The Interior Plan

I was excited to show the 300GD to my daughters just as I arrived from Portland. As soon as they saw the car, they thought it was cool until I opened the door. I must admit, it looked pretty bad. The headliner was stained and sagging, the seats were stained and worn, the vinyl was falling off and the doors looked horrible. I had put the original flooring back in to reduce the road noise and it did not look good either. I had purchased the car knowing the interior had to be redone and after a quick oil change and complete check out at Muller’s Burbank Mercedes we started our interior plan.

Rear Headliner

A local upholstery expert told us about Veteran Company and said they had the largest selection and best prices in Southern California. My wife and I collected Apollo, our Yellow Lab, and drove to downtown LA to check it out. 

Veteran has a new location in a nice clean building about a block off of Skid Row in Downtown LA. Not the nicest neighborhood, but as we soon learned, it was worth the drive. They have everything IN STOCK!

If you have a Lab, you know they shed. My MGB and 280SL both have black interior and every time my dog gets in the car, it takes weeks to get the hair out. So when the salesperson asked what color, I pointed at the dog and said, "that color."

They pulled out books that had colors that Mercedes used in the mid 80's and I found the color we were looking for. Turns out it was very close to the color of the car. The color we chose for the interior was PA950 Palomino Biscuit in what is now called MBTex. I would use this vinyl for the interior, doors and rear seats. It looked almost exactly like what was in there, only newer. For the front seats we purchased leather called Biscuit Reno. It matched the PA950 exactly and would wear longer and breath better and not be sticky in the summer.

Headliner, Carpet, Leather and MBTex Vinyl

I decided to use vinyl rather than the original cloth on the headliner and selected an MB41TAN that Mercedes used during that period. It was a bit lighter in color and thinner than the MBTex but looked great. This was a hard decision for me because I know the foam backed cloth would absorb more sound and reduce noise but the vinyl looked great and would be easy to clean. As a bonus, it matched the sun visors. 

Here is where the purists will start getting angry with my choice. To reduce noise and provide better insulation from the cold, I decided to carpet the floor. I know, no self-respecting 4x4 would have carpet. My last jeep was a thick rubber-like vinyl and I could hose it out any time. But I'm getting a 4x4 to navigate the snow not to take to Moab and pull Jeeps out of ruts. So we went with the German Wilton wool carpet and stuck with the Palomino color. This proved to be the most expensive item. 

The guys even tossed in half a yard of black PA7500 MBTex to cover the center console. that way the console would match the dash and have a more finished look. Total bill was about $800 for everything.

Now I need to decide if I want to use the original seats of go with the Recaro racing seats. 

Portland to LA

After purchasing the car, I had a decision to make. It would eventually end up in Park City, but my family was in LA and I've found a great MB shop in Burbank. Plus getting interior work done would be easier in LA and believe it or not, less costly than Utah. So LA it is, should I drive it or pay to transport it. 

Other than the tires being old, it seems to be in good shape,lets drive from Portland to LA. It was not too late so I started out driving south out of Portland toward LA. The plan was to stop and spend the night. 

The car was VERY LOUD. The seller had loaded me with with all the interior trim and extra seats but there were no matts on the floor, knobby tires and a diesel. LOUD! When I stopped for the night, I put in some of the heavy floor padding in the passenger and driver floors and that seemed to help. 

The car was SLOW! While I could push it to 70 MPH the RMP went well over 4000 so the fastest I felt comfortable going was 65. It was raining anyway, so 65 worked for me!

Other than that, the Recaro seats were comfortable, the car drove straight and the suspension was tight but comfortable. One strange thing though, once the car warmed up, it was HOT inside. Even with the temp control all the way down, it would blow hot air. There was also a lot of heat coming through the firewall. 

If you have ever driven the Oregon coast you will know there are mountains to climb. The OM617 would kick down and while I could pass the 18-wheelers, everything else flew past me. The temp gauge would also creep up. 

Once I was sure everything was running OK, I put in some in ear isolation headphones, put on a California playlist, cracked the windows and completed the drive. 

Just outside LA I was able to fill up with my first tank of biodiesel. The 300GD basically ran the same. NICE!

Conclusions from my first road trip:

1. When redoing the interior, attention to sound and heat isolation will be a priority.
2. In LA - the rest of the floor mats are going in until I get the inside redone. 
3. Long road trips are not going to be a frequent occurrence with this car. 
4. Gotta get a new stereo!
5. What is with the heat?

Congratulations you have WON!

