1937 MERCEDES 170V CABRIOLET
This is a coach-built car, meaning the sheet metal is hand formed and attached to a wood skeleton. A few year ago I replaced the rotten wood.
Later the car came back to me for final restoration. The driveline had already been restored. I restored or fabricated almost every other movable part.
The car had been in an accident so a lot of pieces didn’t fit. One of the doors was too big for the opening, so I constructed a rack and positioned a jack under the center of the chassis. I then jacked the frame until the body bent sufficiently for the door to slide into place. The doors now close beautifully.
When the car arrived it had a large patch on the fender. Unfortunately the metal around the patch was so thin that I could easily push a screwdriver through it. I put about 20 feet of welding in that fender.
Most of the upholstery had been stripped before I got the car. We bought 3 leather hides, special Haartz cloth for the top and period correct german square weave carpet for the floor. Mike, at Aristocrat Upholstery did the work.
I stripped the wood trim and dyed it with several colors of leather stain, then sprayed it with many coats of hand rubbed lacquer.
There is still more to do but it is finally looking like a car. The original bill of sale shows that the car was originally purchased by a German Luftwaffe pilot.
