If anybody would like details of companies to carry out quality restoration and to locate spares then I can recommend the following three companies.

J Haynes Auto Technics
For all work and access to many spares relating to classic Mercedes Benz. They are classed as probably the best in England/Europe.

J Haynes Auto Technics
Eirene Garage
Mulberry Lane
Goring-by-Sea
Worthing
West Sussex
BN12 4RD
Tel: 01903 500000
www.mercedesj-a-haynes.com

Kienle Automobiltechnik
As above but in Germany.

Kienle Automobiltechnik
D-71254 Heimerdingen/Stuttgart
Max-Planck-Str. 4
Germany
Tel: 0049 7152 52827
www.kienle.com

Star Motors
1694 Union Center
Maine Highway Rt 26
Endicott
New York
13760 1341
TEL: 001 607 786 3918
www.starmotorsny.com

Please see listed some other helpful contacts for specialised work/spares.

Nick Martin
For the excellent invisible repairs and finish on all the wood

City Polishers Ltd
156 Broadgate
Weston Hills
Spalding
Lincolnshire
PE12 6D
TEL: 01406 380984
www.nicholas-martin.co.uk

John Wilson
For your help in the work carried out on the engine

Hindle Reman
Hapco Works
Caledonia Street
Bradford West Yorkshire
BD5 OEL
TEL: 01274 732284
www.hindle.co.uk

Philip Lefelle
For excellent chrome Plating

London Chroming Co Ltd
735 Old Kent Road
London
SE15 1JL
TEL: 0207 639 6434
www.londonchroming.co.uk

David Edwards & Ian Ryder
For a speedy helpful friendly service with spares and numerous nuts and bolts!

Mercedes Benz Parts Department
Matford Park Road
Marsh Barton
Exeter
Devon
EX2 8FD
TEL: 01392 822740

Terry Pickering
For excellent back to original headlining

A S Pickerings LTD
Springfield Works
Bradford
BD1 3EZ
TEL: 01274 724000

Fred Pentecost
For excellent fuel injection pump servicing and repairs

Tower Bridge Diesels
93 Endlebury Road
Chingford
London
E4 6PX
TEL: 0208 524 2973

Kelly Bray Steering
For excellent reconditioning of the power steering box

Kelly Bray Steering
Florence Road
Callington
Cornwall
PL17 8EF
TEL: 01579 382766

Mark Hannaford
For excellent electronic ignition

Pertronix UK
1 Hoskins Place
Camberley
Surrey
GU15 2PB
TEL: 01276 65554
www.pertronix.com

Tony Shearer
For the chemical brightening of the exterior trim strips

Dorset Alumimium Products
Poundbury West Trading Estate
Dorchester
Dorset
DT1 2PG
TEL: 01305 265235

Steve Fox
For all zinc plating

Fox Plating
Unit 3
Maybrey Works
Worsley Bridge Road
Sydenham
SE26 5AZ
TEL: 0208 663 6444

David Thomson
Vintage Tyre Supplies

The National Motor Museum
Beaulieu
Hampshire
SO42 7ZN
TEL: 01590 612261
www.vintagetyres.com

Ian and Simon
For all your help with the trimming

Aldridge Trimming
Drayton Street
Wolverhampton
WV2 4EF
TEL: 01902 710805

Alan Abraham
For the many hours put into the air, fluid pipes and hydraulic hoses

Newton Hose Supplies
Unit 8
Rydon Industrial Estate
Kingsteignton
Newton Abbot
Devon
TQ12 3SJ
TEL: 01626 361118

Welcome to everyone viewing this website. The original owner of the Classic Mercedes W109 was 1960/1970 pop icon Donovan. The restoration of this Mercedes-Benz took approximately two years. For those people interested this Classic Mercedes 300 SEL 6.3 is available for film, car hire & wedding car hire.

This site is designed to primarily provide help and advice in maintaining and restoring these Flagship Mercedes saloons. Please feel free to email me if you would like any advice on these Mercedes W109's. Hopefully I will be able to help. My contact details are below. I have other contacts besides those on the list to the left.

This is the story of how 1960/1970 'mellow yellow' pop icon Donovans 6.3 was rescued and restored to its former glory and is now classed as one of the best worldwide. For many Mercedes enthusiasts, motoring journalists, or just general admirers this was and still is classed as Mercedes Flagship Saloon. Perhaps its the timeless, elegant styling that has helped it maintain this position, or maybe the mighty 6.3 German V8 engine shoehorned into the body has had more influence in its ranking?.

