It's a small garage in a small town in West Texas. The garage door is bolted down at all four corners. Some penetrating oil in the padlock on the door releases the old tumblers and you step in to see this....an early '50s DeSoto?? Then you step to the front of the car, expecting, probably a horizontal row of grille teeth, only to find this Peterbilt-like grille looking at you. Holy shit, it's a Mercedes-Benz! The ultimate identification is a 1957 Mercedes-Benz 220S, commonly referred to as a "pontoon" sedan due to the shape of the fenders. Talk about craftsmanship....the dash and door garnish moldings are hand carved wood. Power comes from an OHC six breathing through a single carburetor, which now wears a J.C. Whitney vented chrome bonnet air cleaner. The power brake system looks like it belongs on the space shuttle. Finally, it's always neat to find a clear indication of how long an old car has been asleep.
that is pretty cool. My uncle has a 57 190 (I think) M-B that has been his daily driver since he bought it in 1959 and has put over a million miles on it. I have no idea how much $$$ he has spent on it over the years to keep it in mint condition. About 5 years ago he finally gave in and had a/c installed in it. I realize that it is O/T, but it is pretty cool to see someone have that kind of dedication to a single car. Hell I think it is amazing that one person could drive the same car every day for almost 50 years and not have someone plow into it.
Put some flags on the front fenders and you got you a staff car. And the way it looks it has a built in brief case on the passenger door >>>>.
I think thats pretty cool, with a little work and some thought put into it ,I beleive that it could be a nice cruzer.Not everyone is going to have one at the next show or cruz-in, thats for sure,and as always you did it again-with the BARN FIND..........
I don't own it, and I'm not buying it. I'm helping some folks identify a buncha cars inherited when their father died. I may have several more stories before that process is completed.
I had this one recently that I bought for $350. I stared at it for about a month thinking that it would look good converted into a 2 door with about a 4 inch chop, but I chickened out and sold it for $2,000 to a Benz restorer. Anyone want to photochop the black car to show us what it would look like? Mine was an automatic stick shift 4spd on the column but there was no clutch pedal.
The Jalopy Journal
