This 1958 Mercedes-Benz 180D is a recent barn find discovery that spent the last 30 years languishing somewhere in Texas. It made its way to Texas where it’s now listed for sale as a project with much of its paint burnt off and a registration sticker indicating it hasn’t run since 1981. The seller is asking a heady $6K for this diesel-powered Ponton listed here on craigslist. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Roger for the find.
The 180D is not exactly a desirable vintage Mercedes, despite its old age. While Mercedes a few years older tend to command strong prices, this is not one of those cars. The Pontons always strike me as the runt of the litter, when in fact production figures were quite impressive and it is considered to be the first iteration of Mercedes’ E-Class. The front and rear bumpers look savable, as do the lighting fixtures.
While the exterior is quite rough, the interior is slightly better. The driver’s seat surface has given way to rodents, sun damage, or something else entirely, but it’s not as bad as you’d expect for a car that’s spent some time baking under the Texas sun. With the diesel mill up front, it is likely incredibly slow, but it thankfully has the manual transmission. By the way, if you’re looking for some W108 project cars, check out this Barn Finds Exclusive listed here.
It would appear Mercedes built over 100,000 190Ds, making it anything but a rare specimen. Still, this one is all there in terms of completeness, and it would seem a shame to part it out or abandon it any longer than it already has. I do think the seller’s price needs adjustment in order for it to find a new home soon, however. Would you restore this Ponton back to new or find a modern powerplant to swap in place of the diesel?
Sure don’t see many of these compared to a 190D. The 190 wouldn’t pull a limp ‘noodle’ out of a pail of lard so I’m sure that this would fall short of that. Likely a pneumatic governor, similar to the MBs through the 220D. Lots of fun to drive in a crosswind. Get downwind from a semi and you’d get a cloud of smoke from the tailpipe and the car would speed up, then act like you’re slamming on the brakes when you got back into the wind.
I used to date a girl whose father had a 220D. He was somewhat uppity (because he had an MB I guess) and talked about it as if Rolls Royce was copying MB. He ran out of diesel fuel on the freeway and was frantic. It was a Friday night and the dealer was closed. I just said: ‘Hell, let’s go get it home.’ ‘What can you do?’ he asked incredulously. ‘Watch me,’ I said. I had the farm truck with the slip tank in the bed. We drove out to the car (about five miles away). I gave him about 5 gal. of good farm diesel fuel then bled the system. All the time my GF’s dad acted like I was wasting his time. I told him to try it and it lit right up, a little rough at first but it smoothed out and he headed back to town. It took him forever to wrap his head around the fact that a small town hick, who worked on tractors and farm trucks for a living knew how to get a diesel MB running….
Hi Geomechs I have to ask if this is such a limp noodle for power what would you do with it. I’m not the kind of guy that has a vehicle that is just going to sit around unless of course its undergoing a restoration. I have my thoughts as to what I’d do with this very cool old MB but I would like to know what you’d do to wake this thing up. I remember having a match box car like this when I was a kid and it was one of my favourites because it’s so different then American cars.
Hi Mark. Let’s just say that if you want to pass someone, make sure you’ve got lots of room. Myself, I’m somewhat partial to diesel-powered vehicles, especially those that aren’t as common as a cellphone in a teenager’s pocket. If I had the resources, I’d be tempted to take on a project like this. It’s going to rattle and clatter, and belch the odd cloud of black smoke. It’s going to be slow to start when stone cold but it will start as long as the glow plugs work and your batteries/starter are in good shape. When you change oil, it’s BLACK, and so are your hands. So is your cellphone and the pocket you carried it in. I’m elbow deep in diesel engines every day so that doesn’t bother me one bit; diesels ‘ANNOINTETH MY CLOTHING WITH OIL.’ I might add that lots of these–well maintained–have reached 500K miles.
Ok here’s my take on it, I’d want it to stay a diesel but not this diesel. I’m thinking more like an Isuzu or Nissan with trans and rear axle. Restore the body and Id fix up the interior and have the best oddball car going. At cars and coffee it would draw a crowd just because it so differant. The MB engine Dave could have for a boat anchor. It would have more power wouldn’t smoke as bad and would be a lot more fun to own.
Installing a modern diesel might help the performance a bit. However, installing, say, a Nissan SD22, wouldn’t give you much in improvements. You’d still be running a pneumatic governer (although the SD22 has an additional mechanical setup for runaway control). You’d still be running glow plugs. The injectors are almost identical in construction. The oil is going to get just as black and the SD22 has got an advance mechanism that tends to freeze up, making the engine a real mosquito-killer when it’s cold. The Isuzu equivilant tends to crack cylinder heads. I would say if you are going to modernize it, get an engine out of a VW Rabbit. You’d still have to deal with glow plugs and precombustion chambers; you’d exchange the timing chain for a belt, but you’d have a VE injection pump that has automatic excess fuel for starting, and a reliable advance mechanism. And you still be in the proper country of origin.
My dad had one ( 1959 180D) in Quebec City. To start in -30 weather it had 3 block heaters and he was advised to dilute the diesel with 25% gasoline. Eventually the wire to the block heaters overheated and the car burnt. The engine was sold to a fisherman who put it in his boat.
Compared with a 58 36 HP VW……..these are a hot rod. Both gas and diesel versions shared many engine parts meaning the gas engines were tough. For many years a Wyoming rancher with his Diesel 180 held the mileage record. The “Ponton’s” are getting more respect these days, the coupe’s and Cabriolet’s have always been coveted……..but 6K is a lot for this old warrior.
