Instrument panel, floor, parcel shelf, window frame (67, 68, 69)

Interior of a Mercedes-Benz type 219, © Daimler AG
This is how my interior looked like originally in my 219.

Partition wall

This didn’t include so many steps, clean up, remove old paint, prime and a couple of layers with semi-gloss black paint. The last step however was a bit more difficult due to two reasons.

The first issue was to find out what material should cover the partition wall. Some years ago I ordered what the spare parts list calls “Antisquek Moltopren” with article number 000 983 01 98 (number changed to 000 983 35 98) from Mercedes-Benz. I got a huge blanket of black-gray foam plastics. To me it looked fragile and not what I had seen on pictures of other cars, including original cars. It however turned out, when I asked the owners, that the sound dampening had been replaced due to that the old dampening had crumbled turned to “ashes” - as on my car where it was replaced decades ago by my father. Asking around it actually turned out that the material I had gotten from Mercedes was very close to the original material.

The second issue was to glue it nicely and without folds onto the partition wall pieces. I had to redo it so many times so that I used up the whole blanket I got from Mercedes. I had thought that the material would last for another 2-3 walls….

Another issue, not only for the partition wall, was to figure out what the holes were supposed to be used to. My father had installed a windscreen washer system (see article "Windscreen wipers and washer") and for that was two holes for the bottle mount drilled in the right partition wall and passage for the water tube through the ATE T50 partition wall. Also, the car had been fitted with a radiator blind (see article "Radiator") and a pipe for its wire was going through the same wall. But which hole, and what were the other holes for?

Note the bakelite towards the fuse box as well as the rubber profiles at the rear of the ATE T50 partition wall and side of fuse box bracket! Do also note the original “Kamax” bolt for the blinker and head light relays’ fixture :-)! Very important....

This started a research that took a long time and a lot of messages on forums and to other Ponton knowledgeable people (especially mr Kuster from US and Herr Schaefer from Germany are here to be thanked). I also spent many hours with a wrinkled forehead, leaning over the engine compartment, photos, the workshop manual, the rusty old piece that had been cut out from the front/battery wall (see the "Welding"article, just above the “Sliding roof” part) and the old sound dampening that sits on both sides of that wall.

Templates for drilling holes in front wall, sound dampening and partition wall

This picture is not only applicable to the holes in my partition wall but how and were to draw all the wires, cables and pipes and also where to drill the holes for mounting the new front wall sound dampening (see a coming assembly article about that, stay tuned!). I had to get the whole picture of this before I could start the work. But be careful if you use it, the positions of my none-home-made holes don’t necessarily have to be in the same place as where yours should be. My battery floor is strange (see article "Battery") and so may the wall be. Changes due to Mercedes’ Ponton model maintenance over the years of production, different Ponton type and equipment etc are all reasons that the holes could be in a totally different place, if at all, on your Ponton.

Drawing of holes in sound dampening, front wall and partition wall

Sound dampening

Everything was bought new from "CB´s Autoteile". As can be seen in the galleries the form is perfect. The structure and color of the new sound dampening is not always true to the originals. I decided to live with that. Regarding the form, as mentioned in many other articles, there are numerous differences between Ponton cars over the years, partly due to the different types (W105, W120, W121 etc) but also due to the model maintenance Mercedes did. Due to this I had to send Herr Baumgartner some of my old sound dampening parts as templates so that he could make new variants of his articles. Otherwise they wouldn’t fit my car. One example is the small card board that sits under the combi-instrument, the third picture in the gallery below (the first variant I got is not shown in that picture though, only “my”, new variant).

Sound dampening on interior side of front wall

In other cases, where the difference was not big enough to defend a new variant, I adjusted the parts I have gotten from him. One such a “small” adjustment was to adapt his sound dampening behind the battery (see also the "Battery" article). My originals can be seen in the last two pictures in the gallery below. Those cut-outs in the sound dampening were for sure not made by my father but at the factory. The first three pictures in the gallery shows the sound dampening that sits on both sides of the combi-instrument, directly under the windscreen.

Sound dampening on engine side of front wall

The tedious work to adjust and assemble the new sound dampening with all the holes for cables, mounting screws etc will be described in the upcoming Assembly-section. Stay tuned!

Instrument panel

In the article How to dismantle a Ponton you can see how it looked at the beginning of this project. In the article Welding the work that was done in the area and finally Putting it all together for how I painted it. Why the glove box compartment, and the area behind the type designation cover, is black I don't know. It really doesn't make sense since the front wall of the glove box is covered by sound insulation card board and its floor with vinyl. Then the instrument panel was covered in the red (1079) vinyl.

