Underside of a 280sl

[Erics]

Gentlemen,

The subject has been probably done to death, and i did search the forum and got bouts of answer.

I would like to have a definitive answer though.

*How should the underside of a 280sl look like? I mean factory finish?

*And wheel arches too?

*Should it be body colour?

I spoke extensively to Krowinsky at Rosier in Germany who said it should be body colour and some areas were in fact raw metal and the paint was unequal.

Juergen Swoboda whom I have met yesterday in Germany (i went to his workshop with a view to buy a car) told me it was supposed to be colourless black like the anti rust paint applied to the rockers.

A bottom line answer with possibly (original factory?) pictures would be much appreciated........

Thanks in advance,
Eric.

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Sounds to me that what Juergen Swoboda has told you is correct. However, we do have a few Members here that are original owners and they will proberly chime in here to confirm it.

[Erics]

thank you Rolf.

This is the car i saw:

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Hello Erics, looks good to me. Have you found your car yet? Once you d find it will you join our Membership to gain access to all we have to offer?

Anyway, continued success in the search for your car!

[Erics]

Hello Erics, looks good to me. Have you found your car yet? Once you d find it will you join our Membership to gain access to all we have to offer?

Anyway, continued success in the search for your car!

I am really close to get smthg. Don't want to say much at this stage as I am superstitious and it will jinx my trade..

And yes keen to join membership of course.

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Best of Luck Erics with the deal! Can't wait to see the photo shoot once the deal is done.

[49er]

Hello Eric. On my car, the wheel wells were the body color as was the underside of the car. The rocker panels are a very dark gray/black and the underside adjoining area were also painted the same as the rockers.

John

[Erics]

Hello Eric. On my car, the wheel wells were the body color as was the underside of the car. The rocker panels are a very dark gray/black and the underside adjoining area were also painted the same as the rockers.

John

hi John, excellent info thank you. Do you have any picture by any chance?

Regards,
Eric.

[tel76]

Eric,
Go to Thelews posts and you will see the original underside, exterior and interior pictures.

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Eric,
Go to Thelews posts and you will see the original underside, exterior and interior pictures.

Eric, can you include a link for Erics to find the "Thelews" post? That would be helpful. Thanks.

[Erics]

found it:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/8292359@N06/sets/72157603240571101/show/?rb=1

Are we confident that underside of 230 / 250 and 280 are the same finish?

[Raymond]

Wheel wells should be body colored.  That's how they were painted before suspension assembly.  There have been a few discrepancies on the rocker panel/sill between the wheels.  They were supposed to have been the grey-black on all of them but there are one or two who say their original cars were delivered with body color sills.  However, I have never seen any factory information or photographs to substantiate that.  It's easier to change the color of the car if you paint the wheel wells black.  Many dealers applied undercoating "rust-proofing" to the floor pan, otherwise that would be body color too.

[hauser]

On the rockers I recently heard that early cars were gray and later cars black.

[Shvegel]

I managed to get copies of a bunch of photos Brian Peters from Motoring Investments took of a highly original 280SL.  You will see that in fact the underside of the care retains the raw whitish undercoating and the wheel wells are body color.  The root beer colored tint to the undercoating is due to the application of a protective wax (Cosmoline) on the entire underside after the car was assembled.  I have never seen anyone replicate the cosmoline on a restoration so usually the whiteish undercoat is visible.  I have more pictures of a highly restored car and well as this original I will dig up and post.

[Shvegel]

Here is some more.

[Shvegel]

I wanted to replicate the factory undercoating on my recently E-coated chassis. I bought most of the undercoatings available and 3 different application guns and I was finally able to replicate the factory rough undercoat color and texture.

This is U-Pol Gravitex shot through a Sata HRS gun using the round spray wand.  Seams were brushed as the original with a paintbrush with the bristles cut down to 3/4" or so.

[Erics]

Hello Erics, looks good to me. Have you found your car yet? Once you d find it will you join our Membership to gain access to all we have to offer?

