Trunk Side Panels Clips

[Pawel66]

I have to admit I did not realize they exist until a friend of mine who has a very original Pagoda showed them to me earlier today.

Do you know their part number? Where to get them? Kind request for help.

I told him I have not seen it on the forum, so it does not exist. He sent me pictures, I told him the same.

I am attaching pictures of a clip and where it goes (it holds upper edge of the trunk side panel, prevents it from bending down, it is hooked by the trunk lid seal channel).

[BobH]

Hello Pawel, i think the part number may be 116 693 00 14, not sure they are available from anywhere anymore

[DavidAPease]

Hi, Pawel,

BobH's part number looks like the right one, judging from a drawing I found in a 280SE parts catalog.  But there's no such part in my 230SL parts book (so maybe it wasn't used in our cars).

Nonetheless, here's a page from Miller's Mercedes where they claim to have some:

    https://shop.millermbz.com/detail/index/sArticle/4731

               -David

[Pawel66]

Thank you Bob, thank you David!

Again this Forum showed its potential!

I have never seen nor heard about this clip, which does not yet mean anything. I looked through posts on trunk side panels, nothing. I have not yet gone to other Mercedes cars of the era - and this is where it was hiding.

My friend's car is a very late Pagoda from 1971, the US version and he had them.

Now we know what it is, we know the part number, still probably some question marks on the usage in our cars.

The EPC system says it was used only on W116. Maybe they just started fitting it to late Pagodas to better hold the side panels as it was developed in 71 for W116 already. Maybe as they started to fit the altered left panel (at 011948) for heavier fuel ventilation tank? But that is just my speculation.

In any case it is not registered to be fitted in Pagoda.

Yes, availability at Mercedes is a question mark, I will ask.

Thank you again!

Pawel

[neelyrc]

My factory delivered Pagoda (Feb 1969) does not have and never had these clips. I have never seen them on a W113.  I owned a W116 for many years from new and it might well have had them as I never had an issue with the side panels.  My W108 (9/71 build) does not have now and has the same problem as the W113 with the side panels not remaining in place.

I would be interested to get a couple and see how well they work.   

[BobH]

Niemoller only seem to have it listed in their W116 280SE catalogue, nothing shows in their 113

https://www.niemoeller.de/en/w116/w116-mercedes-280SE/B024/690102/f69199-holder-rear-mudguard-cover

[Pawel66]

Bob, yes, I checked all the usual suspects and found it in Niemoeller (shown, not available) for W116.

Ralph, I passed the answer to my friend. He says he is aware of the issue of the falling side panels (which I was not aware of). Therefore another hypothesis could be that it was some sort of service action or dealer or owner individual solution to this issue. We are not sure if it was installed in the factory in my friend's car or later.

Certainly, if we find a source, we will share it. For now we only have the link form post #3 from David about availability at Miller's.

[Mike Hughes]

Michael Egan told me about these many years ago, showing me how they worked on his blue 280 SL, but I wasn't able to find any at the time.

[Pawel66]

Any recollection if they were factory installed?

[Mike Hughes]

No, Michael made a point of saying that the clips were from another Mercedes model but fit perfectly in a 113.  One per side is all that were needed.

[DavidAPease]

Something about this discussion rang a bell, a vague memory, so when I was out in the garage this weekend I had a look at my trunk, and somewhat to my surprise, found that I had these clips on both sides!

When I first bought my car (2000), I replaced the cardboard side pieces, and I feel fairly certain that these clips weren't in place then.  My (now retired) mechanic Steve (Silver Star Motors in San Jose), who loved this car, was always doing little things to fix it up when I brought it in for service, so I suspect that he had these laying around and put them in for me. 

Without this thread, I would never have thought twice about them.

              -David

P.S.  Sorry for the poor photos...

[Pawel66]

Thank you for your kind attention!

I am more and more confident that it was not a factory application, just individual initiatives for improvements.