Pagoda SL Group
W113 Pagoda SL Group => W11x chassis cars => Topic started by: 280SE Guy on June 30, 2011, 21:03:32
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Thought you might like to see a W108 body get married to the engine, transmission, and rear axle at the Mercedes factory. I'm guessing the photo is from 1966 or 1967, anyone have any thoughts as to the year this might be?
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-SalZeOw1iOA/Tgzi1LpWpkI/AAAAAAAAA8k/0FJihbAKRXM/s800/Mercedes_Assembly_Line.jpg)
Regards,
280SE Guy
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Would the amber taillight make it a little newer than that, or was that for a different market? Do you know where the photo came from? Was it one of the advertising brochures, and advertisement??
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I didn't think about the amber taillights, it could be a different market. I was more focused on the tail fin models also going down the production line at the same time.
This is a digital copy (just got it today) of an approximately 25 inch by 36 inch photo reprint I got from Germany about 10 years ago. I had sent it out to a digital color scanning service in Colorado to be duplicated.
What was the last year for tail fin production? I used to own a 1967 230S tail fin model and own a 1971 280SE so its got to be somewhere in that date range.
Regards,
280SE Guy
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must be '66 there's a finback in front of it
if we could only hear what's playing on the radio.....
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It could be 1967 also. I think the finbacks were still in production.
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Where can I get a hard top hoist like that? ;) :D
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Lovely photo...
Interesting how they used the jacking points to lift the body.
The W108 looks like a fuel injected model, so possibly a 250SE or a 280SE.
W108 280SE's started production November 1967 and the W108 250SE started a couple of years earlier - September 1965.
However, production of the 250SE ended in January 1968 whilst the 280SE carried on until September 1972.
W111 230S was produced from July 1965 to January 1968.
My guess would be a date anywhere between late 1967 to early 1968.
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Thanks for all of the opinions on the year this photo was taken.
Naj asked me via a PM if I could furnish a high res copy of the photo. My response to him is below:
No it would be not out of order to ask for a copy of the image. I knew when I posted the picture on the SL113 site that someone would ask. I will probably bring some CD's with the image, actually 2 images, as I had it scanned as a TIFF and JPG image. The TIFF file size is just over 238 MB and the JPEG file is just over 28 MB. I will probably sell a CD for $10.00 to anyone who wants one. The printing would be up to the buyer to get whatever size they wanted.
So I just wanted to find out of those attending PUB who might be interested in a CD of the images so I can prepare for those that might want a copy.
Just reply to this post that you want one and I'll have a CD for you at PUB.
Regards,
280SE Guy
If this is against the W113 site policies please delete this message.
Thanks.
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Great photo!
I like the factory wood floors. Only see that in old factories. It also looks like they initially put the engine in at a slant. I often wondered how you could get the engine in with the intake on. The later intakes weren't as wide. I wonder if they did that so they wouldn't have to slant the engine during installation?
Bob, I would love a CD so I can blow it up and look at the mechanical details. They don't get much more factory than that!
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I would also like a CD. Always fun to learn about the other MB models.
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The Finny is a W110 ,note the square plastic tail lights and no chrome on the fins. It looks a lot like a 200 (190c or 190Dc) so it would 1968. W110 production ended in February 1968. Fitting the engine by tipping the whole front assembly on it's side solves one problem i was having.. ;)
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I agree a great photo. I'd like to have those floors in my garage or patio. Frankly, much to my wife's dismay, they would look great as paneling in my study! :) I wish I could see the front of the car. A colleague of my Dad had a 1972 280SE. It was a beautiful car.
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Not a front shot of the car in the photo but here is a shot of the front of mine:
(http://lh6.ggpht.com/_cytuKWu2FZA/SlMlJs8o0JI/AAAAAAAAASI/m2V_P0zkGmQ/frontweb.jpg)
Regards,
280SE Guy
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You have a beautiful car! I have always loved that grill, the curves of the hood and the vertically oriented headlights.
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looking at the picture,i was wondering if it is in fact at an assembly plant somewhere and not Stuttgart. The building is a bit old and small. Compare it with photos of the old Ponton lines ,which are in far bigger buildings.
All the W108 has amber lenses ( we have them here) the engine has Left hand drive exhausts and Non USA type number plate lights and number plate mount.
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I also wonder if this is another MB factory location. I was at Stuttgart in October 1963 picking up a new car.
The line had the bodies of many models on the floor moving along a track while different engines moved along a track near the ceiling. When a car arrived at the "engine in" point, the ceiling track curved down to gently drop the engine into the car. Of course, the car and the engine for that car arrived at exactly the same time.
This photo is kind of reversed with the engines along the floor, bodies above.
Either the line was dramatically changed a few years later, or this is different assembly plant.