Anyway, continued success in the search for your car!

And just mentioning the car did jinx my trade.

Flew to Germany on Thursday of last week and saw the car at Swoboda. Was going to buy it. The owner had sold the hardtop (!) thinking he would never use it. So Christian Siever (Swoboda's salesman) told me he would call me on Monday to sort out a hardtop. I wrote him an email on Friday morning telling him that i was happy to buy the car and sort out finance.
Sunday he responded saying the car was sold.
I am fuming. Got me to travel 1500km and return to sell the car the following day without giving me the opportunity to do anything about it.

Really rogue practices. Good cars (Juergen Swoboda) but his salesman (Christian Siever) is completely useless. I'd go as far as saying that he is a tortuous character who could not even check there was no hardtop with the car before I got there and found out for myself.

Upset does not even start to describe it.

[mario]

Hate to hear stories like this Erics.  Sounds like you definitely have reasons to feel gutted.  However, I appreciate you posting this thread as it is evident by the responses that we all have wonderings about what the underside of the car should look like.  I, for one have my 280 SL undergoing restoration right now so this topic was very timely. 

[DaveB]

This is U-Pol Gravitex shot through a Sata HRS gun using the round spray wand.  Seams were brushed as the original with a paintbrush with the bristles cut down to 3/4" or so.

Congratulations on the effort. Add 20 years of road grime and that will look totally convincing!

[mbzse]

.../... we all have wonderings about what the underside of the car should look like.../...

There is extensive documentation of this at various websites, notably B Peters at Motoringinvestments like what Shvegel suggsted.
See http://motoringinvestments.com/services-3/mercedes-280sl-w113-buyers-guide/
/Hans in Sweden

[stickandrudderman]

Eric,
I'm surprised you are putting yourself through all this without bothering to come and see the car that I've got here, just a few miles from you.

[Dave H]

Like Shvegal after taking lots of advice and photographs i had the shell taken back to bare metal and had the paint shop replicate the factory rough undercoat, seam sealant color, texture back to as original as possible.
A new good referance as to how the underside colour should look like is the highly original "navy blue" 280SL  that Motoringinvestments has recently put up.
You can clearly see what an original factory off white underside should look like when it is set against a blue body colour and blue wheel wells.
I am also toying with the idea of re applying the original Cosmolene coating but the best replica i have researched is Brownells rust veto which is suposed to be the same in look and aplication..
Anybody used this with success or, has anybody got some old Cosmolene knocking about i could experiment with ?

Dave

[Baybear]

I believe you can still get the undercoating and waxes from Mercedes.
Body schutz or undercoating: Spray type 0019864610.  Brushable 00098920221.
Cavity wax 000986727010. Wax perservative or Cosmoline 000986427010.
Will

[Dave H]

I searched cosmolene and allthough the original formula is not available i found the following.

Looking for Original Cosmoline for sale? Due to regulation changes and advances in technology the heavy, thick grease type of Cosmoline is no longer available, but all of our rust preventives are a formulation derived from the original Cosmoline. Our "Original Cosmoline" - Rust Veto 342 is the closest formulation, in terms of rust prevention performance, currently produced by original developer, Houghton International. Our Weathershed Aerosol is a reformulation of "Original Cosmoline" - Rust Veto 342 designed to be applied through the ease of an aerosol can. Our Rust Veto Aerosol provides many of the same benefits that the original Cosmoline did for firearms. And our Cosmoline Aerosol is a multi-use formulation that can be used for thousands of reasons in the shop or at home.

I will order some Cosmolene 342 plus the aerosol cosmolene weathershed and let you all know how i get on.
Has anybody tried these cosmolene products yet ?

[Shvegel]

Dave,
I recently watched an episode of "Graveyard Cars"  where they replicated the look of Cosmoline by using tinted automotive clear.  It mimics the look of cosmoline without being sticky.  Far easier to keep clean.