I was reading the sunday paper and this car ad caught my attention. Having been a foreign car mechanic for years I thought it would be fun to restore a old Mercedes Benz, besides that my wife really liked this car. That is I got the OK to buy it.

When I bought this car the motor was out and apart it had a broken cam shaft and front cam tower, the dash was also apart and the headliner was gone. There was chrome missing from the outside, broken and missing lenses , smashed bumper guards and missing fog lite lenses, the hood star was gone as was the trunk star and the trunk emblem. The only sensible thing to do was find another car for parts, while looking through Junk Town USA " French Lake Auto" I found another 59 220s that was fairly complete, when I asked what they wanted for the motor they said 200. or 300. for the entire car, I bought the car. After I removed and disassembled the motor I was shocked to find that it had been rebuilt not more than a couple thousand miles ago, with new pistons, rod and main bearings valve job and timing chain. I cleaned it and reassembled it with new gaskets and seals. The parts car had the hydrak clutch and the car that I am restoring has a manual clutch, the alignment pins between the engine and the transmission were two different sizes so I had to have new ones made, at that time I was working at a company that makes heart valves and the machinist there made them for me on a machine that makes heart valves, pretty cool huh?! I test ran the motor on my garage floor. It ran grrrreat,

I then rebuilt all the wheel cylinders, the master cylinder, and the power brake cylinder. I also replaced all the brake lines. I then started on the body work, it had some surface rust and a rust hole inside the left front fender and in front of the fuel door. I stripped the paint off and sandblasted the rust spots, then welded in new metal where needed. I then decided to change the top of the car with the top from the parts car because it had the factory sun roof. I cut them both off in the same place and welded the sunroof top back on. That was the easy part, replacing the headliner and the sunroof top proved to be more work than changing the top. To be continued.

I'd like to thank Noel for his help obtaining parts.

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Proud Mercedes and Their Owners

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Mercedes Benz model identification

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My Mercedes

• '79 280Se sedan
• '59 220S sedan
• '59 220S coupe, next project
• '59 220S sedan donor car

  Past restorations of mine and others
  

• '48 Jeepster
• '65 Triumph Bonny
• My friend Craig's Indian

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The Kotrba Family!
Jack Kotrba (me)
My wife, Mary
My youngest son, John.
My oldest son, Peter.
My daughter, Emily.

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My Favorite Links

• John Green's Mercedes Spares
  
• Ray's ponton page
  
• story of a ponton
  
• mercedes-veterans page
  
• Geoffrey's Mercedes Page
  
• Eric's Mercedes Page
  
• Eric's Page
  
• Mercedes Benz Owners Home Page
  
• grill badges
  
• Emily's page!
  
• My wife's page!
  

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Email: kotrba@lkdllink.net

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