De-chromafication

With Jade's bumpers, grille and headlights removed, a phone call from a really nice chap on the other side of the country who needed some chrome for his car, motivated me to get moving with the next stage of Jade's de-chromafication.

I few of the hip line trim pieces were already damaged making these a good place to start to see how easily the parts would come off; after all I didn't want to damage parts that someone else was able to use.

To my I surprised the hip line and sill trim pieces all come off very easily.  All I used was a cloth covered large flat screwdriver, and worked my way along each piece popping the clips out of the holders.  Jade may have been an exceptions as the trim had already been removed one already when Jade changed colour, cars with original paint may not be so easy.

Starting with a damaged one.  

Here you can see the red fixings that hold all the trim pieces in place.  

It is a simple press fixing.

So much chrome, part of the /8's appeal

 

The quarter panel hip line trim is almost 2metres long!!!

The sill trim for some reason had had new fixings points drilled into the sill which, with little consideration for the old one that were left unfilled, potentially assisted with the spread of moisture and therefore rust within the sills.  Not a good example of "out of sight, out of mind".

WHY??!!!! Why would you add twice as many holes into the sill?

Most alarming was the amount of crud that I found under the rear window trim.  This is of corner to me as UGU already has a rust blister under her back window which I have been trying to ignore, but seeing this I realise that I need to deal with it before winter arrives in June.

It is easy to see how rusting under the back window is so common 

when this much crud gets trapped under the trim.

Thankfully the clever folk at Mercedes-Benz in the late '60's must have know the day would come when I would need to post parts across Australia, so the rear window surround breaks down into several pieces thanks to these corner backing plates.

 Rear window trim as we would see it installed on the car

Rear window trim seen from the back with helpful backing plate holding the trim together 

A few of us have had lengthy discussions on W(A)114/115 debating a topic that gets a surprising amount of back lash from the purists: Chrome wheel-arch mouldings, WAM's for short.

Love them or hate them, WAM's appeal to a lot of people and are a common sight on many classic cars and, on the right body coloured car, I quite like them too, but being from the UK, I like many other people had concerns that they would trap moisture and lead to rust.  However, in our climate in Western Australia, we have busted this myth, it is simply not the case and Jade is another example of that.  Despite the huge amount of rust seemly everywhere in her body, the fenders and in near perfect, rust free condition.

WAM's removed and there is no evidence of rust on the 

fenders despite common misconception

Windscreen bottom lip trim and windscreen wiper cowl

So, with the chrome now all off, it's time to get them packed up and off to their new owner.

What's the next task you ask? hmmm, not sure yet so keep posted.

A date with Jade

After the big race today (Melbourne Cup) I decided that instead of heading out to celebrate with those that won, and commiserate with those that lost, my time would be better spent with Jade.

With a two hour window before sun set I was quite pleased with my progress, from this:

to the much sadder looking:

I was really surprised how easily I was able to remove the parts absent in the second picture, but even more surprised at how bad I felt about dong this; a bit like destroying a work of art.

I know that all these bits could be easily bolted back on, and yes I know that the rust is right though her, and yes I know I don't have the time nor money to restore her, but still; I feel sad.

I started this afternoon's work by removing the front bumper which I found significantly easier than the back one, probably due to ease of access.

There are four bolts that hold the top bumper bar in place, and as this is a Series 1 six cylinder car, it also has the lower bumperettes which are fixed the top bumper bar but also have a further two bolts securing them to the valance.

Front bumper mounting viewed from inside the wheel well. 

 (Front bolt has been removed in this photograph)

Bumperette mounting seen from above and behind the bumper.  

No room for a racket here so open ended or ring spanner only

With the bumper off I removed the headlights, grille, windscreen wipers and cowling which are so simple an explanation would be insulting to you the reader.  

The battery has been disconnected since Jade was parked up, but today I took it out to find the battery tray rotten and a piece of flat metal inlaid to fill the hole.  I am not sure what an intact battery tray is supposed to took like as I have never check UGU's, but I certainly hope it doesn't look like this:

Rusty battery tray, rust, rust everywhere...

