Lot Ended
Description
One-family-owned from new; only 17,800 miles; recently unearthed from
54 years in a nice dry barn; fabulous interior; a proper time capsule in
need of sympathetic restoration; one of only 776 made in RHD; what a find!
Although it was
based on the W111 ‘Fintail’ saloon, the Coupe version was an entirely different
animal which was completely restyled by Paul Bracq. Much more expensive than the
saloon, it had a vastly more opulent interior and sleek two-door coachwork which
did away with the pointed tail fins of the ‘Heckflosse’ four-door variant.
It was powered by the M127 straight-six 2,195cc
fuel-injected engine which produced 118bhp and gave the car a top speed of
107mph. Only 14,173 were made plus another 2,729 even more expensive Cabriolet
versions, the vast majority in LHD, and survivors are highly prized
today.
This wonderful 220SE Coupe has got us all very excited here at
Brightwells and has been entrancing everyone who has seen it on site. A proper
sleeping beauty, it has covered only 17,817 miles from new and has been
slumbering in dry storage for the last 50+ years.
One of only 776 made in RHD, it comes with a small but really nice
history file including the original purchase invoice which shows that it was
bought new by Barrell Bros Transport of Abertillery via Avenue Garage of Cardiff
in April 1965. Originally registered as EBO 497C, it was finished in Beige 181
with Bronze 5400 leather upholstery, automatic transmission and power steering
and cost £4,149.
To put this in perspective, a
brand new Jaguar E-Type 4.2 Coupe would have cost around £2,200 at the time, a
new Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III would have been around £5,500 and a typical
family house cost around £3,500 so it was a very expensive car
indeed.
In light regular use for its first six years, it clocked up
around 17,000 miles before the owner ran into financial difficulties. So in May
1971 his brother, who owned Churchdown Service Station in Gloucestershire,
agreed to buy the car from him and keep it safely tucked away until he could
afford to buy it back. The registration number was also changed to MAB 2 at this
point.
In 1984 the brother closed down his
garage business but still had the Merc so he transferred it into his own name
and moved it to a nice dry barn in Gloucestershire along with a few other
interesting cars and motorcycles that he also owned (which are elsewhere in this
sale). It was to remain in the barn for the next 41 years until we recovered it
just a couple of months ago.
On offer here from
a deceased estate, it comes with an old style V5 recording no previous owners
although the original green logbook shows two owners with the same surname plus
Churchdown Service Station.
The original
handbooks are present including the service book which has eight stamps, the
last at 13,912 miles in March 1970. There is also a sticker in the driver’s door
recording another oil change in October 1970 so it was clearly
well-looked-after, being serviced every 1,800 miles or so. The original
instruction booklet for the Blaupunkt radio is also present, along with a full
toolkit retaining the Mercedes branded spanners and there is also a tax disc on
the windscreen which expired in August 1972. It also has a really nice number
plate, MAB 2, which goes with the car and may be transferable.
As you can see in the photos, this glamorous
Mercedes Coupe is a proper time capsule with a wonderful ‘barn find’ patina.
Yes, the exterior has suffered slightly during 50+ years in storage with dulled
paintwork and tarnished chrome but open the doors and the interior still looks
wonderful with minimal signs of wear. The leather upholstery is remarkably soft
and supple and the woodwork looks magnificent. Even the original carpets look
good, having been protected by lambswool overmats front and rear. Inside the
boot is equally good and original with a barely a mark to be seen.
As the car has not been run for at least 50
years we have made no attempt to start it and we have purposely left it unwashed
so the next owner can enjoy the experience of bringing it back to life. Most of
the brightwork looks like it will polish up fairly well and even the paintwork
might come up nicely with a good machine polish.
It is now widely appreciated that cars are only original once so it
will be up to the new owner to decide whether to preserve the patina or go for a
full repaint to restore it to showroom condition.
Interesting history file; very low miles; one-family-owned; nice
number plate; rare model – this fabulous Mercedes Coupe ticks all the right
boxes. Bid vigorously now and it could be you who takes it
home…
Consigned by: james.booth@brightwells.com