Hello old tin fans, here's my rig, it's not going to break any landspeed records : 3.5 tons with a 2.4 litre diesel engine putting out a measly 60hp. You develop patience driving this thing as well as upper arm muscles as it has no power steering and parking it can be like wrestling with a rock! Once it's parked up for the night though it offers old school comfort or used to do before three kids came along and made it a bit tight for my wife and I.
It was made in Düsseldorf in 1972 hence the nickname of this series of vehicles as 'Düdos' ( ergo my user name), was registered in Jan '73 and bought by a furniture company who used it until the engine blew around 1982. Then it was bought by my father-in-law who replaced the engine, put windows in and converted it into a campervan which was driven all over Europe until he decided to convert a more modern Merc van.
I came on the scene about twelve years ago and my wife and I inherited the 406 a couple of years later and did quite a few runs between S.Germany and UK. It dumped it's oil on the M4 five years ago which led to a top-end rebuild and I've done all the jobs over the years to keep it going. Fortunately almost all parts are still available from Mercedes and generally, if ordered before 5pm, are there the next day.
Now I'm giving it a mild resto so that it hopefully will qualify for historic status this summer ( An 'H' ending on the registration number) which means the yearly tax will go down from €500 to €190 and we can drive through all the 'environment zones' that many Germany cities have introduced to control older polluting vehicles like this!
About five years ago. The stripes on the rear doors conceal a badly executed repair after the door bottoms rotted out - a common problem with these. I've now sorted that
Our dog Pelops at the wheel
I've used it as a tow vehicle too which is alright on the flat but it goes up hills at walking pace in first gear leaving a huge queue of traffic behind!
As it stands now in the barn being worked on
New metal welded into the rusted out bottom of the passenger door, driver's door next. Fortunately all these panels still available.
The entry steps on both sides have gone through. A place in Berlin which breaks these things is sending me complete sections cut out of a wrecker.
The lower panels on both sides are packed full of filler which in some places is 2-3 cms deep. Under the filler is the predictable brown stuff. New panels going in all around in the next weeks.
Wheels off a Mercedes 319/early 406 from 1968. Sand-blasted and primered, ready to be painted. To me these look like big slot mags!
The tyres which are 6.00 R16 are now very hard to find in Europe. Michelin make a classic tyre in this size for an eye-watering 400 quid! They seem to be still available for a more reasonable price in India for jeeps and light trucks but that's a way to go for new tyres.
I fitted four 'new' (2004) SAVA Comet ( made in Slovenia) tyres to replace the 1980s Continentals but one threw its tread coming into London on the A3 so I decided to get shot of them.
Luckily the Belgian army was having a clear out of Firestone tyres that they used to fit to their trailers, so I bought six of these. Again 'new' old stock, to be fitted with tubes and hopefully a bit tougher that the SAVAs which very dubiously had 'economic' written on the side of the them!
I'm hoping to have it done by the end of summer and I thought posting a few pics and info up might help me stay motivated! And memories like this from a couple of years back
It was made in Düsseldorf in 1972 hence the nickname of this series of vehicles as 'Düdos' ( ergo my user name), was registered in Jan '73 and bought by a furniture company who used it until the engine blew around 1982. Then it was bought by my father-in-law who replaced the engine, put windows in and converted it into a campervan which was driven all over Europe until he decided to convert a more modern Merc van.
I came on the scene about twelve years ago and my wife and I inherited the 406 a couple of years later and did quite a few runs between S.Germany and UK. It dumped it's oil on the M4 five years ago which led to a top-end rebuild and I've done all the jobs over the years to keep it going. Fortunately almost all parts are still available from Mercedes and generally, if ordered before 5pm, are there the next day.
Now I'm giving it a mild resto so that it hopefully will qualify for historic status this summer ( An 'H' ending on the registration number) which means the yearly tax will go down from €500 to €190 and we can drive through all the 'environment zones' that many Germany cities have introduced to control older polluting vehicles like this!
About five years ago. The stripes on the rear doors conceal a badly executed repair after the door bottoms rotted out - a common problem with these. I've now sorted that
Our dog Pelops at the wheel
I've used it as a tow vehicle too which is alright on the flat but it goes up hills at walking pace in first gear leaving a huge queue of traffic behind!
As it stands now in the barn being worked on
New metal welded into the rusted out bottom of the passenger door, driver's door next. Fortunately all these panels still available.
The entry steps on both sides have gone through. A place in Berlin which breaks these things is sending me complete sections cut out of a wrecker.
The lower panels on both sides are packed full of filler which in some places is 2-3 cms deep. Under the filler is the predictable brown stuff. New panels going in all around in the next weeks.
Wheels off a Mercedes 319/early 406 from 1968. Sand-blasted and primered, ready to be painted. To me these look like big slot mags!
The tyres which are 6.00 R16 are now very hard to find in Europe. Michelin make a classic tyre in this size for an eye-watering 400 quid! They seem to be still available for a more reasonable price in India for jeeps and light trucks but that's a way to go for new tyres.
I fitted four 'new' (2004) SAVA Comet ( made in Slovenia) tyres to replace the 1980s Continentals but one threw its tread coming into London on the A3 so I decided to get shot of them.
Luckily the Belgian army was having a clear out of Firestone tyres that they used to fit to their trailers, so I bought six of these. Again 'new' old stock, to be fitted with tubes and hopefully a bit tougher that the SAVAs which very dubiously had 'economic' written on the side of the them!
I'm hoping to have it done by the end of summer and I thought posting a few pics and info up might help me stay motivated! And memories like this from a couple of years back