Whatever way you look at it for a car designed in 1967 it was very advanced with its self levelling Mercedes air suspension and quality ride. Built in times gone by when more emphasis was on quality components. This model of Mercedes was considered fastest Saloon/Sedan in it's day. This site is designed to primarily provide help and advice in maintaining and restoring these Flagship Mercedes saloons. Please feel free to email me if you would like any advice and hopefully I will be able to help. My contact details are below. I have other contacts besides those on the list to the left. For those interested the full restoration story of how i came to purchase and restore Donovan's 6.3 is on the above link next to 'Home'.

The sun going down
Please click image to enlarge.

The original owner of this car was 1960/1970 pop icon Donovan. This model is one of the most expensive saloon cars Mercedes have made. The car was built in 1971 but registered in England in 1972. During the time Donovan owned the car it was often driven from his home on the Wentworth Estate in Surrey to the Hard Rock café in London, often at speeds of 100mph plus where possible. The car was also featured in a promotional video with Donovan where it is being driven down the Marylebone Road in London. George Harrison from the Beatles and Bobby Whitlock from Derek and the Dominoes have also travelled in it amongst others. Donovan also used the car in Ireland for a while.

It took roughly two years to restore the car. It was then featured in a few magazines, as well as mentions on The Bob Harris Show on Radio 2, and Capital Gold. The car has also been featured on the Mercedes Enthusiast calendar, and has been on display at Mercedes Benz World, Brooklands surrey. It is a wonder that the car was still around to restore after its hard life especially as it was left outside in fields in the English weather for approximately five years after Donovan sold it. The car is presently used for occasional wedding car hire work and is registered for film hire.
The car has been restored using original parts, although all the air pipes and gearbox fluid pipes have been replaced with copper nickel instead of steel pipes. The points and condenser have also been replaced with Pertronix electronic ignition. The interior wood sections which were in very poor condition have been renovated back to original.

To retain the original feel and period celebrity vibe of the car the leather interior has been kept along with the original carpets. This was important to me as although carrying out a full restoration I wanted myself and others to know that I had retained some of the period vibe and you would be sitting on the same seats as Donovan and an ex Beatle George Harrison, as well as Bobby Whitlock. The leather has been re dyed and is regularly coated and kept at the correct humidity to keep it supple. Despite some small blemishes and small repaired splits it is generally considered that the leather interior is in very good condition for the age and the previous very hard life of the car.

If the car was up against stiff competition then I realise that retaining the original leather interior, is unlikely to win 1st place in a concourse event as some judges tend to concentrate on the initial look as opposed to a full original mechanical rebuild, with accurate bodylines, but as I say retaining some period celebrity vibe was more important and fun to me than impressing people or judges with a spanking new but 'cold' interior. Hopefully people would be pleased to see I had kept some of the original history of the car. The same goes for some of the exterior trims and chrome work, some are original ones, again I did not want to replace all. Obviously had the leather, trims, carpets been in a very poor condition then of course I would have replaced them.

 

As can be seen from the long rear doors it was a car built to be chauffeured in rather than drive yourself. The car is considered advanced for its years as it uses adjustable self-levelling Mercedes air suspension coupled with a large 6.3 litre twin camshaft fuel injected V8 engine, which delivers plenty of power and torque. Acceleration of 0-60 mph is approximately 6 seconds. On a run you can achieve 12 mpg, around town approximately 8 mpg. It is possible to cruise at 90/100mph quite comfortably. It was for its time the fastest saloon car around for many years. Their were only approximately 650 of these cars made in right hand drive, and over the years most have been broken up mainly due to a combination of very high restoration costs, technical complexity and hard to locate spare parts. At present market prices it is often uneconomical to fully restore these cars as the restoration costs far outweigh what they are presently worth. This 6.3 car is classed as one of the best right hand drive models in existence. The car is complete with the original sales brochure, Logbook, pink card, many tax discs and MOT certificates as well as the original German oval shaped plates. There is also a photograph of the car parked next to a Rolls Royce used by the Beatles.

Barratts Classic Car Hire
Please click image to enlarge.

Restoring aluminium window and windscreen trims ‘Chemical Brightening’

Many enthusiasts reading this will no doubt have polished aluminium surrounds on their front and rear windscreens and window surrounds which are either scratched or quite tarnished. In many cases when it comes to restoration some sections are still available new, but many are not. The chances of locating these sections secondhand which are about forty years old with a decent shine and dent free are fairly remote. If your section has got a dent in it then you will have to locate another as the restoration process will not remove dents. When I was restoring my 6.3 I had to do just this. It does not matter it the section you find is badly tarnished or with small scratches as these will polish out.

