[GTO]

Simply beautiful....spotted on Marine drive on friday.

[Stanher]

Nice! I recognise the no.- this car was/is a parsi-owned one and was photo'd at a rally in Auto India or some mag. way back in 1998/99.

[harit]

Originally Posted by GTO

Simply beautiful....spotted on Marine drive on friday.

Attachment 148584

Well, this a real rarity.
A soft top Pagoda Merc with a carrier? (JOKING OBVIOUSLY)
BTW, it appears to be still Parsi owner.
Real pleasure to see these on the road.

[predatorwheelz]

[quote=harit;1349498]Well, this a real rarity.
A soft top Pagoda Merc with a carrier?
[quote]

Dunno if you're joking, but the carrier belongs to the Cab ahead of it!

[calrock]

thanks for the comments. heres a car restored by THRUSH RACING WORKS,mangalore. the steering wheel is not fitted properly as it had be changed for a new one. so just placed it for the pic...will post more good pics later..

[harit]

Originally Posted by calrock

thanks for the comments. heres a car restored by THRUSH RACING WORKS,mangalore. the steering wheel is not fitted properly as it had be changed for a new one. so just placed it for the pic...will post more good pics later..

Nice RHD example. Door mirrors missing. Front spolights need to be removed. Front bumber appears to be suspect, in those years I do not remember a rubber over the bumper. Dash has a stitched cover, probably original underneath has cracked. But well done. Looks very clean. Are you going in for this car?

Cheers harit

[the mole]

Originally Posted by harit

Nice RHD example. Door mirrors missing. Front spolights need to be removed. Front bumber appears to be suspect, in those years I do not remember a rubber over the bumper. Dash has a stitched cover, probably original underneath has cracked. But well done. Looks very clean. Are you going in for this car?

Cheers harit

I agree this is one of the best restored finnies yet. The dashboard too has been well finished. Though I would prefer to leave the cracked one and just polish and recolour the same.

[harit]

Originally Posted by the mole

I agree this is one of the best restored finnies yet. The dashboard too has been well finished. Though I would prefer to leave the cracked one and just polish and recolour the same.

Agree with you only to some extend. what he has done beneath the cover is not known to us, he should gum up the original, polish and recolour the same. But in the meanwhile the cover put in this example is very neat, looks lovely. He has to see what to do with the steering boss.
I see the term "finnies" for the first time, it must have appeared before. How poetic, finnies at the fannies end!

[harit]

I thought I would put up a small note on prewar 6 cylinder Mercedes.
Most of the prewar Merc's 6 cylinder like 320, 290, 260, 230 etc had an aluminium head. In fact one of the first such cars I saw on Hughes road, a tourer had its head removed. Where she has gone now I do not know.
Later on I myself purchased a 320 and the bits of two 230 Mercedes. Well, the restoration of the 320 is underway. After the body work was done, we moved onto the engine. The previous owner told me that he had started the car. Well, we went to start it and it would run maximum 2 minutes. We opened uo the engine and were shocked to see that the head was totally erroded/corroded inside, the water lines were full of holes which the previous owner tried to fix with M-seal & Araldite. Nothing left to do but make a new head.
A pattern was made, the head cast, machined and is soon to be fitted. I told this to a friend in Bangalore who has such cars. "Please make one for me, my car will need one soon" he replied. I had not expected this.
Recently when I was in Germany I met a guy to collect engine parts for my Opel Admiral 1938. Though the car is very rare, engine parts are available because this engine was also put in the Opel Blitz trucks used during the war. And this guy had a fully restored truck and 3 chassis, including a 4 wheel drive. So I checked out all that he had. He also had a 230 Pullman which he got from Uruguay in South America. Lovely well, restored car.
While he showed me his trucks and their parts, he showed me an engine with the Merc star on it. He told me that this was an Opel engine made by Mercedes during the war. The reason was that Opel engines were superior to the Mercedes product. And the German military ordered Mercedes to produce the engines as per Opel design. Then I told him that I have made a new head, only yo be fitted. He asked me to keep him informed and if it works well he wants to have one too. Who could have imagined this? I did not expect this to be the case. The aluminium of the head reacts with the cast block, an electrolytic effect takes place and the head gets eroded. And the water flowing in the water ways too eats at the metal.
But looking at the number of such Mercedes which are suffering, this seems to be a real problem. Recently a Mercedes bought by a collector as fully restored has to have its gasket changed. I fear the worst.

Just sharing info. We always learn new things.

Cheers harit

[aadix]

thats intresting harit, i know you are doing it as a hobby, but why not start it up as a business. thats how most of the sucessful companies start up!

[the mole]

Originally Posted by aadix

thats intresting harit, i know you are doing it as a hobby, but why not start it up as a business. thats how most of the sucessful companies start up!

aadix what makes it Intresting for Harit and some others including me is that this is not our daily profession besides how else could we fund these covert activities from the Prying eyes of our wives and all sundry.

[wasif]

Similar issues of serious corrosion have been faced in Jaguar's so called "Mark IV" cars. The block is the standard 4/6 cylinder and the head is aluminium with OHV designed by Welslake and they do fall apart specailly if stored for long without active use.

[aadix]

Originally Posted by the mole

aadix what makes it Intresting for Harit and some others including me is that this is not our daily profession besides how else could we fund these covert activities from the Prying eyes of our wives and all sundry.

totally understood that point, maybe you could out source the manufacturing process to some one?

i guess slowly slowly spare parts for vintage cars will be a big market! if it already isnt!

[harit]

Originally Posted by wasif

Similar issues of serious corrosion have been faced in Jaguar's so called "Mark IV" cars. The block is the standard 4/6 cylinder and the head is aluminium with OHV designed by Welslake and they do fall apart specailly if stored for long without active use.

Another very notable candidate were the Phantom Rolls's. Many lost their engines because of this.
There is a car in Delhi were a new block was cast in cast iron or so, not aluminium. Then there was a car in Hyderabad which Ali fixed as he had access to another engine. And the famous Travancore car with a Dodge engine. Another Rolls is languishing in MP, same problem,

[wasif]

Originally Posted by harit

Another very notable candidate were the Phantom Rolls's. Many lost their engines because of this.
There is a car in Delhi were a new block was cast in cast iron or so, not aluminium. Then there was a car in Hyderabad which Ali fixed as he had access to another engine. And the famous Travancore car with a Dodge engine. Another Rolls is languishing in MP, same problem,

Similar issues are faced by Mazda RX 7 owners. suffie to say if an RX7 is parked for more than six months then a new engine is required.

The Hyderabad Phantom you mentioned would be the Baroda car which was aprehended by customs when it was being shipped out right. Current owner is a close family friend.