Mercedes 500SEL Restoration - Carat Duchatelet/AMG

[jaymanek]

Well we love our restorations on MBClub, so here is one I have been working on.
p.s. mods I cannot seem to post this in the projects section?

So ive had this late 1991 500SEL sitting in my garden for years. I bought as a job lot with a few W126 to break.
However this was always too good to break and intended on doing something with it one day. Only thing wrong with it was a slipping transmission and rusty chrome bumpers.

Its the perfect colour combo being midnight blue with cream leather, exactly the same as my SEC.

So over the years I have been collecting parts from various sources.

Ive been hounding the bodyshop to do this one for me, but after all the work on the widebody and the W124 AMG Estate, my bodyshop arent a fan of my "old Mercs" due to the amount of rust remediation required!

Anyway, I got a bit excited when they said they had some time to start it, so forgot to take a before picture, but here we go:

Ill update regularly.

 

[d w124]

Jay:You can`t start a thread on the projects,but I`m sure a mod will move it there

 

[d w124]

Anymore pictures Jay

 

[jaymanek]

lol be patient... i was planning on adding more daily.

 

[clk208]

Fantastic - look forward to following progress on this.

 

[jaymanek]

Whilst the boys work on the bodywork, i make a start on the interior items.
Before it went to the bodyshop I spent a couple of days stripping out all of the wood trim for refurbishment aswell as packaging up some of the rare items I had collected.
Thanks again to a good friend of mine who has a fetish for 80's automotive exotica for supplying some of the rarer items.

 

[KillerHERTZ]

This isnt the mint SEL I saw undercover, inside when I bought my CLK I take it?

Whats the story with that one?

 

[jaymanek]

Yes!

 

[KillerHERTZ]

So, have you already finished this? - confused?!?

 

[jaymanek]

So, have you already finished this? - confused?!?

yes but didnt have time to post earlier this year so going to tell the story now..

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Well from the very brief preview I saw, it looked fantastic finished!

 

[d w124]

Well from the very brief preview I saw, it looked fantastic finished!

Don`t spoil it you can move it to the project section if you can though

 

[Dee-124CAB]

Are we gonna have a daily episode to enjoy in that case?

PS: That is ALOT of walnut trim right there !....

 

[jaymanek]

Are we gonna have a daily episode to enjoy in that case?

PS: That is ALOT of walnut trim right there !....

Yes will post up a bit daily...

 

[V12]

Lovely wanli tyres.

 

[jaymanek]

Now in tyre heaven..

 

[jaymanek]

Some Stripping and initial paint removal

Carat Duchatelet Bumpers destined for the car - I decided not to go AMG on this one..

Old wings too rotten, in the skip, new ones on their way from the fatherland.

Removal of the rear lamp and we find a few small holes, later welded up.

 

[jaymanek]

Off comes more paint

All Welded Up and now to smooth the area

Took the rear screen out to ensure none of the usual corrosion had set in and only found a very small amount so welded up.

Wheel Arch Welded and smoothed.

Bit of a rusty bracket to be addressed.

Few small imperfections in bonnet being smoothed.

 

[grumpyoldgit]

Great thread, nice to see the work involved in the restoration. Being somewhat of a Merc newbie..... is it just cosmetic differences between the Carat Duchatelet and AMG models?

 

[jaymanek]

Hi Yes there were various tuning companies in the 80's.

Here are some examples of the Carat Duchatelet conversions
Carat by Duchatelet Cullinan

and AMG ones:

AMG Mercedes-Benz S-class 280SE - 500SEL / 560SEL W126