1968 Mercedes W114 saloon

[madmog]

Having lost my Morris Minor that I had owned for 27 years to thieving S$%$%&£&$ from outside my house and needing something a bit larger and practical now i have a lovely baby daughter, I got this:










Unseen from Greece. It didn't sell in a Coys auction so I put in an offer, I'm rash like that sometimes. I got exactly what I hoped in that it's rust free. It just about drives as the engine has been messed with by adding a Unimog 404 single carb cylinder head; perhaps with low compression. It's wildly out of tune but with RR logic, it's going to be more economical to stick in a better engine than pouring money into the old one. I will keep the engine to one side in case I want to revert to standard in future.

I've changed over the front lamps to RHD spec and got a Mph speedo to get registered and MOT'd and got my V5 this week.

Apart from that it's just been little things, mending the rear lights and bootlock, removing a shopping bag's worth of redundant wiring (household wire!) fixing the brake warning light and water temp gauge.

I was looking for quite a while to find an early model - this is a '68 with the '60s styling that I was after. Quarterlights, spindly steering wheel, chrome mirrors and accentuation. I was indifferent to whether a 4 cylinder or 6, petrol or diesel as long as the body was good as I haven't time for a long resto.

As a bonus it's column shift manual 4 speed. According to the Mercedes Datacard, it left the factory with blue MBtex with a bench seat at the front. Mercs having funny handbrakes, there is nothing between the front seats which is a bit of a novelty to me. It also originally had whitewall tyres and suspension upgraded for rough parts of the world. I don't know if that's what's on it now, it drives like a large sofa on a fairground ride, comfy but a bit frightening at the same time.

Plans: modernish diesel engine, de-ambering of all the lamps and restoring the interior. Sunny Greece was kind to the metal but harsh on the interior. No matter, easily put right.

Just asa longshot but I don't suppose there are any Greek RR people that know anything of this Merc's history since I have none whatsoever beyone what I can see from the Datacard?

[madmog]

More pics:

[Battles]

That's a great looking car.
The interior looks like a great place to be, too. Didn't know these had a column shifter.
Health to enjoy it.

[madmog]

Nov 18, 2014 22:58:46 GMT Battles said:

That's a great looking car.
The interior looks like a great place to be, too. Didn't know these had a column shifter.
Health to enjoy it.

Thanks Battles. Choices were column shift auto or 4 speed manual. Floor shift auto, floor shift 4 or 5 speed manual. I think the column shift was phased out or just became unpopular as old-fashioned thing. Certainly the spindly wheel (colours ivory or black) was changed to a modern safety wheel and quarterlights were not on the later cars.

[Dez]

quite an upgrade from a morris minor!

column shift is quite rare on these. ive only ever seen a couple with it. it was an optional extra you had to pay for, which i cant see a whole load of people ever doing.

was the car always black? a blue interior in a black car would have been very unusual, ive only ever seen blue interiors in silver cars.

[120y]

Saab did white with blue interior, but as you say black with blue is very unusual

[guinnal]

Lucky you! Nice car. And rust free....every other issue will be trivial compared to welding up a rotter. Lovely.

[Mark]

Beautiful looking car, well done!

[Dez]

Nov 19, 2014 10:03:31 GMT 120y said:

Saab did white with blue interior, but as you say black with blue is very unusual

I meant specifically stack light Mercs, silver/blue interior seemed to be a 'standard' merc colourway. But now you mention it I think I might have seen a white one too.

Not that is really matters, as its now red which looks fully awesome. Red would be my interior colour of choice, but its rare. Adds a LOT of value to the price of the vehicle too.

[madmog]

I do like the red, it's what stood out to me in the ads. I could be wrong about the interior colour, it's my reading of the datacard. original paint was definitely black though. It's not obvious from the pics but the leather seems a little flat. Others I have seen in tex look much more tuck n roll like & plush. The front seats, while without headrests have, as far as I can tell, the headrest mechanisms built in. Ie you can press a hidden springy switch in the back of the seat. So I'm guessing the seats are recovered.

Not having headrests & gearstick makes the car seem really spacious inside. I'd guess that column-shift would be picked where a front bench seat was wanted or needed Eg in a hearse or ambulance. I've never seen a front bench seat up close and wonder if they had any adjustment. I have seen a pad insert that goes in the centre console so, with the armrest up and acting as backrest there is a sort of seat made. Let me see if I can find pics:



"]Console to go with bench seat



Benches

[RetroWarwicK]

gotta have an ivory wheel

[geoff115]

Very cool, it looks in really good shape. I believe column shift cars were offered for the first couple of years, 1968-69. I thought all column shifts had bench seats, maybe its been up graded at some point in its life?

[madmog]

Nov 19, 2014 16:05:39 GMT geoff115 said:

Very cool, it looks in really good shape. I believe column shift cars were offered for the first couple of years, 1968-69. I thought all column shifts had bench seats, maybe its been up graded at some point in its life?

It was originally a front bench seat. On the datacard there's an option for bench seat and an option for column shift so I suspect you could choose either option independently. I would have thought that individual seats would be more expensive than a front bench.

You could also get these things:

www.ebay.de/itm/Mercedes-Benz-W114-W115-Mittelsitzkissen-Sitzbank-fur-Mittelkonsole-rot-Oldtimer-/301388521059?pt=DE_Autoteile&hash=item462c27de63

that sit on the console between the front seats. so with the armrest up and acting as a backrest you could fit someone in the middle

[geoff115]

Nov 19, 2014 17:09:10 GMT madmog said:

Nov 19, 2014 16:05:39 GMT geoff115 said:

Very cool, it looks in really good shape. I believe column shift cars were offered for the first couple of years, 1968-69. I thought all column shifts had bench seats, maybe its been up graded at some point in its life?

It was originally a front bench seat. On the datacard there's an option for bench seat and an option for column shift so I suspect you could choose either option independently. I would have thought that individual seats would be more expensive than a front bench.

That's a cool accessory. I never knew that 2 seats at the front were an option...I'm still learning about W114/5 even though I had mine for 2 years now

[lamsdale]

Beautiful car. Same year as my P5B but looks much more modern inside..

[Mercdan68]

Beautiful

[madmog]

There's a good and active forum, www.strichacht-forum.de/
in Germany, even if you don't speak German if you use Google Chrome, it has a translating option top right which gives you a passable understanding of what's going on. They're very helpful on there, not so much into modifying but very knowledgeable. There's also a useful knowledge base of how-tos there too. Well worth signing up
if you have a W114 or W115.

Geoff have you a front bench seat in yours? If so, Is it adjustable at all? Have you a thread on here I could look at?

[geoff115]

Thanks for the tip, I'll check it out. Germans love their /8s, I bought mine from a German guy living here!

My bench seat is adjustable but just forwards or backwards, the back is fixed, slightly inclined.

Here's a thread about mine:

retrorides.proboards.com/thread/141928/1969-mercedes-w115-hi-malta#.VG5V1PnF_fI

[madmog]

Nov 20, 2014 20:59:55 GMT geoff115 said:

Thanks for the tip, I'll check it out. Germans love their /8s, I bought mine from a German guy living here!

My bench seat is adjustable but just forwards or backwards, the back is fixed, slightly inclined.

Here's a thread about mine:

retrorides.proboards.com/thread/141928/1969-mercedes-w115-hi-malta#.VG5V1PnF_fI

Wow thanks Geoff, I had a quick look and am off back to look in more detail now & bookmark.

[dickdasterdley]

That's a honey! I had a black one, but it was a stinking nail......