[dafischer]

It's a 51 220 Cab A that was owned by an elderly couple who are tax clients of my wife. During one of their appointments in 2002, the husband noticed my 69T in the driveway (she has a home office) and asked about it. My wife said that I was into older foreign cars, and he mentioned that they had an old Mercedes that the were thinking about selling, and if I might be interested I should give him a call.

Not knowing what they had, I called and asked if I could come and look at the Mercedes, if nothing else just for the hell of it. What I saw is pictured above. I was stunned to see a nice Cab, and the price was much more than reasonable. I bought it on the spot after he fired it up and I heard it run.

Turns out they were the second owners, having bought it from the original owner in 1961. It was driven regularly in the 60's and 70's, and very rarely into the early 80's. The brakes went out, and he was going to fix them, but never got around to it, so it basically just sat until 2002. He ran the engine regularly, kept the clutch free, treated the leather, oiled the chrome, etc., etc.

It's 100% original...paint, chrome, upholstery, top, and mechanicals. Zero rust or wood rot, only some minor surface rust here and there on the chassis. It's never been messed with, and it's exactly how it left Sindelfingen. It has about 100,00 km on it (euro model) and runs and drives perfectly. Even the original radio with short wave works, All I had to do to get it in driving condition was a full brake overhaul, a drain and flush of all the fluids, and a tune up. The exhaust system has seen better days, but that's another job. It's a very early 51 which has the removable crank hole cover in the grill, since Mercedes was still using up pre-war components at that time.

It's been driven occasionally and sitting with my dad's collection in his garage for the past 4 years, since I've been busy playing P-cars. But this winter I'm planning on giving it a thorough cleaning and detailing with the hopes of bringing it out next summer. It's good enough to be shown in Preservation Class, and I think it's going to surprise a few people.

Did I mention that I love my wife for mentioning this to me, knowing full well that I've got a bad car problem?