All bakelite parts of the instrument panel were cleaned with soap and water and thereafter polished with Greygate's "Paste Polishing No 5" and protected with a couple of layers of bee wax (letting the layer “harden” before applying the next layer), all according to some bakelite phone restoration sites. Screws were cleaned up and re-plated in the correct "color", if found necessary.

This is one of several ways to make the bakelite shine again. Personally, I don’t believe in sanding etc and a final layer of lacquer. According to my belief that is a too harsh treatment of the bakelite and its surface. The lacquer will sooner or later start to chip, and then you have a problem. But that’s me and my belief. With a gentle bee wax you can always easily re-touch areas that are getting matt or likewise.

Note the rubber between the instrument panel and the adjustment knob for the ignition. You can read a little bit more about that under "Electrical equipment, engine" (although it should be under the "Pedals" article).

One of the ears of the button fixing plate was broken. Gluing bakelite is not easy. I tried with my standard 2k Araldit but it didn’t hold even when I used an extra-large washer to distribute the pressure from the screw. J-B Weld’s 2k “PlasticWeld”, a recommendation found on a bakelite phone restoration site, made it. The type designation plate will not be used since I'll install a radio with its own, special bakelite frame. 

Unfortunately, I don’t have detailed pictures of the final result. That can be seen in the assembly pictures including the larger picture under “Rubber mats” below.

Windows frame

The bakelite parts of the window frames were restored as the instrument panel (see above). What can be interesting to see in the gallery below are two things:

• How the frame obviously was adjustemt during the assembly at the factory
• The small felt strips that were used

The rest will be covered later, so have patience and stay tuned!

Floor panels

The older floor panels were slightly destroyed, bent, by moisture. I probably could have re-used without too much problems but decided to make new ones out of marine plywood, 12mm if I remember correctly. In the two first galleries below, driver’s and passenger’s side respectively, I show the pictures with my notes for the production.

As you can see there is different type of felt around the corners as well as on the underside, against the chassis parts that the floor panels are resting on.

With the new panels sawed according to the pattern of the old ones they were primed and then painted with marine, semi-gloss black paint. The thinner felt is not a problem to find, but the thicker waffle felt, used in other parts of the interior, is first of all very expensive, Mercedes have it (article number A 000 983 22 92) due to the need for 300SL restorations I assume, and secondly is said not to look like the original (feel free to correct me here!), it’s gray and doesn’t have such a clear “waffle pattern”. Since this isn’t visible, I instead went for Dynamat’s 1/2” Dynaliner. It’s resistible to water, salt, oil etc so it was an easy choice. The Dynaliner is self-adhesive but I chose to be on the safe side and glued them with Casco’s „S9 „Super Glue“.

Note that the small raising (?) on the right side, underside, of the driver’s panel is a small piece of wood, covered with thin felt.

Finally, you have a gallery of the making of the passenger’s side floor panel. And no, there are no floor panels under the rear seats floor, only sound insulation.

Rubber mats

The mats are in the more "simple" Pontons made of rubber. In the more expensive Pontons you'll also find tufting/bouclé carpet in a color adapted to the rest of the interior. If "expensive" in this matter includes the 220 sedan models or only the Ponton cabriolets and coupes I don't know.

 The rubber mats you don’t really restore. You buy new. In my case the new ones were bought from my purveyor, Werner Karasch. Many years ago, I bought the rubber mats for the entrance sills from another company. I was not impressed by those. The mats I bought from Karasch had an extraordinary quality, fit and feel. As you can see in the gallery below, there are however several details that don’t fit my original rubber mats.

One thing is the color. Obviously, the original mats are matching the interior color, in my case gray-green. The new mats are grey, but I can understand that. Making new rubber mats in all the different colors that were available are probably not efficient...

The new rubber mats in place. Note the hole in the rubber along the propeller shaft tunnel, it's for the safety belts! And sorry for the rubber at the rear of the driver’s and passenger’s mats sticking up. Will be handled :-)

The other things are small details and the form. I doubt this is a problem with the rubber mats per se, but probably caused by that you make one, general type of rubber mats in order to have an efficient production. During the time the Ponton was produced, there were several details changed in regard to the interior and hence the rubber mats. For me it meant a lot of work during the assembly of the interior (not documented yet, stay tuned!), but those adjustments are more or less invisible in the final result as you can see in the large picture above.

Covering, front walls

The coverings of the front wall, left and right, were replaced with new from CBS-Autoteile. Maybe it was a pity since the originals were only dirty and probably would have looked new with a new layer of paint. The structure of the new ones are not as the originals'. The result can be seen in the assembly section of the site.

The original front wall coverings

Parcel shelf

A bit unsure if this is the correct English term for this part, but anyway.... The old one looked awful. So I had CB's Autoteile make a new one for me. He made it in fiber glass exactly according the original look and feel incl holes in correct place as well as providing me with new fasteners. Many thanks!