After a long search, I found a G-Wagon SWB on ebay, contacted the seller with some questions and found out the car had a OM617a Turbo in the car - COOL. I decided that the car was worth about $15,000 to me and won the auction for a bit over my budget at $17,000. My feeling the seller would not get top dollar for the car because it was so far from being original. that does not matter to me because I'm not looking to restore, collect or show the car. I just want a winter driver and the OM617a turbo would be well suited for local driving with better gas milage and better altitude performance than the 280GE M110 and as a bonus, I could run biodiesel. The 70 MPH top speed of the OM617 is not a problem for me because I'm not planning on doing much highway driving. 

I've purchased cars on ebay before with mixed results and have come up with simple a plan based on trial and error to minimize the risk after winning an auction.

1. Go see the car in person 

2. Ask for records

3. Check the car out - NO RUST

4. Be prepared to WALK

I purchased a one way ticket on Delta from SLC to Portland, took the train to the sellers home arriving before him and started checking out the car. I could always use SkyMiles to purchase a ticket back to SLC if the car was a mess. One thing was against me, it was raining that makes checking out a paint job almost impossible but as a bonus, it would make it easy to find interior leaks.

The body looked to be in very good shape, surprising because early G-Wagons are prone to rust. The passenger floor board had been replaced, the metal used was thick as the original but the workmanship was solid. The owner painted the entire floor of the car with some sort of textured truck bedliner. The exterior paint job looked to be very nice, trim and most interior had been removed for the paint job. Using a magnet I could tell there was no bondo body repairs. Of all the body parts, the hood was probably the one part I could see repair work and it was welded and sanded where the MB badge should be. The original color had been Gold, the new color was a MB Onix that covered the previous camo paint job - NICE! There were no dents. 

I was very careful checking the body because I've been burned before. Body work on old cars can be VERY EXPENSIVE. I've since developed a first name relationship with my local body shop when restoring my 280SL, and hence my new mantra: no tolerance for rust. 

OM618 Turbo

Checking under the car, I could tell there were leaks on the front and rear boots to the transfer case. There was absolutely no signs of rust under the car and under any of the wheel wells. The leaking boots were confirmed by maintenance records. The engine carpment was clean and the OM617 Turbo looked to be in good shape. The owner said it had 135,000 miles when installed and it was from a 300 California Diesel. Some seeping of coolant but no oil leaks could be seen. the engine was stone cold and had not been cleaned in some time. All good signs when purchasing a car because you want to test a cold start and see if there is a history of any leaks.

The car had a rebuilt automatic 4-speed transmission that was designed for the G. While all MB automatic transmissions from the 80's are very similar, the G trannys vent from the top to keep water from entering the transmission while traveling through deep water. It is also good is a concern because the OM617 equipped 300GD usually shopped with a 4 or 5 speed manual and the automatic for the 280GE had different gear ratios than the auto equipped with the 300GD.

The wiring under the hood looked like it was done by an amature. From this I could guess more electrical problems would be found over time. There was actually a relay just hanging out on the passenger side of the car that had not been mounted. What was that for? Turns out it was the starter relay! 

As expected the interior was a MESS because the owner told me over the phone that the interior needed to be redone. He was 100% correct. Old Recaro racing seats had been installed and they were dirty and had foam issues. The dash was in pretty good shape but the center console for the factory air had been removed leaving a gap between the floor console and the dash. The center console was cracked with holes and glue marks. The headliner, doors and the entire interior basically needed to be replaced or recovered. One of the door pockets was cracked. All the floor mats and door sills had been removed exposing the floor. I could see water leaking into the interior in the front that probably caused the floor rusting out and some leaking near the rear windows. 

Spare Recaro Seats

The owner left the keys, so I turned on the ignition, the glow plug heater light, charging light and oil light all illuminated and the glow plug heater light turned off. I started the car and it cranked up and ran a little rough but after a minute or two than idled smoothly. All the lights worked, the combination switch (wiper, turn signal, high beam and washer) worked but was very loose. The aftermarket radio worked but the installation job was very poor and from what little I could hear over the loud engine, sounded like CRAP. The heater blower worked at all speeds. The glove compartment would not stay shut. 

I was impressed that the glow plug light and the tachometer were replaced to support the OM617a engine when the modification was done from the W110. I also liked the upgrades to the air filter. It appeared the exhaust was not upgraded to the larger size to support the turbo OM617, a reducer was placed before the old 280 M110 exhaust. My guess is the original 280 exhaust would prove to be too restrictive for the turbo to do it's thing. Note: OM617a Turbo should have a 3" pipe with one muffler. 

