Possibly the rarest part on the planet?

[stickandrudderman]

A1136200208 is a RHD firewall panel and in my 40 years working on these cars I've never seen one!
I recently aquired this from a Gentleman whose Father owned a dealership in the 60's and he'd been hoarding it ever since.
You will see I also have the cross-member which, although EPC doesn't show a different part number, is in fact different for RHD too.
I'm struggling to know what price to put on it but for anyone considering converting a LHD to a RHD this panel is invalueable.

[mdsalemi]

Indeed, rare...!!!

Reminds me of the time one of Joe Alexander's friends (I won't mention him by name, but those who know Joe, know of this friend) took me on a drive in his 1962 220 Cabriolet with rear bucket seats, and we went to one of his old warehouses somewhere in a not so nice neighborhood in the inner city of Columbus, Ohio. We went looking for a couple of OEM (not black) windshield wiper arms for my car (which we found) but he had shelves of all old parts from about every MB imaginable. One of the gems was the entire wood dash assembly from some 1950s era MB...for a RHD car. Probably shipped in error to the USA dealer, and this friend was in the habit of buying up old stock from old dealers and hoarding it.

Anyway, looking for a price? What's the price of the LHD unit?  Add 20% and see where it goes...

[Pawel66]

It is beautiful. Not for everyone to understand...

[MikeSimon]

Does anyone have the part-number for the LHD panel?

[Pawel66]

Sure:

W113 044
A 113 620 05 08 FIREWALL
and    
A 113 620 01 86 SUPPORT ABOVE TOEBOARD - this one, as stated is LHD/RHD

W113043
A 113 620 01 08 FIREWALL Until Chassis 0 02979 Replaced with
A 113 620 05 08 FIREWALL
and same support above toeboard number

W113042
A 113 620 05 08
and same support above toeboard

Very odd number sequence 113042 and 113043...

[Garry]

I would have said maybe even 50% more than a LHD item and maybe even more.  The difference in price of a LHD and a RHD car in Australia could be Aud $50,000 and more. so what’s it worth.  Lots.

[Benz Dr.]

Only worth something if someone wants it. It's worth something of course, but you need a buyer first. Think about it, how many people with a RHD Pagoda need a complete firewall assembly? Find one person and you're a lot closer to a sale.

Sometimes rare stuff is hard to sell. If it was a 5-speed trans - not so hard to do. Price and condition being the key factors.

[mdsalemi]

Only worth something if someone wants it. It's worth something of course, but you need a buyer first.

Exactly, Dan! I had my 230SL door for sale here, not even so much as an inquiry. Oh, I made an inquiry to one person who was sort of maybe looking for one, but I made the overture, but they were more focused on finding someone to do body work first, rather than get the parts. So after a while, I put it on eBay and sold it for more than I was asking for here. It was a trick to package, but I did it, and went to some guy in Nevada.

That part is doing Stick no good on a shelf, and my door was doing nothing but occupying precious garage space. One in the hand...

[Benz Dr.]

Door shells don't sell. Parts from inside doors sell quickly: glass, trim, window lifts, door latch. Other things that won't sell: sedan grills, seats, hoods, etc.

[mdsalemi]

Well it took over two years to find the "doors" that don't sell. There were plenty of passenger (RH) doors when I went poking, but never a driver's door for a 280SL, and I called all the usual suspects and a lot you've probably never heard of. So with such a mismatch (no LH 280 drivers, but plenty of RH) the doors do indeed sell, and my older door sold on eBay in a few days. It took me longer to pack the door than to sell it.

Kudos to our friend here StevenF who was absolutely instrumental in my quest to find a door. He went above and beyond. He found the door; negotiated for it, and then put on his full NY attitude when the seller was going to back out. I paid StevenF's employee to drive to NJ to pick it up, and Steven himself packed it for shipment to Michigan. Now that's a true Pagoda friend!

[Benz Dr.]

OK, maybe once in a while. You can't equate your personal situation to the average.

I've been selling MB  parts, new and used, since 1988. Believe me, some stuff moves quickly, while other parts collect dust. I've sold one 190SL door in the past 35 years and maybe 1 or 2 pagoda doors in that time period. The only way someone would want a door is if it was hit and damaged. They won't rust out so it's a very slow-moving item.

[MikeSimon]

I have been buying motorcycle dealer parts inventory for quite some time. And the fact that parts are made and available as spares doesn't mean people need them. Dan is absolutely right.
some stuff collects dust on shelves for years before someone shows up who has a use. And then the part is worth about 30% of what the manufacturer's last list price was.

[MikeSimon]

While I think it is cool to find the firewall, if someone has a car that is so damaged that it will need one, I would think it is a total loss. Considering why it would need to be replaced, I can see nobody wanted to touch this and rebuild the car.

[Cees Klumper]

It's intended to be used to swap a car from LHD to RHD is my understanding. Although it seems to me that it would be relatively easy to just cut out and fabricate those sections that are different, rather than basically take the entire car apart to take out and weld back in the entire firewall.

[stickandrudderman]

The red RHD 250 I'm building had a lot of rust in this panel that required a lot of effort to repair and fabricate, including making a jig for the throttle mechanism.
Had I had this panel then, I would most certainly have used it.
Of course, I have a 113 jig so for me it's possible but for the at-home enthusiast less so.