Acquired 1965 230SL Last Year

[Flyair]

Your welcome! Nice to be the source of inspiration

[cabrioletturbo]

Pretty bad inner fender and support...

[cabrioletturbo]

Other side not much better either

[cabrioletturbo]

After some time (read almost a year) and a new body man, some progress...

[cabrioletturbo]

Wheel wells look pretty decent after what they went through for the last three decades.
Rear panel is OEM MB - thank you, Jack Jones.

[114015]

Igor,

Very well done ! Keep on the good work.
Don't get frustrated about the "endless body work". It's the main structure of the car and decides mainly about the overall quality of the car.
What you do today to the car is "forever."

There are soo many nicely looking cars with very poor condition under the shiny paint ...


Ask me (and others) how I know ....


Achim
('64 230 rustbucket)

[cabrioletturbo]

Thank you Achim, for the encouraging words.

What I find the most difficult is - finding the right person to do the bodywork.
I went long ways to find someone who can: a) do it right and to my liking, and b) do it before I go completely grey or bald.

I guess the professions such as sheet metal work, old school paint, engine overhaul, injection pump rebuild, etc. are dying with the last mohicans still practicing.
I am not sure how these cars will be maintained in future.

Mine, as far as I am concerned, will last forever, of that you are right.

[cabrioletturbo]

Rear end epoxy primed. The sheet metal work now shifts to the front end.

[cabrioletturbo]

Apparently, this puppy of mine may have gone through some racing in its troubled life.
The car had to go onto frame machine to straighten passenger side frame arm and make additional corrections to drivers side as well.

Shots of passenger side progress.

[cabrioletturbo]

More pics on drivers side.

The driver's side inner fender was butchered up previously, but still was mostly original. Some fabrication had to happen to bring it back where it was supposed to be.
Passenger side inner fender was replaced at some point with the newer style panel (the one with service holes).

Both inner fenders required significant patch work. I wish I ordered them new.

[cabrioletturbo]

And the body has been done!

Some final body panel adjustments still to be done, but the old girl is back to its den... This is the least I could do for her 50th birthday.
For those attempting to buy a "bargain" pagoda, be aware: cost of refurbishing the body may very well exceed the price you will pay for the whole car.

As how my brother put it: "You could have bought a porsche"...
Since I am now over this hump, I expect the paint to be done some time in spring.

[cabrioletturbo]

Thanks to mild December, the bodyshop says pull the car in, as they do not have influx of winter driver accidents just yet. Nothing to complain about, I'd rather have my car done sooner.
I marked the area which require attention. The car will be painted 670 + clear coat, the boot, trunk, lids and rocker covers with semi-gloss 7164.

Any last words of wisdom before it rolls onto the trailer?

[cabrioletturbo]

Notice door gaps and other misc items of attention

[cabrioletturbo]

Next time I make this shot the car should be done with paint.

[star63]

Any last words of wisdom before it rolls onto the trailer?

Before the final paint job it might be worth checking how the crome parts fit. At least the grill frame and headlight rings...

[cabrioletturbo]

Thank you, yes the grill and headlight rings are going to the body shop tomorrow.
While the car is being worked at, the steel rims were in for a treat tonight - fresh coat of POR15.
I sand blasted them this passed summer and prepped them over this past weekend.
They are being 'baked' tonight.

They will receive the body color 670 at the body shop.

[cabrioletturbo]

I am very impressed with the body shop I engaged for the final adjustments and paint job.
Magic man Tony in action, 35 years of experience. Note gap fittings.

[cabrioletturbo]

White primer...

[cabrioletturbo]

Engine bay and Door jambs painted and awaiting the body paint.
Single stage DB670 it is, as per original.

[cabrioletturbo]

Imperfections in paint (as marked with blue stickers) will be sanded down and the car will be resprayed.

[Tyler S]

Looking good Igor!! Are you going to have the chromework re-plated or is it in good shape?

[cabrioletturbo]

I have bought some new chrome, bought some replated pieces and some I still have to either purchase or replate the existing - I have not gotten to that just yet.
The major milestone was having the shell done. Second was the engine purchase.
The rest should be just labour to put  everything back together.

[Cees Klumper]

Imperfections in paint (as marked with blue stickers) will be sanded down and the car will be resprayed.

What happened? Seems surprising they would not get it right. Good for you to insist on quality. When do you expect to have the car ready?

[cabrioletturbo]

The paint was cracking in some areas during spraying. The hood seem to be affected the most, even though it had the least issues of all the body panels.
The shop advised me of the paint cracking and they would need to strip down the areas with issues to ensure proper paint adhesion.

At this time not sure what the culprit was, as one shop worked with sheet metal (and first layer of build primer) and the current one with block sand/prep and paint.
Funny enough the quarter panels were the most challenging body panels to work on (lots of sheet metal work) and those areas showed zero paint issues.

I am mostly happy with the quality of spray down. They will do what is needed to get the job done right, of that I am positive.
As to the completing the whole job: I still have lots to do. I give it another year at my pace to get everything sorted out.

[Tyler S]

I guess a good thing is after all the work the car will be back in your hands/garage to do the final assembly. I know this might sound corny but when you put your list together on re-assembly, write down "Hood Medallion" as your very last item to cross off the list!