The first steps

The chassis has been cleaned down to the primer, or when necessary also down to the metal. Most of the rust was known but of course some "new" attacks were found. There has also been quit a lot of work cleaning up old repairs, done by my father and Mercedes-Benz in Stockholm. Some of the rust attacks have only been stopped by my father; that is, not repaired only covered with metal plates and/or puttied up.

These repairs were done during the late 60ies and during the 70ies and was done to get the car back in traffic as fast as possible. This was however not enough for my purposes and was re-made. Luckily he also filled the car with Tectyl of different shapes, which have effectively stopped more aggressive rust attacks. Due to that, the welding costs will not be as high as normal for a Ponton which has over 300.000km on partly salty roads behind it. 

Mercedes-Benz Ponton Rahmen-Bodenanlage, frame, 220a, © Daimler AG

Mercedes-Benz Ponton Rahmen-Bodenanlage, frame, 220a, © Daimler AG

Engine compartment

The first stop was the engine compartment. Here you can see that the fire wall needed repairs, as well as the left scoop for heating and ventilation. The radiator mounting is bent at this time but is now fixed. For a long time we thought that the front tube beneath it was OK. That was unfortunately wrong and was thoroughly repaired.

  • Here I have cleaned the engine compartment of my Ponton

Chassis

Next, I rolled the car over and cleaned the underside of the car. During this cleaning I found most of the unknown rust. 

  • While cleaning the underside of the 219 I found most of the unknown rust

Coupe

When the engine bay and underside of chassis were cleaned I spent ~1 week in the coupe. The floor was almost perfect. The most aggressive rust attacks had hit the fire wall including the glove box. I hope you'll never have to clean that part yourselves! The bare metal was then covered with a 2k primer.

  • Cleaned rear before priming
  • Most of the rust in the MB219 was found was around the firewall and glovebox
  • Here is the rear part of the coupe cleaned and primed
  • Picture of the rear interior of a Mercedes 219 primed
  • The front of the coupe is cleaned and primed, reaady for repairs
  • Frame of the Ponton cleaned and primed as well

Boot

This is how a totally cleaned and primed boot can look like. Beautiful isn't it? The spare wheel recess was in pretty good shape but some of the welding recess/boot floor was remade. The centerpiece was replaced due to rust and loose exhaust pipes!

  • The boot cleaned, primed and ready for some repairs

And then came the Welding...