Tag Archives: Mercedes

Noble Character And Distinction – Mercedes Benz W128 220SE Cabriolet

Looking through my picture library for cars to write about this month I came across Geoffrey Horton’s photograph’s of one more Mercedes Benz 220SE seen here at Palo Alto Concour’s d’Elegance a couple of years ago.

Mercedes 220SE Cabriolet, Palo Alto Concours d'Elegance

The strap line on the US sales literature for the 220SE Cabriolet and Coupé noted that these were “Two Personal Cars of Nobel Character and Distinction”.

Mercedes 220SE Cabriolet, Palo Alto Concours d'Elegance

The literature drew attention to the unitised frame floor with a subframe for the engine, the recirculating ball type steering, which has since been almost universally replaced by rack and pinion steering, and the rear swing axle suspension.

Mercedes 220SE Cabriolet, Palo Alto Concours d'Elegance

UK sales literature concluded “… these modern cars with their perfect matching of beauty, power and roominess are rightly considered favourites in their class.”

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “Noble Character And Distinction edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I will be looking at another Delage. Don’t forget to come back now !

Creating Agile Brands – Mercedes Benz W128 220SE

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Unlike last weeks featured 220SE today’s example, seen at Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance by Geoffrey Horton, is one of the more numerous LHD examples.

Mercedes Benz 220SE, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

When new it’s Bosch fuel injected engine would have produced 134hp at 5000rpm, sufficient to give the 220SE a top speed of 100 mph.

Mercedes Benz 220SE, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

San Franciscan Walter Landor took delivery of this 220SE while in Italy and toured Europe in it commencing July 1960.

Mercedes Benz 220SE, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

Walter Landor born in Germany became the youngest fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts at 23 after completing his studies at Goldsmiths College in London.

Mercedes Benz 220SE, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

He settled in San Francisco after traveling to the US as part of the design team for the British Pavillion at the New York Worlds Fair.

Mercedes Benz 220SE, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

Walter launched Landor Associates with his wife from his living room table, the company with the strap line “Creating Agile Brands” now has offices in 33 cities around the world.

The current and only second owner of this 220SE Colour Consultant Bob Buckter bought it in 1980 15 years before Walters death, after a “mishap” in 1999 Bob had the car fully restored to it’s current Concours Class winning condition.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “Creating Agile Brands” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Fuel Injected RHD Cabriolet – Mercedes Benz W128 220SE

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From July 1958 through to November 1960 Mercedes Benz introduced a fuel injected version of the W180 220S model known at the 220SE such as the 1960 cabriolet seen here.

Mercedes 220SE Cabriolet, Brooklands Double Twelve,

E standing for Einspritz or fuel injection which is one of the three way’s one can tell a 220S from an SE the second being the chassis number starting ‘128’ and the third is the 220SE badge on the back.

Mercedes 220SE Cabriolet, Brooklands Double Twelve,

Costing the same as a contemporary Cadillac Biarritz, but without the Power Steering, Electric Windows, Air Conditioning or regular automatic transmission that were available on the Cadillac only 1,112 220SE Cabriolet’s were produced.

Mercedes 220SE Cabriolet, Brooklands Double Twelve,

Today’s featured 220SE, seen at a Brooklands Double Twelve Meeting is one of only 17 Right Hand Drive (RHD) examples delivered in 1960 and is said to have been imported to the UK by a Nigerian Diplomat from Nigeria.

Mercedes 220SE Cabriolet, Brooklands Double Twelve,

According to the DVLA website this car was first registered in the UK on the 1st of December 1983 and if the chassis number is correct, shown incorrectly to have been built in 1955.

Thanks for joining me on this “Fuel Injected LHD Cabriolet” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Citroën DS Concept. Don’t forget to come back now !

Around The World In Five Years – Mercedes Benz W180 220S

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From 1954 to 1959 it’s second generation 220 models known as the 220a and 220S on the W180 chassis all powered by 2.2 litre / 134 cui six cylinder motors upgraded from the first generation W187 to produce 84hp and 99hp respectively.

The more powerful 220S was introduced in March 1956, a twin carb 105hp engine was introduced the following year, with 4 speed column shift and an optional highly expensive to maintain Hydrak clutch which used micro switches to disengage the clutch, other differences included simplified chrome work with a single piece front bumper.

Mercedes Benz W180 220S, The Little Car Show, Pacific Grove, CA

Today’s featured 220S photographed by Geoffrey Horton at the The Little Car Show, Pacific Grove, CA a couple of years ago was built in 1957 and registered in New Zealand on the 8th of November the same year.

Current owners Fred and Elisabeth Smits from the Netherlands now based in Wellington, New Zealand bought the car in 2003 and drove it over 24,000 miles before embarking on a thorough restoration in 2011.

Mercedes Benz W180 220S, The Little Car Show, Pacific Grove, CA

The body off restoration included replacing every bearing, bush and rubber component, rebuilding the engine which included replacing the complete cylinder head and all of it’s ancillaries along with the cam shaft, pistons, crankshaft, oil and water pumps.

The purpose of the restoration was to prepare the car for a 90,000 mile 5 year drive around the world crossing five continents, all except Antarctica.

