Often Parts for a resto are a little hard to come by and a Mercedes W112 long wheel base  is no exception. So when this poor car was revealed to me last week it was decided to grab it for parts. it’s car #1120152206292 and was built in 1965 >Off the road since 1988 because of problem with the brakes the car was left in the open and went down hill over 30 years. 

Lots of Rust,Lots of loose parts ,some parts are not going to be useable like those perforated bumpers. 

Rear wheel arches are rotten and there wasn’t much to lift on underneath,wheel is a toyota hilux .To move the car i had to swap them out and fit a set of inflated mercedes rims.

Termites had eaten the wood off the dash and doors…This was a highly optioned car when new,with central locking ,factory air and luggage.

Engine department is complete with everything in place .

Because of the air suspension ,the car was sitting very low .Blocks of wood were jammed in between the lower control arm and the cross member to hold the front up and beteen the diff and floor at the rear.

Once the lower part of the right  rear quarter was remove rust in the wheel house was discovered ..

The rust removed and repaired in this place .

Rust in these places is unfortunately very common ,as the boot lid hinge pocket has a drain which dumps into the base of the rear roof reinforcement. in Australian built cars such as this they rust because it was bare steel .In the above pic the rust in the base has been repaired with new steel.

The only option was to remove the damaged remnants and repair further rust on the wheel house .The bulge in the panel is a result of tension /pressure caused when the car has been hit in the rear at some time in the past.  The rear panel will probably have to be replaced too as it appears to have also been roughly repaired .

the Roof support beam can be seen here and where it is welded to the wheel house it has rusted and been repaired.

So ,with that i had to make a complete new skin to replace the rusted and dented parts.

The dash is original and the radio ,a becker Grand prix ,has life but the speakers are worn out.

The original Upholstery has been cleaned and is quite good condition , the carpet unfortunately has been eaten by some sort of insect. The originals will be used to make patterns for the replacement 

Door Cards are in good condition considering they are 52 years old.

Some of the side bright trim is show signs of it’s age and will need to be restored. 

Bottom of the Left rear quarter panel which has another rough patch welded in place .

Left rear quarter has been hit in the past and will need repair (i’ll probably make a new rear panel )

Getting the underside ready for paint. Unfortunately the repairs to the rear panel and quarter panel have delayed the painting .

New Spare wheel well bottom panel made . The patchy one has been removed ,the lower one in the picture.

Lower quarter panel and inner section showing more rust damage , most of this was not repaired in the past,simply covered in bituminous underseal. Both of these sections will be replaced.

Initial stages of making the new rear quarter bottom panel

Door Skin in the process of being welded .