These sections are not just chrome plated or polished and lacquered as many think they are. The process is called ‘chemical brightening’. The restoration of your aluminium section involves polishing it until it is smooth all over and free from pits, scratches etc, then placing it in a chemical bath where it brightens-hence the name ‘chemical brightening’. The section is then anodised to stop it corroding. The whole process is not that expensive and does not take that long, as far less work is involved than say something like chrome plating. Years ago in the UK there were quite a few places operating this service but due to recent health and safety laws most have closed down. If you search on the internet you will find some companies still carrying it out. I have listed Dorset Aluminium Products as the company I used. I have listed under contacts on the left who I used.

Cleaning of various different steel items

When it comes to cleaning up various different bodywork or suspension items so many people use a wire brush, rust treatments, and different primers. This work is often time consuming, and quite expensive with the different rust treatments and most of the time does not really do a very good job. It is nearly always best to have these grit blasted and sprayed with a zinc primer. This provides a decent rust free surface all ready for spraying. Small items can often be cleaned effectively with a wire brush wheel on a bench grinder, providing the rust has not deeply embedded itself. Basically grit blasting can save you much time and is a far better way of cleaning. It is often best when restoring to put all the items for grit blasting together and have done in one batch as this can save you money. Grit blasters can often easily be found in many telephone directories.

Chrome plating

As most of you are aware this is often an expensive process due to the work involved in re chroming. There are cheap places to get items re chromed especially in some countries abroad. But be warned most of the cheaper places often do not carry out all the preparation and nickel plating fully prior to the final chrome plating. The other thing to bear in mind is would you be prepared to send your classic car parts abroad to places that might not speak English, and trying to sort things out if something did get lost. I have listed London chroming who I have been using since 1983. When I first fitted my bumpers I coated the insides with a black wax. However the inside of the bumpers should be finished in a light grey paint which mine now are. It is a good idea to clear wax the light grey paint and bolts to avoid corrosion.

Suspension air valves

Many people with these cars find that they start to sink down over night or over a couple of days, in other words there is a leak somewhere in the Mercedes air suspension system. Before you go out and buy reconditioned air valves it is always best to check that all four air bellows are ok. Another thing to bear in mind is that people think that they have a leak from the bellows when infact water has worked itself in-between the face of the bellows and the steel air chamber. This often causes rust which in turn means that the mating face of the bellows does not sit tightly on the air chamber. Another thing that can cause air leaks is where past owners have taken a valve off or pipe and not replaced the ‘o’ ring inside the joint. On most of the air system a standard o ring is used but on some parts flat faced o rings are used, so make sure you replace with the correct type. Whenever you take a joint apart always replace the o ring.

Air pipes

Personally I replaced all my original steel air pipes with copper nickel pipes. Yes I know this is not original but the obvious advantage is that they will not corrode. Having all these made up and bent to exactly the same shape as the steel ones was quite difficult and time consuming, however they do look good and are corrosion free. You can see a picture of the engine bay with the air pipes fitted. As a matter of interest apart from the air pipes the only other thing that is not original on my car is the pertronix unit, again this was fitted to vastly improve the ignition.

Near side view of engine bay
Please click image to enlarge.

Fuel injection pumps

For people who need their fuel injection pumps repaired or re set I can recommend the man who repaired the pump on my 6.3. He has had years of experience. I can relise a lot of people may not want to take the pump out and then re fit it ensuring the timing is correct, but for those who are capable and for those who would prefer to take it to a garage to have it taken out then the contact I have listed is very good. You often don’t need to send your pump off to Bosch to have it reconditioned as most just need to be re set or repaired. It is only nessicery to remove the near side air tube (R/H drive) in order to take the injection pump out.

Once your pump comes back and it is re fitted you will in most cases need it to be adjusted to suit your engine, this involves unscrewing the large nut at the back of the pump with the knurled collar sticking out of it. The knurled collar is for the mixture adjustment when first starting the engine, in other words if the engine will not idle when the pump is re fitted then the knurledv collar will have to turned a click at a time. DO NOT EVER TURN THE KNURLED COLLAR WITH THE ENGINE RUNNING, ALL CLICKS WITH THE KNURLED ADJUSTMENT COLLAR MUST BE DONE WITH THE ENGINE STATIONARY. Once the nut is off the mixture adjustment screws can then be turned one click at a time for both high and low engine revs. This will need to be done by someone with the correct testing equipment. I have listed Tower Bridge Diesels who I used, they will also clean and test the injectors.