Mercedes Benz W180 220S, The Little Car Show, Pacific Grove, CA

After much research the Smits chose to tow a light weight Zambezi Cross-Road tent trailer manufactured by Aart Kok of Heemstede, the Netherlands, to make themselves comfortable on route.

The 220S and the trailer were shipped to the USA in 2014 and at the time of writing they should be driving through South America before sailing to Europe having driven a loop around North America in 2015.

Mercedes Benz W180 220S, The Little Car Show, Pacific Grove, CA

The Smits have set up a website about there travels linked here www.classicstrider.com

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “Around The World In Five Years” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I will be looking at a captivating concept car from Renault. Don’t forget to come back now !

More Homemade Than Most – Trenberth Vincent

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In 1951 Murray Trenberth set out to design and build today’s featured competition car from his premises in South Australia.

Trenberth Vincent, Kerry Horan, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

The 35lb frame was built from 3 inch tubes, with a wheel base of 86″ front track 50″ and rear track 49″.

Trenberth Vincent, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

The lower front wishbones were made from square tubing while the top were fabricated from sheet metal, Murray also fabricated his own uprights which are connected to the wishbones by rose joints and the tiny one off rack and pinion steering.

Trenberth Vincent, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

The rear swing axle suspension was fabricated from tubes and originally suspended by rubber cut from 6″ by 16″ inner tubes, today bands from truck tarpaulin fasteners are used, Murray incorporated roller bearings into his rear hubs, he was also responsible for devising all of the drive components.

Trenberth Vincent, Kerry Horan, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe,

Murray based the braking system on photograph’s of pre war Mercedes Benz Grand Prix cars which includes four specially cast nickle chrome brake drums with alloy wheel centres, cast alloy brake shoes, dural wheel cylinders and stainless steel pistons, he even made the chromed steel copies of Renault wheel rims that bolt to the brake drums.

Trenberth Vincent, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

Adelaide Vincent agent, Sven Kallins was given the responsibility of supplying a new 80hp Vincent Black Lightning V twin engine and gearbox for running in the up to 1 litre / 61 cui class and a Vincent Comet engine was upgraded to 35hp competition Series C Grey Flash spec and coupled with a Norton gearbox for the up to 500cc / 30.5 cui class as seen in these photographs.

Trenberth Vincent, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

All of this hard work paid off, on his debut in the car Murray recorded fastest time of the day at Collingrove Hillclimb in South Australia and went on to win the South Australian Hillclimb championship, finish second in the Australian Hillclimb championship, record the out right lap record at Port Wakefield Circuit in South Australia, finish fifth in the 1955 Australian Grand Prix, 1st in the 1956 Reno Trophy Altona Circuit, Victoria, among 150 race, sprint and hillclimb wins.

Trenberth Vincent, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

In 1960 Australian Speedway Sidecar champion Don Willison bought the Trenberth Vincent and raced her up until his death in 1973, Kerry Horan, seen driving the car in these photographs at Silverstone and Castle Combe, became the Trenberth Vincents sixth owner in 1990.

Gelände Sportwagen – Mercedes Benz W153 230S

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Alongside Mercedes Benz Land Speed Record, Grand Prix and Sports Car programmes during the 1930’s the company also built a small number of Gelände Sportwagen of three types to compete in Rallies such as the Brandenburg Rally and Deutsche Alpenfahrt for the 1938 and 1939 seasons.

Mercedes Benz W153 230S, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance,

The most numerous was the 170VS with a 60hp 4 cylinder motor fitted to a modified W136 tubular cross braced frame of which 30 examples were built between 1938 and 1939.

Mercedes Benz W153 230S, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance,

The 230S was powered by a 58hp six cylinder motor which offered more torque than the 170VS that was fitted to a pressed-steel ladder-structure W153 frame of which 19 examples were built in the same time frame as the 170VS.

Mercedes Benz W153 230S, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance,

The Gelände Sportwagen programme concluded in 1939 with the 230SV which was an improved version of the 230S but with a short stroke engine that still only produced 58hp, but was more reliable than the 1938 model.

Mercedes Benz W153 230S, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance,

The spartan light weight bodies were of elektron with aluminium wings / fenders, the boot / trunk of these cars carried the fuel tank, a spare front tyre with normal tread pattern and rear knobbly treaded tyre plus a selection of spares and tools that might be required on route by competitors who were required to carry out any repairs without any outside assistance.

Mercedes Benz W153 230S, Dana Point Concours d'Elegance,

The frame on today’s featured W153 230S, was found after a two year search by the Mercedes Benz Classic Centre in 2002 and restored with many new fabricated parts in time for Mercedes Benz 125th anniversary in 2011.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton who took these photographs at Dana Point Concours d’Elegance in 2014.

Thanks for joining me on this “Gelände Sportwagen” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at another French Concept car. Don’t forget to come back now !

Blue Merc – Mercedes Benz 36/220

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According to this linked German report Malcom Campbell decided to buy a Mercedes Benz 36/220, otherwise known as a 710 SS after his own Bugatti T43 caught fire leaving Rudolf Carraciola to win the 1929 Tourist Trophy aboard a 36/220 entered by EJ Knight.