Mercedes-Benz Pontons

1955 Type W180 220a sedan
1960 Type W128 220SE coupé
owner: Moosa E. Moosa / moosamoosa@earthlink.net

My interest in cars

I was born and grew up in South Africa where I had an interest in cars for as long as I know.  My parents had a Borgward for a long time and I learned to drive in it.  Then my parents purchased a 1968 Mercedes-Benz Type W115 220 sedan.  It was a great family car and we enjoyed it very much.  There were lots of Mercedes-Benz vehicles in South Africa and they were assembled there with some local components.  It was a hardy car for the tough local conditions.  From an early age, I had a liking for the older models.  There were quite a few Ponton and Finnies in South Africa.  They were quite cheap on the used market.  My college car in South Africa was a 1967 VW bug.  In 1985, I came to the US on a Harvard fellowship and kept my eyes open for an older Mercedes-Benz, but other priorities had to come first.  I have owned a number of Mercedes-Benz, but the Pontons are still my favorites.

1955 Mercedes-Benz Type W180 220a Ponton sedan

I own a 1955 (manufactured in September, 1954) Type W180 220a Ponton round body sedan. It has a black exterior with a dark green leather interior. It was ordered by Hoffman in New York and shipped from Hamburg in September, 1954.  I am the third owner.  The original owner used the car in New York, Puerto Rico and then in Andover, Massachusetts as the family relocated.  The previous owner knew about the car for many years and always had his eyes on it.  He bought it from the estate when it became available and the widow sold him the car because she knew that he would take good care of it.  The car has been well maintained over its life.  I first saw the Ponton at an MB dealership when shopping for a new car.  It was on consignment and to cut the long story short, a few days after I saw it, the MB dealership went out of business and I was able to buy it directly from the owner at a much lower price. 

The car is pretty much original and in excellent mechanical and cosmetic condition.  All the numbers match the original build sheet from DBAG.  The previous owner had not done a good job with the paint but it is very acceptable.  It has very good quality chrome except the left portion of the rear bumper. 

I have taken care of the following during the over almost 10 years that I have owned it.

• New tires
• New batteries
• New brake cylinders, linings, cables and hoses
• New stainless steel exhaust system
• New hoses
• New flexible coupling in drive and steering shafts
• New rubber floor mats for the front floor
• New rear lenses
• Reconditioned the radiator
• Reconditioned the speedometer/odometer
• Reconditioned the clock
• Rebuilt the carburetors
• Replaced the clutch linkage
• Repaired the Becker Mexico radio

My objective has been to keep the car as original as possible.  Safety and reliability are not compromised.  It gets only the OEM parts or if I can find a good used part then it is okay.  No short cuts are taken. 

I am a decent shade tree mechanic with a good knowledge of this car.  I perform the minor repairs, adjustments, etc. but any major work is done by mechanics that I feel very comfortable with.  It has not had much during my ownership except the initial spurt to get everything right.  I do have a good knowledge to source parts so it helps and I do have a pile of used parts accumulated over the years.  Recently we have been able to acquire a lot of used parts for the "just in case day." I hope never to use them.

I have all the original owner's and workshop manuals, tool kit, jack, wheel wrench, catalog B parts list (detailed) and the repair CD-ROM.

The car is not a show car or a garage queen.  It is a solid driver.  I drive it as much as possible from March to November.  During the remainder of the year, it is not driven because of the salt conditions.  I have a hidden CD player for music on trips.  I have only taken it to a show once and it won a trophy for the best driver at the MBCA event in Boston.

The car has served me very well.  I enjoy driving it very much and it gives me a great sense of freedom.  I have driven the car 200 miles nonstop and it was just fine.  My previous job was 56 miles each way against traffic and I enjoyed taking the car to work as often as I could.

1960 Mercedes-Benz Type W128 220SE Ponton coupé

In 2003, my wife and I were on the look-out for another classic motoring challenge.  Since I am a financial type, it did not take me too long to figure out that the Ponton coupés were a very good value for money and we also happened to like them a lot.

Also at the same time a number of coupés came on the market and we had a chance to look at them.  We have traveled as far as California (we are from Massachusetts) to check out prospective vehicles.

Then in October 2003, along comes a coupé advertised in Hemming's Motor News and located in Pennsylvania.  A quick call indicated that the car was a California car bought by the advertiser as part of a collection, but he had no desire for this car and owned it for a few months and had not driven it.  He was more interested in the other cars he had bought in the collection.

We drove down to Pennsylvania and checked out the rare 220SE fuel-injected Ponton coupé. It was solid with no rust and had a few parts that need to be re-assembled.  Everything else checked out very well.  We low-balled the price and the owner delivered the car in an enclosed trailer the next day.  I guess we got lucky.

We researched the car.  It was manufactured in October, 1959 and originally ordered by the Brazilian government in Brazil for delivery in December, 1960 to the US as a US spec. car for use by the consulate in Los Angeles.  Its original color was DB190 Graphite Grey, with a red interior.  Just the combination for a diplomatic mission.

The car was purchased after a few years by women from La Jolla, California.  She owned it for close to 20 years.  At which time, it was purchased by a serious Mercedes-Benz collector in La Jolla, California and was kept in an aircraft hangar since he was also a pilot.  This owner changed the color to Mercedes-Benz DB50 (White), refurbished the engine, and restored the interior and the wood.  He also changed the car from a Hydrak automatic clutch to a standard transmission.  Some of the chrome has been redone.  It is in very good condition but I would regard it as a good driver.  Just like the way I like it.

We checked with the original build sheet from DBAG.  All the numbers checked out.  We are in contact with the previous California owner and he has been very helpful in providing us details on the history and the maintenance.

The car has been very well maintained and the car has never had any collisions.  It was pretty much garage kept.  We will go through the car in the spring of 2004 to make sure everything is in order.  It looks like it needs a new brake booster to be on the road.  Otherwise everything seems to work very well.

Recently, through some coincidence we have been able to acquire the following parts for the coupé.  We have little need for them right now until we ensure we have total reliability of all the mechanical components:

• Set of interior wood
• Set of exterior chrome (excluding a bumper piece)
• Doors, hood and trunk
• Engine with fuel-injection system

This makes us feel comfortable as we enjoy the vehicle.

My neighbor has a 1959 220SE cabriolet that he has owned since 1961.  The car is also a good driver but he does not drive it very much.  I always needle him to have it restored.  He has no such desires.  We do share experiences.  Based on the identification numbers, his car is one number ahead of mine. So both of our cars were on the assembly line at the same time and reunited after almost 43 years. 

Other Cars

We also own a 2001 Porsche 996 Carrera cabriolet and a 1999 Mercedes-Benz W210 E430, and a 2003 Mercedes C240 4MATIC wagon ( great car), but we like the Pontons much better, they have a soul.