1957 Mercedes-Benz 190-Series

Ponton Sedan

4 - Cyl.

Manual

Gasoline

* Rare, very original, 1957, California black plate, matching number, nearly completely rust- free, 190 sedan with rare, factory option, Webasto sliding sunroof. This 65K mile Mercedes was sitting in private storage at a shipping company here in Southern California for many years and is now finally for sale. EXTERIOR To start with there is nearly NO rust in this car. These cars are notorious for having serious rust problems but this car was stored for most of its life. There is NO rust in the engine compartment, NONE under the battery area, NONE in the chassis or fender wells, remarkably there is absolutely no rust in the trunk wells, trunk sill or trunk lid, NO rust in any part of the sunroof area, only some small rust bubbles at the bottom of the door panel and NONE under the doors. This is nearly as rust free as you could ask for. The car has been painted its original dark blue color many years back and still has shine to it with the door jambs still in original paint. The car has dings here and there but does not have any major dents and never any accidents. The hood has small dents on it from some extra Mercedes parts placed on it in while in storage. All the glass is original Sekurit and is in nice condition. The window seals are original and are dried up and should be replaced. The bumpers front and rear still have decent shine to them and are NOT rusted. They do have some dings in them but are easily repairable by a chrome shop. They will require no welding which is the part that gets expensive at a chrome shop. One of the front bumper guards is bent but not ripped or broken, the the two rear bumper guard reflectors are missing. All 5 rims are all the correct, 13 inch, matching, original paint, rims with matching manufactured dates. They are in excellent condition with no dents. The tires, however; need replacing. The tread is like new, but I think they are too old to be used. The wide white wall inserts are brand new and could be re- mounted on a new set of tires. The original wipers, accessory side mirror, front turn signals, fender mounted parking lights, headlight rings are all in excellent condition. One piece of moulding- the front left piece- is missing while all the others are in very nice, straight condition. The grille is also in excellent condition. The hood star is missing though, but the chrome base is still there. The hub caps are in very nice condition with no rust at all. The set of 4 slotted, original trim rings also go with the car and are in good shape with no dents but could use polishing. The four door handles are original and the chrome is in nice shape. The front two door handles work well and lock with the original key. That same original key operates the trunk AND the fuel door all which open and close well and all lock as they should. As of this listing I do not have the ignition key, however I will try to find it at the storage facility one more time. The auction is for the car WITHOUT the ignition key ( but with the door/trunk/fuel door key). But if I find it, I will either leave it in the car or mail it to you. Both tail lights are complete and correct and the lenses and chrome trim are in very nice condition except on small crack in the passenger side white lens. INTERIOR The interior of the car is very complete and in good shape. I cant tell if the interior is all original or has been re-done because it is all in pretty good condition. I have looked up photos of other 190s and the interiors all look different. However this interior is in presentable shape. The door panels are all complete and only one arm rest has a small hole. The headliner is all in complete and not ripped or falling down. The rear window shelf area is clean and not damaged. The top of the back seat is worn from the sun and the rear seat back and rear seat bottom are in very good condition. The front seats are in decent shape except where the top of the seat folds over to meet the cardboard seat back- these corners have come un-stitched. All the seats still have the original horse hair padding. I removed the back seat to inspect underneath it and found a pristine original area with the sound deadening material all in tact and NO rust or corrosion. Under the front seats this was the same. The original wooden floor boards are like new. The car still has its sound deadening material under the front seats and the tunnel area as well. The factory grey rubber mats are mostly complete but have hardened and cracked due to age. There are reproduction floor mats available. The dash is complete with the gauges in nice condition and all of the brown bakelite in excellent shape. The Grey leather covering the middle section of the dash is missing. The wood on top is good but could use refinishing. The knobs and switches are all there and are in fine shape. The original white Mercedes steering wheel is in good condition and complete with the horn ring NOT broken. The shifter and original knob are in fine condition, but the turn signal arm is missing. The car has early radio with a very rare wooden, under dash speaker box installed and two, accessory rear door panel speakers installed- ALL of which are in excellent shape. The visors, day/night mirror, dome light and factory Webasto sunroof handle are all in good condition. MECHANICAL The car has been in storage and not run for years. The previous owner began a cosmetic restoration on the engine. The head was removed, the valve cover was also removed and professionally polished. The aluminum intake manifold was also removed and polished. The exhaust manifold has been high-temp ceramic coated. The car currently does not run. The generator was re-built and is included with the sale. The starter motor was rebuilt and there are two included with the sale. The carburetor and air cleaner are missing. The carburetor linkage was chrome plated at one point. The previous owner claimed he drove it until parked then began removing parts for restoration. There may be some small miscellaneous pieces missing but there is also a box of extra mechanical parts that go with the car. The original exhaust has a break at the muffler and will need replacing. It is good to have for a pattern, as it has all the correct bends and attachment points. The distributor needs rebuilding but is complete. The radiator has been rebuilt and re-painted. The heater boxes are made of cardboard and the driver side is in good shape but the passenger side needs the front half re-placed. There is an excellent Mercedes wrecking yard near me here in Los Angeles and they have a few Pontons/ 190s with lots of parts still left if you need to find a few missing pieces. Of course eBay has nearly everything available for this car, even as this auction is running, the missing parts can be bought. TRUNK The trunk is complete and in immaculate shape. There is NO rust anywhere in the trunk. The two original cardboard pieces which sit above the gas tank are in excellent condition. The wooden cover on the left spares well is in perfect shape and the original spare is locked in place with the correct holding clamp with wing nut. The car has the factory jack ( with original decal )in perfect condition and the tire wrench too. There are quite a few spare parts which come with the car including a HUGE factory workshop manual. SLIDING SUNROOF This car came factory equipped with the rare Webasto full sliding sunroof. I removed the sliding bars, cleaned and sanded out the aluminum guide tracks, greased them, cleaned the rails, mounting guides bows and feet, then got the whole roof to slide back and forth smoothly. The handle and locking mechanism all work well, and close tightly as it should. The headliner appears original but most of the dark blue top material is gone. I saved a small piece in the front for the color and pattern, should you decide to restore it back to original. When the sunroof is slid back, nearly the entire roof is open- its quite amazing. DETAILS The car was sitting in storage without the storage bill paid for many years and therefore a lien was placed against it. The owner never came to pay the bill, so the storage company completed the lien. This is the paperwork which comes with the car. THIS CAR DOES NOT HAVE A PINK SLIP OR CERTIFICATE OF TITLE WHICH PROHIBITS YOU FROM SHIPPING IT OUT OF THE COUNTRY. YOU MUST GET A CURRENT CALIFORNIA TITLE TO EXPORT IT. This can be done, by the winning bidder- not me. The California DMV lien papers for the car are in the shipping company's name, and the new owner will simply pay their local DMV transfer fees then put the car in their name just like a regular title. The car is located in San Fernando, California a suburb 30 minutes north of Downtown Los Angeles. You are welcome, in fact encouraged, to come inspect the car before the auction ends. No zero feedback bidders. If you have zero feedback, please contact me and explain why.Email me with any questions you may have before the end of the auction. I can help load the car on to your trailer if you like. For the cost of towing, I will personally bring it to the shipping company of your choice here in Los Angeles and take photos of it being dropped off. A $750 deposit is required within 48 hours of the end of the auction. You must pay for the car within 7 days of the close of the auction. Good luck.