230 SL with Original Firewall Pad. Hmmm....

[Douglas]

I've never seen a 230 SL with an original factory pad on its firewall. I thought the early pads all started deteriorating after only a couple of years.

Perhaps the owner of this car changed his to a 280 SL-type 30 years ago when you could still get the original type:

http://www.motoringinvestments.com/C14_230SL.htm

Douglas Kim
New York, NY
280 SL #016220

[Jonny B]

Very interesting. There are a lot of other non-original things going, on and the pad survived?! Especially the black paint in the engine bay.

Jonny B
1967 250SL Auto

[69280sl]

How about the rear fender antenna mount? Was this ever correct?

inspectorgm

[Bob G]

Doug & group.
The fire wall material is correct aand orginal. I noticed the R107 shife know questionable and would like to comment on the rear mounted antenna. This is orginal as before Hollywood Mercedes-Benz on Hollywood blvd moved to their new location down the block. I remember a black 280SL in the show room with the antenna in the same place. I do not think it was an after though as it was on the invoice as a factory installed radion and electric antenna.
This looks to be a good starter pagoda owned by a club enthusiast . I would like to now more about the car and its history.
Bob Geco

[Mike Hughes]

And the mid-70's shift lever?

- Mike Hughes  -ô¿ô-
  1966 230SL Auto P/S
  Havanna Brown (408)
  Light Beige (181)
  Cream M-B Tex (121)

[hauser]

I've always heard the early pads were prone to deteriorating.  Difficult to find an early 113 with an original pad.

1969 280sl 5 spd
Gainesville, Fl.

[Tom]

Frank Mallory's 250 sl had a 230 firewall pad that failed eraly.  He replaced it years ago when the 280sl firewall material was still available from the dealer.  Could be the same set of facts.

1971 280sl Tunis Beige Metallic (restored & enhanced)
1971 280sl Tobacco Brown (low mileage stock)
1970 280sl Deep Red (Project Car)

[rwmastel]

quote:Originally posted by Douglas

I've never seen a 230 SL with an original factory pad on its firewall. I thought the early pads all started deteriorating after only a couple of years.

Doug,
Do you mean "never seen one" or "never seen one in good condition"?  You've seen mine, and I believe it to be original, but it's in terrible condition!

Rodd
Powell, Ohio, USA
1966 230SL, Euro, Auto, Leather, both  tops
1994 E420

[Douglas]

Yes, I meant I'd never seen a preserved one.

Douglas Kim
New York, NY
280 SL #016220

[hauser]

Is there any explanation as to why the original was never duplicated?  They went through the trouble of producing a pad using a substitute material.  Why not just go the extra mile and produce something closer to the original pad.

1969 280sl 5 spd
Gainesville, Fl.

[pagode.info]

I just went out of the office to take a look
on my 230, which has never been restored. The
pad on mine looks different.

I also took a look on a couple of my parts cars
still wearing the original pads.

What I found out is, that they must have been
using different materials (?)

Tom  

[n/a]

quote:Originally posted by krwaxbz

Doug & group.
The fire wall material is correct aand orginal. I noticed the R107 shife know questionable...

So the firewall pad is original yet the black engine-bay paint, the body-color bonnet (hood) spring, the engine breather pipe, the front floor mats and no doubt many other items we cannot see are not?

Methinks not...

Neil Rote, Melbourne Australia
Unrestored '64

[Kenneth Gear]

In the seller's defense, he doesn't seem to claim that the the fire wall pad is original.

Ken G
1971 280 SL
Silver/red

[Douglas]

If I had to guess, I'd say it's a 280 SL-type OEM pad that was put in years ago back when they were still available from the factory. I think the original 230 SL pad had a slightly different pattern in the rubber.

Douglas Kim
New York, NY
280 SL #016220

[erickmarciano]

he has a mustang 5.0 shifter

1971 280sl
1962 VW
1954 Allstate vespa
1958 gs150 vespa
1962 gs160 vespa

[TheEngineer]

Here is a picture of the pad on my car, a 1969 280SL built late January 1969 (S/N 113044-12-007537) It looks very much like that.

Download Attachment: MyEngine.JPG
45.62 KB

'69 280SL,Signal Red,007537,tired engineer, West-Seattle, WA

[pagode.info]

I also took a look on a couple of my parts cars
still wearing the original pads.

I took some pics of different old pads:

Download Attachment: Old pad on 230.jpg
68.34 KB

Download Attachment: Old pad on 250.jpg
63.51 KB

Download Attachment: Old pad on 280.jpg
64.26 KB

Tom

www.pagode.info