And finally, as a reminder to myself as to why I am doing this, a gentle poke of the passenger sill with a screwdriver, and the the score is, screwdriver 1, Jade, Nil!!!

Screwdriver 1, Jade Nil

Disassembly begins

With the decision made to sacrifice Jade to the benefit of others, I set to work removing the interior of the car which despite being filthy wasn't in bad shape.

First I removed the front seats, a simple job of removing four bolts per seat that I had done on UGU many times before.  I then moved onto the back seat, door cards and rear panel cards; again all things I was familiar with from working on UGU.

Drivers seat was the first thing to be removed

 Unfortunately the drivers seat shows wear to the door side, but generally the seats are in usable condition. Note seats are in reverse order in picture

The back seat was/is actually in great condition once the dirt was removed

Back seat with ghostly seat belt pattern

After a wash down, the rear seat is in near perfect condition

With the seats out there was now a lot more room to work in the car.  I turned my attention to cleaning it out.  As with many cars you always find rubbish under the seats that you would rather not have to touch.  Hair brushes, half eaten sweets, bottles of juice, as well as parking tickets and general accumulation of 40 plus years of gunk. On the flip side, I found $1.45 in change and in a rare instance, found the missing accelerator pedal under the passenger seat!

Centre console in excellent condition

As I started to remove the interior trim I was reminded of the excellent build quality of these cars.  Not a single thing broke or snapped as I undid the screws and bolts.  Only one screw in the rear had rusted do the point that I needed to drill it out.

With that said, I have become sceptical as to whether this car has actually been stored inside as I was told by the previous owner.  It may have done; time can also be a destructive source, but the dash pad, rear view mirror and seat belts were so brittle that it seems to me that they have been sitting in strong day light.

Seat belt spaghetti

I removed the centre console which again was pretty easy despite my concerns about it otherwise.  The hardest thing to remove was non Mercedes-Benz stereo which, without the key to remove it from it's cradle could only be removed with the console out.

Aftermarket stereo and a very damaged gear knob

I removed the speaker cables running to the back of the car and all the old mouldy carpet, things were looking better, well cleaner anyway: the level of rust was not looking healthy at all.

The cleanest this interior has been in many years

As you would have seen in my previous post, this car has had a dreadful repair done to the drivers footwell which has allowed water to get into the car and has run back as far as the front seats, but interestingly it looks like this car has also had issues with rust along the length of the passenger side sill that has been painted over perhaps in a bid to stop it.

I cannot for one minute believe this messy black paint work is standard issue Mercedes-Benz which makes me think this is someones attempt at rust prevention

I make reference to this car being "beyond repair".  To clarify, no car is beyond repair if you are willing to pour the money into it. So what I mean is this car is beyond economical repair.  It would cost several times the cars value to repair it, so until my lottery numbers come in, I am not in a position to salvage this car and so, by dismantling it I am hoping to help other owners and enthusiasts, recoup my initial investment in both the car and tools, and expand my knowledge of these amazing cars so that one day I can perhaps bring one back from the brink.  Everything I learn I will share with you via my Tyrobenz blog.

Check out my first Tyrobenz video to find see more about the disassembly process:

The diagnosis is not good

After giving Jade a good wash I turned my attention to looking for rust.

I already knew the boot floor was very rusty as the accident damage to the rear end meant that the boot lid was no longer able to close correctly, allowing water to leak in.

Accident damage allows water into boot and the boot floor begins to rust

I next lifted out the interior carpets. The floors in the back were solid and in good condition put as I started to look towards the front things took a nasty turn.  In the passenger floor there was a large hole and as I pulled back the frayed carpet on the sill more daylight could be seen.  I had a look under the car and saw huge patches of rust spreading towards the rear.