Richard M, NYC
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Hi Richard,
there were only two assembly plants, Sindelfingen and Untertürkheim, but the latter was mostly used for component assemblies like rear axles, while in the former the cars were completed.
I believe the 280SE guy photo shows the Sindelfingen plant, here is another company photo of "Slash/8" (Strich/8) 114/115 cars together with some 280SL. What you remember may have been a particular section along the assembly process as shown in the second photo with "A noble slash/8 fresh from the assembly line: Mercedes 250 in the final assembly process at the Sindelfingen plant. The series 115/114 were built between 1968 and 1976".
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Tanks Alfred for the clarification. I've been out of the pocket for the last couple of days as JA17 is staying at my house for the International Ponton Group meeting in Malvern, PA. He is a presenter of many topics, a real savvy person as I'm sure your aware.
I took Anthracite there today for a few hours to show her off and she got a nice reception from the attendees.
I'll look at the print in the next couple of days as there are some words on the lower section of the poster that are cropped from the original photo that might indicate the location. I'm not sure what it might say as it is most likely in German. It did come with a 3 page German text describing what the state of production of automobiles was at the time. It was quit interesting as the writer described the process of auto production from start to finish.
Regards,
280SE Guy
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I've searched the internet for similar Mercedes factory images from the same time period (late 60's) and came up blank. I don't believe Richard is incorrect in his recollection of his factory tour in 1963 but I can't disregard the poster photo I have. It seems to me I recall one way to remove the engine is to drop the front subfame/engine/transmission as a unit which is the reverse of how the photo depicts the assembly at the plant.
Could this be a pre-production test area for the manufacturing processes? I am at a loss for any other ideas having squinted and tried to connect the dots for the last couple of hours.
The wording on the bottom white border of the poster reads:
Nr. 4180 Herstellung von Kraftahrzeugen, Aufnahme Hermann Weizsäcker. Offsetdruckerei & Co., Suttgart Der Neue Schulmann, Stuttgart
Is Singelfinden concidered a suburb of Stuttgart?
If someone is familiar with German is there any meaning in the text on the bottom of the poster as listed above?
For those that still might be interested I still have some of the C/D's of the scanned photo (in large formats, 238,555 KB as the largest TIFF file) still available along with a few pages of loose "Goggle translated" german text at $10.00 each plus $3.00 shipping (envelope and shipping to anyone in the US, overseas shipping would be more). Contact me via PM if you would like one. The size of the images should be able to be reproduced at you local large format color printer which would make a nice picture for your garage.
Regards,
280SE Guy
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Guy,
I have blown up the photo that I posted and at the end of the line one can see a car (and perhaps more behind) that looks like it is hanging on cables suspended in the air. Too bad that one cannot see what is below.
The title of your poster "Herstellung von Kraftfahrzeugen" loosely translated means "Car production process" and "Aufnahme Hermann Weizsäcker" means "Photographer H.W." and the rest is the name of the printer in Stuttgart.
Sindelfingen is an incorporated City within the Stuttgart metropolitan area , the current plant was started there in 1915 by the then Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft or DMG (Daimler Motors Company).
The Untertürkheim plant was built by DMG in 1903 and the town became part of the City of Stuttgart in 1915. The Daimler corporate headquarter is there and for the 100 year anniversary of the plant Daimler-Chrysler published a nice book detailing its history and the growth of the Daimler-Benz Company during the early years. The plant was heavily bombed but in 1946 it was used already to repair cars for the Military Government as the other picture shows. Looking at the "Lone star" I wonder whether the US government outsourced the running of the military government to the Texans! ;) ;D
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Any chance the origonal photo was taken in South Africa?
Can anyone tell if that pile of exhaust pipes are for RHD models?
Treedoc
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I've searched the internet for similar Mercedes factory images from the same time period (late 60's) and came up blank../...
Then you may enjoy coming along for "a day in the factory" in this period film sequence:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTJaTpvnv4c&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTJaTpvnv4c&feature=related)
/Hans in Sweden
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Any chance the origonal photo was taken in South Africa?
Can anyone tell if that pile of exhaust pipes are for RHD models?
Treedoc
There is something written under the "F" in the middle right o the picture. I someone can increase size and deinition, the language used there may give us a clue.
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Good point. I took the original and used my loupe to see if I could read it but it is not really in focus. If anyone can squint really good to see what it might read let us know.
Regards,
280SE Guy
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Looks like "Löschdecke" to me, which would mean fire blanket ???
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nikopu,
I believe you are spot on with "Löschdecke", including the translation. So most likely it is a plant in a German speaking country.
In the photo that I posted showing the Sindelfingen plant one can see a similar sign pointing to the location of the "fire blanket" the "Large Fire Extinguisher".
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So the picture would have been taken in Germany then, unless MB also had production units in Austria and/or in Switzerland?