I
purchased this car in Auckland , while on a visit to my
sisters. I saw it advertised in the Trade & Exchange
paper and went to have a look at it. It had been used and
abused and had rust, a broken drivers window, tatty interior,
both the body and the bumpers were dented and the generator
wasn’t charging, but I saw some potential in it. I
made an offer for it and ended up owning it. (Actually,
I swapped an early Audi 80 for it).
Anyway,
I took it back to my sisters, where I stayed for the weekend,
then decided to head home. One fully charged battery got
me to Paeroa by which time the car was getting progressively
slower. A stop in Paeroa to get the battery put on a fast
charge for about an hour, did the trick, then it was Tauranga,
here I come. Believe it or not, I made it all the way home,
but as I turned into the drive, the car cut out. The battery
was dead flat so I put it on charge again while I fitted
a spare generator that I just happened to have in stock.
(the beauty of owning quite a few cars of the same make
). I fixed the drivers window at the same time, and drove
it for a couple of months then decided it was time to give
it a tidy up.
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At
this time I was still working as a Motor Mechanic and had
a friend , Peter Trewartha, who was a panel-beater / painter
and had owned Hot Rods & Customs when he was in Australia
and still drove a nice 65 Ford Fairlane, as well as owning
a 450 Mercedes Coupe. I told him what I wanted done and
he got stuck in, after I had completely stripped the car
inside & out, along with all the windows.
A
few weeks later, it had all the chrome-work re-done, the
car had been completely paneled and painted shiney “midnite
black”, and at the same time, I had a black vinyl
roof fitted by Ian (Hank) Yardley of First Ave Auto trim.
Ian
also fitted new brown colour carpets and new boot mat, along
with a new headlining, and he also recovered the seats in
a light mushroom coloured velour upholstery which was done
in a pleated & rolled style. Instead of doing just two
or two & a half inch pleats, I got him to do do them
with a half inch pleat between each of the two inch pleats.
The effect was stunning . To finish off the look of the
car, all the paint was removed from the hubcaps and these
were all buffed & polished.
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Now,
I had told another friend, just after I got the car, what
I was intending to get done to it and how it should turn
out. He had been trying to find a nice car to use for his
daughters wedding and time was running out, so I had offered
the use of the Mercedes. Talk about taking things to the
wire. I picked the car up from Peter on the Friday night
and my friend’s daughter was getting married the next
morning.
The
windows were all back in, but nothing else and I drove the
car home sitting on an old nail box.
A
quick meal and then I was into putting it all back together,
and when it got dark I carried on working in the driveway
with a lead-light determined to get it done. I had to !!
Anyway, a young girl that I knew at the time, Tracey, came
to visit and ended up giving me a hand to re-assemble the
car. We finished it in the wee small hours of the Saturday
morning, stopped for a break, then it was time to dress
it up as a wedding car. Instead of just using ribbon, we
used long white tassles, fitted the brides doll, did the
rear window ledge up with gold horse-shoes and red &
white roses and it looked a treat.
I
lived in Tauranga at the time and the bride lived at Papamoa
& I was running late to be there at the time I promised.
I figured if I hoofed it, I could still make it in time.
Coming along the Papamoa straight, I passed about 5 cars
at well over the magic fiqure, with all the tassles fluttering
like crazy, but nothing came adrift and I
pulled into my friends house, to pick his daughter up, bang
on time…
The
car got a lot of attention at the wedding, and I ended up
driving for a lot more.
The
car always attracted attention and comments, and was one
of the best Mercedes that I have owned.
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