These old fintail Mercedes are among my favorite body designs, but they’ve never been particularly desirable. The team at Classic Motorsports successfully rallied one for a few years, so they can be used as classics or for competition if you’re so inclined. This 1967 model here on craigslist is said to be a genuine one-owner car with only 16,000 miles on the clock; the question is whether it’s rolled over once before.
The interior certainly looks to be in great condition, but Mercedes’ always tend to wear well on the inside. That’s a compliment, but it’s also tough to determine if it truly is near-new or is just typical Mercedes durability. This car is a rare manual transmission example, which helps its case for being a touch more desirable. The cloth seats are a nice change of pace from the common vinyl surfaces.
The chrome trim certainly looks well-preserved, but there’s always a chance it was re-done. The subtle fins on the rear end are an unusual sight on a Mercedes, which was more known for being a rectangle carved out of granite than bearing anything resembling shapes or angles. Also known as a Heckflosse, this angular rear end design was a nod to American styling trends at the time that put fins on everything.
The W110 series Mercedes was a bread-and-butter saloon and as a cheap classic, it’s an appealing choice. The M121 engine will never be a rocketship, but in this application, you’re not exactly buying the car as a corner carver. I could see it being used for classic rallies and fair weather motoring with minimal headaches, however, and finding a one-owner version of anything this old is near impossible. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Peter R. for the find.
There seems to be a formula for shady CL ads, and this is exhibit A.
I think Jeff has been spending too much time in some alternate universe. The Heckflosse cars were the first brick like Mercedes. Has he ever seen a pontoon body that was the direct predissor of these cars? This looks like a nice car but it is the base of the base. It is a small body economy car like the cars still being used as taxis in remote parts of the world. The cars used to race were the S body cars, either a 220se or the great 300se. This was the last year for this body after a 7 or 8 year run. Even a Diesel engine was an upgrade from this one, though it is a great model.
Umm….grew up around Mercedes, owned a few. I like it but certainly know it’s not the most desirable. Of course, you could say that about most cars I like!
As I said in the previous thread you want to confirm mileage pull a cylinder head look for cross hatching on the cylinder wall. Engine wear won’t lie to you. As for this car I had a dinky toy version of this car when I was a kid and this is one of my favourite cars. That toy help plant the sickness known as the old car hobby. Cheers.
Why pull the head when all you need to do is scope it? And cross hatch does not always tell the story. Some cylinders are harder than others and wear at very different rates, Mercedes have very hard blocks as do many wet sleeve engines like Alfas. I have seen Fiat engines with excessive wear at 20,000 miles.
I agree with that Dave if you have access to a scope the point I was trying to make is engine wear will take the guess work out of determining if the mileage is true. If you’ve already bought it and are refurbishing gaskets and seals your going to get a way better look at the engine with the heads off. If you find lots of wear it will still need to come apart for a rebuild. Not all hobby guys will have access to a scope. Engine wear doesn’t lie and can’t be hidden. As for engines that wear in 20K poor choice of car in the first place.
Foot note on the big cast iron American engines checking wear would be be a good indication of the work ahead on the rest of the car, they all wear pretty consistently.
We pulled the head on my Toyota Tacoma with 332,000 miles and the honing hatch marks were still visible – I was quite amazed . . . but then the car ran good and never burned oil so I guess it was to be expected.
The Toyota story.!! How do they do it?
I had a 62 190-D that had > 300 K on it when I traded it for a newer Volvo wagon. The bodywork on the Merc, in my opinion, was a serious downgrade from the prev models and especially the fins. It Did have a nice big trunk, got 40 MPG and had impressive ride quality (until the front suspension froze up). I think this example would be a great car for somone who enjoys MB quality and spare parts availabilty – even if you add a hundred k to the odometer.
I restored my 220S over 20 years ago. (I was hoping my son would enjoy it when he was old enough to drive) It’s always been a pleasure to drive and has held up well so I think these old Mercedes make a great, reliable driver.
Beautiful car Dave you’ve done a great job restoring and preserving this old MB.
One of my favorite Mercedes was my old ’67 200. The four-banger gasoline engine was perfectly suitable and provided adequate acceleration, mileage and cruising speed. In terms of quality it was probably one of the best cars I’ve ever owned and I do believe it would out-corner most sports cars of the same time period. The trunk was big enough to live out of for a month or longer and even though it was a 15 year old used car at the time, everyone was impressed that I drove a Mercedes.
The car in question – even if the 16,000 miles claimed are real (and I doubt it) at nearly 50 years old, by now the lack of regular use would do as much or more damage than 100,000 or 200,000 or more miles of careful use!
I too had a ’67 200…same color…..sold it to a friend who took it out to Colorado in 1975., though it was a column shifter. I don’t believe those seats are original by any stretch of the imagination. I enjoyed the car immensely and while it is the base model (well except for the earlier 190) I would look at this if it was on the West Coast.
My Dad had a fintail MB.