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.