Back axle

The back axles on these cars are fairly complicated for their day. You often hear how 6.3 axles have been removed for repair. This main reason for this happening is that some owners cannot resist the temptation to put there foot hard down from a standing start and of course with 1960’s 1970’s technology without modern day traction control you run the risk of spinning the wheels and or stripping some teeth inside the differential, and in some cases snapped half shafts. My own 6.3 has had the axle out three times for repair. I hasten to add the last time it was taken out was by J Haynes for a complete overhaul. So in other words do not put your foot down hard from a standing start!

Here are some main points for the axle. Although the following jobs I have listed below can be done with the axle in place although it is often easier to take it out for better access, especially if you are intending to replace most of the rubbers and anti dive bearings. If taking the axle out and apart it is obviously best to replace all the oil and grease seals as well as bearings if the bearings are a number of years old and showing signs of wear. Over the years the large rubber which sits on the bracket going to the differential squashes up, goes hard and perishes as is the case with most rubbers over the years. This can have the effect of making the axle sit at the wrong angle, push upwards and damage the mounting between the two prop shafts, as well as the rubber make a squeaking noise. This rubber is replaceable without taking the axle out of the car. The anti dive bearings are the plastic bearings which are located at the end of the axle next to the wheels. There are four large Allen key bolts per bearing.

These plastic bearings often wear out as they are not greased often enough through the grease nipples located on the bearing cases. The two large rubber bands each side of the bearing cases stop the grease from escaping and the ingress of dirt into the plastic bearings. These rubber bands often perish and allow dirt to get in and grease to escape easily. The anti dive bearings and the rubber bands can be replaced with the axle in the car, after removing all the brake assembly. With the brake assembly off it will allow room to get to the Allen bolts, however these are often rusted in and often require heat to loosen them. The Allen heads will often also be corroded out so either a spline tool or chisel will be needed to remove them along with some heat.

The large rubber bellows which is held on with the two jubilee clips can again be replaced with the axle in position, and often many people use the split bellows that can be glued to avoid having to strip one side of the axle. The adjustment bar which goes from the chassis to the differential should obviously be adjusted correctly, and details of this are in the workshop/service manual. This bar has large rubbers which again over the years go hard and perish and should be replaced. The rubbers on the swinging arms should also be checked for signs of wear. Basically worn rubbers can throw the geometry of the axle out.

Back axle
Please click image to enlarge.

A short film of JMO 9K showing the engine bay as well as the interior recently after restoration. Filmed in 2006

Promotional Film of JMO 9K. Filmed in 2010

The car has also featured in the following magazines.

Practical Classics, July 2006 in a three page article 'Road Test' by Nigel Boothman.
TEL: 01323 831625 if you would like to read the article.

The article 'Cosmic Wheels' is reproduced with permission of the Mercedes Enthusiast august 2006

The Mercedes Enthusiast Magazine is an independant Mercedes Magazine
TEL: 0208 639 4400 www.mercedesenthusiast.co.uk

Engine Bay after Restoration Near Side View

Engine Bay after Restoration Front View

Engine During Rebuild

Engine Nearly Ready To Be Fitted

Engine Bay Front View
Please click image to enlarge

Engine Bay Near Side View

Engine Bay Off Side View

Front Fan View

Interior Front View

Dashboard Clocks

Original 1971 Radio

Front Seats

Rear Seats

JMO 9K Parked next to A Rolls Royce used by the Beatles
Please click image to enlarge

Donovan at the Wheel

On Show at Mercedes Benz World in Surrey UK

JMO 9K on Salisbury Plain
(Photograph courtesy of Dan Trent Mercedes Enthusiast Magazine)

Rear View on Salisbury Plain
(Photograph courtesy of Dan Trent Mercedes Enthusiast Magazine)

The Star!
(Photograph courtesy of Dan Trent Mercedes Enthusiast Magazine)

Underbody Front View

Underbody Rear View

Original Mercedes Benz Fuel Can (Locates Inside Spare Wheel)

Original 1971 German Issue Number Plates

Log Book
Please click image to enlarge

Pink Card
Please click image to enlarge

Sunroof Removed for Restoration

Both Windscreens and Rubbers were Replaced

The Heater Matrix was Completely Rebuilt

Both Quarter Lights and Rubbers were Replaced

Many Nuts and Bolts for the Bin! Nearly all Nuts and Bolts Throughout the Car were Replaced

Nearly all Rubbers and Linkages were Replaced

All Rubbers Covering the Wiring Loom were Replaced

Air Bellow Chambers Before and after Restoration

Air Suspension Supports (in case suspension fails)

Wheel Wedges

Radio Blank

Sales Brochure
Please click image to enlarge