It was July 1998, my 5 year old son and I packing to
embark on a long journey to Los Angeles USA on a
well deserved holiday in the sun, surf and sea. The
trip was planned as a holiday and providing me the
chance to look at a 1960 Mercedes-Benz 190Sl that my
brother, Alex, had as stock left over from his restoration
business. Heathrow Airport was a swift departure
aided by the fact that we were given priority to
board, not because we were fare paying passengers
but by the mere fact that I had with me a young
child. The ten hour flight
on a Virgin Boeing 747
was just as swift as our departure arriving in the
evening. We stayed with Alex in Granada Hills,
which was a contrast to where he used to live near
Studio City. Early morning rise was not met with the
smog as in the valley. By mid day the temperatures
were near enough unbearably hot.
Alex had just sold his workshop, 'Sherman
Oaks Classics' dealing in the restoration of classic
Mercedes-Benz and repair of modern cars, to his
partner. He wanted to check on a few cars that
he
had sub-contracted for repair. These two cars
were the last stock of un-restored cars. A 1960
Mercedes-Benz 190SL and a 1970 Mercedes-Benz 280SL
'Pagoda'. We went to the workshop where the 'Pagoda'
was. Up on the ramp was a white
'Pagoda' lacking lights, bumper and a front left
wing / fender. Instantly it brought back memories of
the 1970's with my father driving my brother and I
up the M1 motorway in England to Leicester in a
'White Pagoda'. As I was the youngest I had prime
location sitting in the rear
transverse seat, with
my elder brother up front. My immediate and first
question was ....and what are your plans for this
car. "To have it restored and sold off just like any
other classic that I have bought". Why not sell it
as it is, better still why go through the bother of
restoring it, I'll take it back to England as it is
and restore it there.
The idea was settled
on and we
left the garage with instructions not to do any
further work as he was going to arrange for the car
to be picked up.
I thought my luck had ended for the day, but more was to come. We made our way from Studio City to Simi Valley to his partners house to view the 190SL. There stored in his garage was the 190SL. I was not expecting much as Alex described it in a sad sorry state requiring total restoration. I did not see what I had pictured it to look like. Straight away I could tell that it was less rusty than any other 190SL I had seen in England. In fact several restored ones I saw appeared like rust buckets next to this even though it was stripped and piled high with parts. The story has it, later confirmed by the classic centre in Germany, that the car was assembled in Sindelfingen and delivered to its first owner through Mercedes-Benz Denmark on 21 September 1960. Over the years it ended up in Los Angeles bought for Shirley Jones by her children the 'Brady Bunch'. The documents confirming this were lost in several workshop moves to expand the business to meet demand. The previous owner purchased the car in its stripped state ten years earlier and commissioned Alex's firm to restore the car. Having stripped the car the customer requested a halt to the restoration as his plans had changed. It then remained at his workshop for the next ten years. With rising storage charges the customer sold the car to Alex.
Looking around the car the only visible rust was on the interior floor pans and the wheel wells in the boot. Later stripping to bare metal confirmed that this was a very good solid original car. The car has been at the time of writing, January 2006, in its stripped state for the best part of twenty five to thirty years and most of that in the Californian sun. Floor pan rust was probably caused by the car sitting in the Californian sun, a sudden down pour of rain and the car appeared to have dried out with the next burst of sun. Attention was not given to the fact that the interior floors are double skinned. Where your feet rest on was a screw on false metal and wooden floor below this was the floor pans. Rain water entering did not evaporate as it was partially sealed pitting the floor pans with a hand full of pin holes. The floor pans were replaced as a matter of course rather than patch up small pin holes risking further holes to appear latter. More detail can be found in the 'Weblog' pages of this site.
The car was perfect, the restoration was even better as no outer panels were required saving in the best part of £20,000 in parts including typically 150 labour hours to re-skin a 190SL. It can take a restoration shop from 80 to 200 hours or more to do the frame and floors on a 190SL, depending upon how much needs to be replaced. This was a rare opportunity and I could not let this one pass. The grin on my face said that the deal had been done and we arranged for the car to be towed to Alex's house in Granada Hills. Latter that week we visited a lock up garage to sort out 190SL parts from an 'Aladdin's' cave of spare parts built up over the years in the restoration business. Most parts were located except a few sourced world wide either second hand or new. It is amazing that more often than not one can pick up the telephone to Jackson's Mercedes-Benz in Bournemouth or SLS in Germany and have delivered within a week parts for a car over forty years old.
With two cars under my arms and parts secured I head off to Los Vegas for a week and to get my thoughts together as to how to proceed next. The cost of shipping the car and separate parts including an engine, front and rear axle out of the car would have run the risk of crates going a stray. I decided to leave the car there for my father now retired, also residing in Los Angeles and a time served mechanic who worked on these cars when these car were current, to rebuild the engine and front suspension / sub frame. These components including the rear axle would be fitted back onto the car to aid shipping. The car required registration with the transport authority 'DMV' to obtain a clear title and was given a clean bill of health together with the licence number '4FMX909" and plate. In fact the car remained there for another two years before the rebuild was ready making the car movable for shipment.
The shipping vessel was the 'Ever Racer' and the date of arrival was the day of my birthday, the 7th August 1999. My birthday present had arrived. Two weeks latter with Customs clearance the vehicle full of parts was towed from the Stratford Terminal to my house. What a great feeling that was after two years to finally have the car in my garage. The next two months were spent unpacking the boxes, documenting and tagging what was there and what was missing. This then lead on to researching which parts were right for my chassis number and my year, as I ended up with several parts of a similar nature as the remaining 190SL and 300SL 'Gullwing' parts that he had left over from his restoration business were shipped.
Events led me to not touch the car for two years giving me time to research as much as possible about this one model type. At first I was lost as there was not one single source or book one could go to research. The Mercedes-Benz Owners Club UK at that time did not have 'Model Registers'. At the recommendation of Alex I joined 'The International 190SL Group' in America. The advice paid off as I had to my disposal keen knowledgeable enthusiasts who had built up an amazing database of information. What was more remarkable was that this was a one model club. Over the years they have produced, a technical manual, hard back book 'Mercedes-Benz 190SL 1955 - 1963 Restoration and Ownership', informative DVD's and a website with a well documented and supported forum at http://www.190slgroup.com .
The restoration over the next three years has taken its time but one can not let life and family overtake a passion. At time of writing the 190Sl is in a stripped bare shell stage with work on the outer sheet metal progressing before preparation for paint. All major components except the rear axle and interior have been rebuilt. I enjoy working on the car my self, let it be welding, mechanical, painting or upholstery. These trades I picked up at a young age from my father and other skills that I have learned as I have proceeded with the restoration. My 'Weblog' details the restoration and I hope that you will enjoy this part of the website as much as I have enjoyed putting it together.
Parry