For those who know these cars, this is a parts car at best. Not worth the cost of a restoration, and even as a parts source, there’s not much here in demand. Maybe 50 years ago when diesel fuel was much lower than gasoline, the hassle of dealing with an old squeeze-banger like this made some sort of sense, but not anymore when you’re paying quite a bit more for fuel. Hang the grill on the wall, maybe you’ll find a buyer for the transmission (assuming it’s not shot to heck), but the engine isn’t worth the cost of a valve job and it will need much more than that to run reliably again. Nobody’s really restoring these cars, so the potential as a parts car is limited, the body is pretty shot on this example – if you insist on driving it, put some sort of late model Japanese drivetrain in it. With the original engine, you pull a starter knob out until you start heating the glow plugs, watching through the “salt shaker” to see when they’re properly cooked, then pull further to engage the starter. If the very slow acceleration doesn’t piss off the motorist behind you, the smoke and smell will! Then you’ve got to change the oil every 2,000 miles, it turns pitch black almost instantly and will seemingly permanently stain everything, including your finger nails. The oil filter has to come apart, with a replaceable canister but also an irreplaceable pre-filter you’ve got to clean in solvent, dry and then reassemble with a big o-ring for the housing that never wants to go in right again . . . . when you fill the tank, the diesel smells terrible and will stick with you all day if you get any on your hands or clothing . . . yeah, there’s a reason no one who’s owned one of these old oil burners never wants another . . .
6 grand for a parts car.
That is if the two guys still driving one need any parts.
Dream along in a Texas two step 🤣
I liked my ’59 180A (gas version) a lot better than the 300D I owned much later. Bought it for $95.00 in 1971. After “saddle soaping” the red leather and removing spots of pine tar from the paint, then buffing, I had a survivor in excellent shape- except for an engine knock. My dad tore the engine down twice, did a complete rebuild, and later discovered the knock was interference between a rocker arm and another part in the OHC valvetrain. Have home movies of myself at age 14 shifting through all 4 gears on the column while still in the 200 foot road frontage of my front yard .
While not worth much, looks like a solid project, of course you will have more in it than it is worth at least right now doesn’t appear to have major rust thru issues, this would be a great addition to any Mercedes collectors garage
I bought a running/driving 190D for $1800 a few years ago. It was fun to drive. I then sold it on ebay for about $3000 to a guy in Germany. Had it been a gas engine I would have kept it.
Greetings All,
I’ve owned a 220 since the 80’s.
It wasn’t until more recently that I found out the sixes and fours are different regarding their body lengths.
These usually have rust issues but panels aren’t prohibitively priced.
Stay away from the Hydrak transmission. I’ll take the manual thank you.
If the engine us a boat anchor, the Nissan option looks good to me.
Why the rear end change though?
My 220 is the long wheelbase, they made the 219 that was a shorter wheelbase with a 6 cyl gas. That one was frequently raced in rally’s and that type thing. Then the Diesels like this were the shortest. My daughter was someplace in Africa in the last couple of years where these were still being used as taxies.
Thank you Geomechs and Del for the Texas Two Step. The cars were built like small tanks, would run 500,000 miles or better as someone said, the Swiss used them for taxis to get up and down the Alps and they were SLOW. I’m not sure this is a driver for me; I live on the Left Coast where normal is 80mph nose to tail on the Freeways but it’s interesting for a collection. And the price is unrealistic.
Here’s my long dragged out story concerning one of these. In 1981 I was living in Tianjin, China. The only other American living there worked for Nike. As was typical at the time, a government watcher picked him up every day and dropped him off every night. The car being used was around a 1957 M-B 300. In 1982 when Nike closed their office he was sent off to somewhere else. Before he left he tried to buy that car. The Chinese couldn’t sell it but offered him a deal if he would supply them with a new replacement car. He bought a brand new Cedric and the deal was done. Then I started complaining to my “watcher” that I wasn’t leaving and why couldn’t I get a nice car like that one. I was being picked up and dropped off every day in an Opel Rekord. So maybe a year later, I was in a meeting with a factory and my largest customer when a couple of guys burst into the meeting and said they found me an old M-B. Having been around the block with useless car chases with these guys I asked them to draw me a sketch of what they found. That sketch looked ike a 540K. Even my customer was excited and we all left on a search for the car. When we got to the place where it had just been all that was left was a bare spot on the ground where a car had been parked. A neighbor said they had just towed it out of there not a hour ago.This town, Datong, wasn’t very big and there were very few cars, so we started combing the streets looking for a car and a tow vehicle. In short time, we found it. It was a 190D, 1959 I think. It looked like it had been used to house chicken, the original engine was long gone replaced by a Chinese “Shanghai” 4 cylinder. I stayed in China for nother 35 years but I never did get my old M-B.
While these are lovely old cars they are eye watering when it comes to restoration costs. This car has no upside financially with a restoration. You might do it just because you love these cars, but never, to make a profit. As a trusted mechanic said to me once as I was considering a car purchase, “Go find another one”. Good advise then and now.
I have a 56 180D in a lot better condition according to the pictures posted.
I had it on ebay 2 years ago hardly got any takers at 600.00 I decided to hang on to it till it was worth more LOL. Maybe it just happened. LOL Its not for sale.
I love old Mercedes diesels; have two of them now, but this one will continue to sit with the seller’s totally unrealistic price of $6,000. That’s what they’re worth when restored or at least up and running and presentable, neither of which this one is. I’ve never paid more than $3,000 for a running, driving, currently licensed one. They are easy to work on, having no electronics, no distributor, no carburetor.
Out of all the cars my dad brought (towed) home – he brought home the gas version…and some how I think we did get it running…for a while….pic around some where….?
et al,
While stationed in Germany in the 50’s, we had these MB as patrol cars…purchased by the US Government…really…It’s worth about $500.00….The German’s used them for Taxi’s. Every time I hear a MB diesel…I close my eyes and see a German taxi…I guess if you want to live some sort of a dream…??? I suppose..