not sure...
Ulf,
How about “Das Frau” for the transvestite model?
Just a thought

Urban

[thelews]

Why don't you stuff some tissue into the second hole to complete the look?

[71Beige280SL]

Pep Boys solved my problem. This sits nicely in the center tray and does not require any screws. I can throw it in the trunk when not needed.

http://static.pepboys.com/images/productImages/6023100/SMT_L.jpg

[mdsalemi]

That Pep Boys unit looks suspect to me...If no screws, what holds it in place? If it isn't anchored down, going around a corner + open bottle of water + laws of physics = a spill.  Those pop up ones sold here last summer screwed into existing holes, no big deal to install or remove if needed.

[71Beige280SL]

Great observation Michael. Believe it or not, I've never had a mishap. Each base of the 2 bay cup holder are expandable to accommodate any cup/container footprint and also grip pretty tightly. My coffee cup has a lower center of gravity and a lid.  I also buy the smaller bottles of water. I've never had an issue turning a corner. I have hit a standard Evian water bottle with my elbow but, the cap was on and it was in the front cup holder. Standard water bottles need to go in the back bay and the holder should be pushed to the back of the tray.