Jalopnik
Even though Coloradans get the occasional dose of road salt, it appears that their dry climate does a pretty good job of preserving old street-driven iron. Golden-based Discontinuuity sent us a whole bunch of photos of interesting old vehicles parked in Coors City a while back, and now he's returned with some shots of a friend's daily-driven Benz Ponton. Make the jump for more photos and Discontinuuity's description.
Hello again from the home of Coors!
And now to the story of the Mercedes-Benz pictured below. This one belongs to a friend who has had it in his family for a long time. He had been driving a 1980s vintage diesel Benz which had a tendency to not start on cold days, so he traded it to his Dad for this one. Fancy that, a nearly 50 year old car that runs better than a 20 or 30 year old one! Well, by "runs better," I mean that it leaks gas out of the fuel pump, the 4-speed column shifter pops out of gear, and the non-power four-wheel drum brakes take some getting used to. Other than that, this is a perfectly functional, if a bit worn out daily driver that probably works better than half of the 15 year old college student cars leaking oil on other campus parking spots.
I got a chance to drive this thing last week, and it's quite a machine. Not fast, safe, economical, or comfortable by any modern standards, but man does it have buckets of character and style. See that chrome ring in the middle of the steering wheel? That's the turn signal switch. And that canvas section of the roof slides back on tracks to give you a sunroof. Just look at the interior too: simple, elegant, and functional.
Comments
The DOTS installments are causing me to seriously consider pressing the '69 Satellite back into daily driver status…….
Then I remember the hordes of retards asking me "if it's got a Heeeeeemi" at the gas station and the idea gets dropped.
I'm still not entirely sure what 'drinking the Kool-Ade' means despite having looked it up.
Cool Ponton though.
You could cover up every badge and emblem on that car, show it to someone who knew nothing about cars, had never driven a car, and lived on a small island off the coast of France, and they would be able to tell you the country of its origin. They might even mumble "Mercedes Benz", even though they had no idea why, and those two words had never before occurred to them to be juxtaposed.
Does anyone do engineering with this kind of elegant flair anymore?
@clinto: Every DOTS I see gets me closer and closer to thinking that a car older than I am is a good idea for my only car. I'm not sure if that's bad or not.
Wow, really tiny gauges. This is another German car that I'm sure has that distinctive 'Old World' aroma. Nice.
@amblito: "Colorado Kool-Ade" is Coors beer. Johnny Paycheck reference.
I'm amazed that it's somehow managed to hold onto the hood ornament after nearly 50 years. They usually get...ummm..."removed".
@amblito: In general, drinking the Kool-Ade means something akin to "going along with the crowd" (especially on a fringe or cultish idea).
Look up Jonestown or Jim Jones for a more literal example.
Webasto Sunroof. Your man has iron balls.
@Murilee Martin: It goes well with "Rocky Mountain Oysters"
Boy, maybe Davey G. has just seeped into my mind, but I can't stop making Mr. Jalopy connections all through this post.
@ash78: I didn't mean that kind of Kool-Ade.
Thanks, Murilee, for posting the pictures. This Benz definitely makes an impact. When my friend first brought it back from his parents, everyone wanted a ride in it. Four college students crammed into the back seat does interesting things with the rear camber angles, and tends to bog down the little old four-banger.
I might have some more photos for you soon. It seems that this [jalopnik.com] IH Scout has moved on to greener pastures (or the Crusher), but another red one has taken it's place just around the corner, along with an early-Malaise-era Subaru coupe, tape stripes and all. At last count, there were about five IH Scouts around Golden, and untold amounts of Subarus of every vintage and oxidation level.
Did the Gawker servers eat my comment again?
Well, guess not.
What did I miss? Where'd the Kool Ade reference come from?
Oh yeah, awesome car!
@Murilee Martin: Hehehe, I know...saw your explanation, but wasn't sure if our English friend was unfamiliar with the expression in general. Lord knows those silly Brits have more expressions than you can...umm....they have a lot of expressions.
@Maymar: Might depend somewhat on how old you are.. I know that I didn't start having dependabilty issues until I began driving vehicles younger than me- of course I didn't start having those issues until I had a car other than a Dodge Dart, either. Hmmm...
That's a grand old beauty.
I have a policy of consideration and respect to all old beauties like this--I'll stop to let them in front of me any time, I'll get out of their way, I will defer my yield to theirs. They have earned it.
I saw a beautiful, 1972 280 convertible in the Cherry Creek neighborhood of Denver yesterday. Alas, no camera on me. I have seen it around town a number of times but never parked. Mint, and sans mileage badges which suggests it has very low mileage as old Mercedes owners like to brag about their miles - mine has 196,777 at the moment and gets me through every day.
Thanks for these photos, they make me proud of my town. Silly, huh?
@ash78: Shake a stick at?
Cheers for the explanations.
@Murilee Martin:
@ash78:
I gotta say, not being a fan of Country and Western music, Jim Jones and the Jonestown mass suicide came to MY mind, and had me scratching my head in bewilderment. Thanks for the clarification, Murilee (Charles can be slow on the uptake...)
OH yeah, the elegance is oozing out of its faded paint and tattered "burberry" interior seat covers...I am really wondering why we cain't have this sort of "class" in a new car anymore. If the music scene is of any indication, it's not likely to recover, I suppose. Those old funk bands and blues guys had so much integrity and soul...just what we need for cars and music of today. Plastic is killing me.
My first car was a '62 190D. It was 1991, I was 15 she was 29 I learned alot that year. Especially to make sure that the the cap didn't fall off the glowplug indicator before yo put your finger on it. I had a scar for months.
Just the level of technology I'm used to. Never had anything newer than 1974, probably never will. There's nothing on this car that is mystifying, confusing, or uses technological black magic that the average wrench like me couldn't figure out. Love it. Nice car.
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