Rear driver-side floor section is solid and rust free, but does have cobwebs

 Passenger floor and footwell is full of rust allowing daylight to be seen

As I moved to the drivers side the story got a whole lot worse.  I find it amusing that I was able to get into the car and drive it and not notice that there was no accelerator pedal!  The lack of pedal is an excellent clue to the dreadful repair that had been done previously to the drivers footwell.  The repair is crude to say the least, and the fact they did nothing to address the rust issues as that repair was being executed, just made things worse.

Special edition light weight accelerator!  You can see the floor is wet following me washing the car, so water must be leaking through the firewall somewhere. Not good.

Drivers side floor.  I don't know if you could call this is repair, but what ever you call it, it is a disaster!!

It is enough to make you sick!

At this stage things are looking very bleak, but I had to keep looking.  The harder I looked the worse things got.  

These next photos are not for the weak hearted, and will potentially upset fellow lovers of not only the stroke 8, but all classic cars out there.

The boot is very rusty and is thinner than paper at the back edge and around the fuel filler

Holes through the body work where the boot closes

Rust bubbles around back window

More bubbles starting to come through in the rear quarter panel, a common stroke 8 rust spot

Rear wheelarch, passenger side.... 

which after a bit of poking with my finger became this, then....

THIS!!!!!  I stopped at this point.

Driver side footwell.  Again I am not sure why water would be seeping in here, but it cannot be a good thing.

Game over!

No doubt by this time, like me you will all be feeling sick to the stomach.  The rust is horrendous, and I sure, like an iceberg, there is a lot more that I cannot see at this stage.

It breaks my heart to do it, but I have decided that there is no hope for Jade.  There is no way I could commit to the investment it would take to fix her.  It would take a full bare metal restoration to cut out all this rust. I hope to salvage as many parts as I can to help save some other series 1 C114's; UGU included, before sending Jade for a permanent vacation. 

Looks can be deceiving

I decided to name my new C114 Jade, not only because of her colour, but also because that was the name of the street on which I found her.

Not long after the tow truck delivered Jade to my house, I couldn't stop myself from giving her a wash. I was excited to see what she looked like with her wheel trims on, and the years of dirt and grime removed.

 These are the tools I am confident with

WOW!  What a difference a wash makes

Knowing the wealth of knowledge that is held within the Facebook Group W(A)114/115, I had remembered to take a picture of the chassis plates the first time I went to see Jade.  I wanted to share the information with the group and see what anyone could tell me about the car.

I had already noticed the engine bay was a different colour (grey rather than green), so I was suspicious that green was not the original colour.  

What we determined was that the original colour was 124G Arabian Grey, and also that the car was not originally built for Australia, instead it was imported at a later stage.  I have no idea when this would have been, but the number plates on the car are from 1997, so perhaps that is a clue.

In addition to the original colour, we also determined that the car was an import.  All Australian delivered cars have the number 625 stamped on the plate.  As you can see that number does not appear.

Here you can see evidence of the original colour 124G Arabian Grey

I actually really like the grey, and would have loved for the car to have remained that colour, but the previous owner must have really disliked it.  The level of cover up of the grey is incredible, there is literally no trace of it anywhere other than in the engine bay. Take the door reveals for example, there were so clean you could eat of them!

Door reveals are in amazing condition, with no trace of the original colour

This stunning /8 is an example of what the original colour would have looked like. In my opinion this has got to be one of the best colour options available.  I cannot understand why you would want to cover it up!

Image reference: David Saffioti via Mercedes-Benz W114/W115 Appreciation Group

My very own barn find!

Every classic car enthusiast I know of, dreams of being the first person to stumble across a long forgotten classic, lurking behind a rusty garage door or hiding under a cover in a barn. Up until yesterday the dream of a "Barn Find" for me was exactly that; a dream.

When it comes to classic cars one never seems to be enough, so over the past two years of owning UGU, I have always been open to the idea of having a friend for her, be that a car I can work on as a tester to expand my knowledge, before trying to do any work to UGU, or just something else that appeals to me.

