1975 Mercedes 450 SL Any suggestions?

Eldorado2k

Eldorado2k

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Hey guys, I've got a customer who's finally taking action to getting this 1975 450 SL out of their garage and getting it rolling again. The mechanic has his hands on it as we speak. I'm next..

This picture is really foggy. I forgot to clean my lense for this 1st shot.

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It's a 1975 with 85,000 original miles. It's been sitting in the garage for the past 3 years partially covered.

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The chrome bits are looking like crud at this moment. Looking for suggestions on what to use here. [based on your experience with this similar 40 yr. old chrome trim]

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The interior doesn't look too bad...

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But the black plastic/rubber could definitely use some TLC. My 1st thought is maybe Megs M40?

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IMO the seats don't look too bad.

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And finally, the paint. It's swirl city.

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I brought some Megs D151 with me to do a test to see if it was single stage, [which I expected it to be] but after testing both inside the doorjamb and then on the fender I got no color coming off. Strange.. I'll have to check this again.

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Ok I'm all ears for suggestions. Thanks for checking it out.





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Oh my goodness that looks so good. Even the windshield is beyond perfect wow! Man if I can even get that car anywhere near looking that good I'd be so proud. Thanks for the post, now time to zoom in on those products and brainstorm. Thanks!


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If I recall correctly, Mercedes used a then-new paint system on that generation of SL-class cars, due to the excessive amount of rust on the earliest cars of that chassis. This may be why you didn't have any paint transfer while rubbing by hand. I'm not sure if it's a BC/CC system or some kind of hybrid (I've never had a polisher on one), but that generation of SL is quite famous for early ones rusting out badly.

Rustproofing is something Benz either gets perfect, or it ends up going badly, not a lot of in between. Some of this reared it's ugly head in the late 90's-early 00's E-Class cars (W210). I actually have an E320 in my garage now that I'm taking care of some surface rust on, as Benz only undercoated those cars in certain spots.
 
SRConcepts said:
If I recall correctly, Mercedes used a then-new paint system on that generation of SL-class cars, due to the excessive amount of rust on the earliest cars of that chassis. This may be why you didn't have any paint transfer while rubbing by hand. I'm not sure if it's a BC/CC system or some kind of hybrid (I've never had a polisher on one), but that generation of SL is quite famous for early ones rusting out badly.

Rustproofing is something Benz either gets perfect, or it ends up going badly, not a lot of in between. Some of this reared it's ugly head in the late 90's-early 00's E-Class cars (W210). I actually have an E320 in my garage now that I'm taking care of some surface rust on, as Benz only undercoated those cars in certain spots.
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That's some real interesting info regarding the paint... I know when I 1st opened the door to test on the doorjamb, I immediately thought "this doesn't look like it's going to be single stage"

But I was just baffled at how it couldn't be because as far as I know it's all original.

I'm still thinking of what to use on the chrome bits. I don't have any Sonax chrome polish on hand. I have some Meguiars Med. Metal Polish, Mothers Chrome Polish, maybe a couple more things but I have to search through my stuff.


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Not certain of it's level of abrasiveness, but (back in the day) I used a product called Noxon on chrome.....mostly my chrome Cragar S/S rims, and they came out very nice...just food for thought...maybe an 'old school' product on an 'old school' car?

btw....it's still available
 
briarpatch said:
Not certain of it's level of abrasiveness, but (back in the day) I used a product called Noxon on chrome.....
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That comes in a green bottle? I've seen it before... I might try some Turtle Wax Chrome Polish & Rust Remover. I've heard good things about it.



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Eldorado2k said:
That comes in a green bottle? I've seen it before... I might try some Turtle Wax Chrome Polish & Rust Remover. I've heard good things about it.



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yes it does...it was great stuff
 
Not sure about the paint but for the chrome give P21s Polishing Soap a try....it's my go to for chrome in that kind of condition. Its inexpensive and a small tub will last forever.
 
I have had good luck with Collinite Metal wax and Blue Magic Metal Polish on chrome. I have two 1970s Oldsmobiles, so I do have quite a few acres of chrome that I deal with!
 
