what's wrong with the door on now? Is a 230 door different from a 280 door?
First, the door on the driver’s side was replaced decades ago with a junkyard door that my uncle put on, when these cars were just old cars of no particular value. He sourced the door probably at some junkyard on Long Island, New York, where he lived, and had his father’s taxi garage body shop crew in the Bronx fit it...and one of the other things this elite crew did was repair a rear-ended tail panel by simply welding another one on top of the damaged one. The former mess was cut out in the restoration and done properly, but the driver’s door has never closed properly like an MB door should and never matched the perfect functionality of the passenger door. Over the years, the drivers door has gotten worse. At various points the lock would not function, and other times the door would sort of pop open when going over a bump—proof that the fit and locking mechanisms were not right.
As to difference, yes there is a difference in internals, particularly for the mechanisms inside. On the 230SL the locking latch is connected to the locking mechanism with a straight rod. On a 280SL door, in the middle of the door, the shaft actually is broken into two pieces, with a pivot, so essentially the action is reversed. My guess is there is less stress on two short locking rods than one long one. Call it a “hidden improvement.” So on my car, when both doors are locked, one of the little levers on the top corner of the door panel was pulled out and one was pushed in! Nobody knew this but me.
Fitting the new door will require a bit of body work to allow it to be completely flush with the body panels all around, and to ensure the gap is uniform all around as well too. My guy at Motorwerks has done this before—as you can see in the photo a few Pagodas are there (and there are more in the shop that are not seen)—so I feel confident I’ll come away from this in 6-8 months with something way better than went in. It’s not going to be cheap but aside from an oil filter nothing is on these cars...