The owner had installed a dual battery solution to support the large Winch with a dash mounted disconnect switch and relay. Once again the wiring was a mess. One battery was from this year 2014 and the other three years old. Both were the yellow deep cycle Optima batteries - a good choice for the winch but otherwise not necessary for a car with so few accessories.  

The large off road tires had plenty of tread life but were over 10 years old. When purchasing old cars that are not driven much, make sure to check the date stamp, there is actually a code on the tire that will tell you how old they are. Ever found an old rubber band and when stretched it just breaks? The same thing happens to old tires. If the are over 10 years old REPLACE THEM, including the spare. 

The owner did have the original front seats, the rear bench seats, the floor mats, door sills, a very large winch, and excellent records from the previous owner and since he purchased the car. The original seats need to be reupholstered but otherwise in good shape. I'm guessing the chassis and body had about 150,000 miles on them probably about the same for the engine. 

A quick drive showed the car started in second gear (typical 4-speed auto transmissions) but kicked down quickly. Acceleration was pitiful (0-60 in 30 seconds) but when the car got to 2000 RPM the turbo kicked in and zoom! Pretty cool! The speedometer looked to be inaccurate and the odometer was not working at all. All things I could fix. 

My summary was the body, chassis and engine were in very good shape. The interior needed to be redone but I knew that going in. I would have to clean up the wiring and tweak some of the instrumentation. Here was my thinking:

• I could redo the interior myself, and have the seats reupholstered. Total cost about $3000.
• The wiring would need attention but once again, I could do that myself for less than $500 in parts.
• The front axle outer gaskets needed work on the front and back $1000.
• Some lights and trim were missing, probably less than $500.
• New Stereo $500 (I'm a magic man here)
• I could sell the winch and one set of front seats to offset some costs.
• New Tires 

I decided to go through with the purchase and drive it to LA where my daughter and wife were spending the summer to have my rock star MB mechanic give it the once over and start work on the interior. Besides, there is no place like SoCal to restore a car!

Why the G-Wagon

We have a couple of older convertibles, a 1967 MBG for me and a 1984 280SL that ex-wife abandoned. I have no trouble driving either of these cars just about anywhere, the thing is, I live in Park City. Yes, the ski town, 350 inches of snow a year. Driving a 1967 MG on a salted road is like putting a sugar cube in hot coffee. The body will just start dissolving from rust. This means I need a winter car.

Ruby and Beauty

When I was looking for the R107 280 SL, I kept running across this thing called a 280GE. It was this very cool jeep-looking 4x4 designed and sold by Mercedes-Benz. They still sell these beasts, but they cost over $100K. The older ones were coming up for anywhere from 7K-20K depending on the shape of the car. 

I also kept seeing the G-Wagon mentioned when doing research on the R107. They kept saying the W460 was the second longest manufacturing run of any MB model except the G-Wagon. The more I looked into the W460 G-Wagon, the more I liked the idea of using one for a winter "beater" car. 

I started looking for a manual 5-speed, short wheelbase, 280 (dual overhead cam 6 cyl M110 engine) because it is basically the same engine I already had in the 280SL. I have really come to appreciate the M110 as a high revving, powerful, great sounding, bulletproof, fuel injected straight 6. Turns out, that was no easy task. MB never sold the W460 in the states and the 280GE is almost impossible to find in anything other than an automatic 4-speed. I did find a 280GE that had an OM617A Turbo engine in it. That is intriguing, a 5 cylinder, turbocharged diesel - humm. The OM617A and non-turbo OM617 both have an almost cult following as a rugged diesel that has been retrofitted into everything from Jeeps to generators. My tractor has a diesel that I have been maintaining for 5 years, but it is loud. 

On the example I found, the exterior body had been repainted, but the interior was a mess. Also whoever did the electrical work, needed a serious course in how to run wires and connect wires. 

It appears that car was imported into Georgia as a 280GE, painted camo and used as a hunting car. It was rescued from the torment of a bad paint job by a 4x4 enthusiast in Oregon who did an excellent job updating the body, installed the OM617A turbo and used it part time to hit the trails in the Pacific Northwest. 

Over the next few months, I'll share the journey I'm taking with this most iconic 4x4, and show how I brought the interior to the point where I could use it as my primary winter transportation in the mountains of Park City, UT. Stay tuned - the journey begins.