About a year into my ownership of UGU we were cruising around in one of the more affluent suburbs of West Perth when we turned a corner and spotted another 250C on the side of the road.  I pulled over and went for an inspection.  What I saw was nothing short of horrifying;  I have never seen a car with so much rust!  As I looked about I noticed a sprinkler head on a pole located very near to the car. Its intention was to water the adjacent lawn, not the car! It seemed clear that the car had been parked in this location for a very long time, and that the sprinkler was just pouring water onto it on a regular basis. Noting that the car still had a few good parts, I left a note for the owner and asked if he would like to pass it on to someone who could use it.

Series 1 250 C in terrible condition.  

Note the sprinkler on the pole at the edge of the driveway

The owner called me soon after I left the note and  straight away starting referring to the 250C as "his baby"! Now, if this is how he treats his so called baby, I fear for his children!

The story goes: the car was bought many years ago, following which it was taken for an inspection.  With the car up on a hoist, the mechanic warned that the car was a death trap, having a huge amount of rust in the chassis, sills and floors.  The owner took the car home, parked it up and it has sat there ever since, slowly being reclaimed by nature.

I can only imagine this car would have been stunning when new.  I really love the colour.  The cobwebs in the exhaust are another telling sign that the car has been here for a very long time.

It had been about a year since I have first offered to buy that car, and after passing by the house and seeing the car still in the same spot, but looking even worse for wear, I contacted the owner again.  Perhaps hoping to recoup some of his losses the owner still wanted thousands of dollars for the car so I just let it be.  To this day the car is still sitting there; it is so sad.

As the saying goes, when one door closes, another opens, and in that vein a few days after negotiations ended with that car a fellow Mercedes Club member called to let me know he had heard of a W114 coupe that the owner wanted rid off.

Armed with a phone number I tried to contact the owner straight away, but with no luck, I decided to get in the car a go to the provided address hoping to meet the owner when I got there.  As it turned out the address was a mechanics workshop, and I had picked the worst day ever to go looking at cars, as Perth was hit with a once in a decade storm.

This is how I found her in the pouring rain with the drivers window down

1971 250CE 4 speed manual

Standing in the pouring rain I had a look at the car and listened to what the mechanic was saying. The owner of this car had parked it in his garage 9 years ago and there she had resided, untouched and forgotten.

Six months ago the car was pulled out of the garage and of course no longer ran. This is how she ended up at the mechanics workshop. Amazingly, despite the evident rust, the owner committed to $1,500 worth of work to get the car running again.  This work included a new fuel tank, refurbishment of the injectors and replacement tail lights, as one had been smashed.

For those of you who know these cars you will note in the pictures that the tail lights are not correct. This car is a 1971 W114 250CE making her a series one, so the tail lights should be smooth. Thankfully the originals were found in the boot.

The car had been reversed into what I can only image to be a pole which smashed the original tail light and bent the chrome strip and boot lid

Original series 1 tail lights found in the boot

Having seen the car I once again called the owner and left a message saying I was interested in buying it and could he call me.  My main reasons of interest in the car were the fact that it was still registered and a manual: a rare thing in Australia. I hoped that she might be restorable giving me that test car I wanted to use as a learning tool to help me better understand how to work on UGU.

I didn't hear from the owner for a week or so, but when he called we discussed at length the condition of the car and negotiated a price agreeable to all.  Another week went by before I heard from the owner again and we tried to arrange collection.  That one week became almost 5, by which time I thought he had changed his mind and I had given up on the sale.  However, true to his word the owner stuck to the deal, and yesterday we met, exchanged details and money and the car was mine, yeehaa!

This photo has not been photoshopped, this is where she came from, complete with 9 years of dirt and grime.

Loaded up and ready to go to her new home. 

Tyro Workshop

A big thanks to Steve from Perth Tow for an excellent service.

Tel. 0458 226 088

On the road again; sort of!!

I took this video whilst waiting for the tow truck to arrive.  She was indeed in a sorry state.  Enjoy: