WINNER 2014 CONCOURS D'ELEGANCE BEST IN CLASS, MERCEDES BENZ CLUB OF VICTORIA - 1970 280SE 3.5 Coupe
I purchased the car in 2010 from Anthony Mendola, we first stripped her down and shipped the interior to Gary Blackmans automotive upholstery workshop to commence the trimming works. I bought a pre-sown leather kit from KHM in St,uttgart, there were several choices of leather quality available, some very close to the original grain, but eventually I decided to pay the extra money get the leather sourced from the original tanners Roser, who supplied the hides to MB back in the 60/70s. Interestingly apart from all the pre- sown seat coverings, elbow rest covers et cetera, it took 3 additional hides of a total of 12m2 to cover all the door panels, dashboard, rear window panel etc. In the end we had just little bit left to cover the plastic tray between the seats where the gear leaver is, this is not quiet original, but i like it, and I do have a spare tray. Originality was an issue to me all the way, the car came with the very common Ivory steering wheel, on reading up to my surprise i found, that the 3.5 liter coupe never had this as an optional extra, many people fitted their cars with the Ivory as the steering wheel from the pagoda and the 108/109 new generation were identical and available in ivory. You may notice the burl woodgrain steering wheel, that is not an original and was finished like this by a craftsman in Germany, i do carry a proper black one in the boot and swapping the steering wheel over takes me about 15 mins. The woodwork was totally re-veneered in the correct burl-walnut by the Melbourne Specialist John Nicholl. While all these works were being done, the car spent 8 months at B&M Refinishers, we found rust everywhere, essentially most of the panels were cut off at the first fold and new panels welded in. The gutter underneath the front wind screen virtually disintegrated on disassembly and one of Craigs craftsmen virtually resculpted that entire section. The mouldings for the spare wheel and part of the boot floor were also re-built. In the meantime I spent many late nights at home on the Internet sourcing spare parts from all around the world. The German Mercedes Benz Club, was an incredible source of often brand new bits, there were learning experiences, as particularly the Right Hand Steering was often difficult for some of theEuropean and US wreckers. A particular problem was the air conditioner, many of these cars were sent out to Australia without AC and then fitted here by the dealer with a local unit, I cant remember how many months it took me to locate a complete Behr unit in California not many people who own one of these are too keen to sell it and so they are very scarce. We rebuilt the unit, and just little niceties like brand new MB buttons were available at $300 without the postage. There was the desire to have the proper safety belts, the car came with some later fitted retractor belts in very poor condition, eventually i found a full set of the correct Kangol magnetic clip seat belts that came out of a 600 pulmann that once had driven around the Cote d'Azur and so now the front seats sport the correct 3 point belts and the back bench comes with 3 lap belts as the car would have had as an optional extra. As the car reached completion in its original silver color (180) as it had left the Stuttgart factory in Sept 1970 i started to focus on the less necessary items, so I do have an original MB spare petrol can that fits neatly inside the spare wheel, all accessories like toolkit, books and pamphlets are correct, an original MB Brolli from 1970 came actually out of my dad's car and i found it in my parent's basement. The rear window sun Venetian is original MB after market from the period and came from a mechanic in Belgium. In the beginning the engine appeared to turn over quite beautifully and I had been assured when I purchased the car, that the previous owner had had the engine rebuilt only a few years prior. After some outings I found her only firing on 7 cylinders. The engine had excellent compression on all cylinders except that No 7 was not playing with its mates. There was fuel and spark, we looked at the timing, injection pump, distributor, and the trigger points, we reconditioned as we inspected, yet Number 7 stubbornLy refused to fire. Eventually we tested and replaced the electronic injection steering unit and there it was. We did a visual inspection of all cylinders with a tiny little video camera through the spark plug holes, and all cylinders looked excellent. The engine kept running rich, and no amount of tuning would remedy the oversupply of fuel, until we woke up to the fact that the existing injectors were originally meant for a 4.5l engine. Luck had it that a Melbourne Injection Specialist had a full set of 8 sitting on their shelves, and voila, a sight re-tune and Bob is the proverbial uncle. First registered here in Melbourne in March 1971, it fills me with pride everytime the V8 jumps to life.
It starts in July 2010 at Anthony Mendola's Garage and will end in months/years to come...I bought this car in 2010 in original condition.
in 2011 I had the body totally stripped to bare metal, all rust was cut away and new steel inserted. The car was then repainted.
In January 2012 the Car went to the Trimmers to have a new Leather interior fitted. Great care was taken in the choice of the hides, The seat covers were sown and manufactured in Stuttgart Germany, all door liners and interior panels were replaced by new MB panels. The Woodwork was stripped and reveneered to as new condition in Burl Walnut. The original Becker Mexico Stereo Cassette was refurbished and all new Becker speakers were fitted.
18/01/2012 finally the back seat and parcel shelf are in.
Almost a year and a half later, finally all has been done, stainless steel exhaust system was specially tuned not to sound tinny but as quiet as possible. The engine bay has been totally cleaned up, all fuel lines replated, air filter was sandblasted and newly powder coated. Front end rebushed, all linkages and rubbers replaced, new back axle and differential, transmission rebuilt. Alloys re-rounded, and freshly coated. the tyres were a score from a fellow who’d had them made in America for his Mustang, and then gave up. Phew you name it it has been done.
29/06/2014 lot of water under the bridge since my last edit here. The car is as finished as it will ever be. Although there is always something that one has not found yet. For example an optional extra were little pack nets that fit onto the backs of the front seats, looking for them world wide in good condition and at the right price. The car won best in its class in the 2014 Mercedes Benz Club of Victoria Concours d’Elegance.
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