Thanks for the recommendations, but at this point I need something I can pick up locally. I can't afford to wait another 10 days for it to arrive. The Blue Magic sells at the store, I'll keep that 1 in mind, thx.


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Just a couple more lingering questions before I get started..

I had initially planned to bucket wash the car, and follow up with an iron decon step using the DUB Wheel Cleaner. But now I'm having second thoughts on getting the car wet with a hose and instead do it rinseless.. But if I can't rinse the car down that means no iron decon. What would you do? Iron decon and rinse? Or skip that and just rinseless wash and clay?

Stupid question: Is using a coating on 40yr. old paint completely ok?

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That looks like it is in great shape!

Mike P talks about using an iron remover with a rinseless wash here http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...ckees-37-xtreme-iron-remover.html#post1417868

You could also tape off the trim pieces and other areas to prevent it from running into and behind.

Tips

Fold out and detail the buried soft top before doing the interior. That one shouldn't be too bad, but one I did was basically rotten and needed replaced. It made a mess when I opened it up.

Turtle Wax's trim coating worked well on all the exterior plastic and rubber. I'm sure Solution Finish would work too if you have it.
 
Mantilgh said:
That looks like it is in great shape!

Mike P talks about using an iron remover with a rinseless wash here http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...ckees-37-xtreme-iron-remover.html#post1417868

You could also tape off the trim pieces and other areas to prevent it from running into and behind.

Tips

Fold out and detail the buried soft top before doing the interior. That one shouldn't be too bad, but one I did was basically rotten and needed replaced. It made a mess when I opened it up.

Turtle Wax's trim coating worked well on all the exterior plastic and rubber. I'm sure Solution Finish would work too if you have it.
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Dude, your post was gold. I seriously wouldn't have thought of extending the cloth top and doing it prior to the interior. That makes so much sense, and boy it sure would suck if a bunch of crumbs and dust were to come down from it onto the finished interior! Lol.

So I'm thinking do the outside of the hardtop 1st, pull it off, and set it aside, then open up the soft top and clean it all up next... From there do you think I should retract the soft top back down and put the hardtop back on while I polish? [I'm thinking that way I don't risk getting any splatter onto the soft top]

I really like how the glass stands out on that car that Mike posted pics of earlier in this thread so I'm definitely looking to clay the glass and follow it up with fine steel wool w/plenty of glass cleaner as lube, inside and out to try and get it as clean as possible. If anyone knows whether clay should be done before the steel wool or after, or if it even matters, please let me know.

I'm an Endura guy without a doubt. So much so that I've got 3 unopened trim kits stocked up for life! Lol. I totally wasn't sure if anything would work properly and until you said that I was simply going to clean it and then spray Megs D4510, that way I at least didn't screw it up... But now that you said the Endura works on it then hell yea!

What did you use on the chrome?

Thanks a ton, that info helped me out.


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The Guz said:
Go ahead and use the coating. But be sure to charge the right amount for you to use it. If not then stick with a wax or sealant.
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I'm charging $3,000 for this job. Cash only baby! Lol j/k


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Ha, no problem. Learn from my mistake with the soft top.

Well theirs(my Inlaw's) was jammed and would not open, and after I was finished I decided to tinker with it. Then had to clean up the mess.

The hard top sits on a painted hatch that covers the soft top to give the car a nice clean look when the top is off. No need cover because it will be under the hatch when it is down. You will want to have the hard top off to polish that hatch.

I don't remember what I used on the chrome, I think I used an AIO on it.

And it should have real leather. Theirs was like cardboard and cracked. I used Leatherique and it did help soften them up some. I did a couple of treatments. It probably could use a couple more rounds of it, but I got tired of watching them sucking up such an expensive product.
 
Cool cool... Btw what year was the 1 you did? And most important question, what kind of paint did it have on it? Original paint? If so, was it single stage? Because I'm not sure what the deal is with this paint yet.


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can't wait to see the finished product. looks super super clean inside. my dad had one like that back in the day.
 
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