So here is my latest classic car. It is a little rough on the body side but quite a charming car. The interior is usable as is. I've started to do some bodywork over the winter. The suspension will need a refresh too. The front fenders are awful. Truly terrible but I also bought a parts car with it to sort that as well as for a few bits and pieces - side view mirror, etc.
Engine is a 2.2L OM615 diesel engine and four speed manual gearbox. Makes a whole 60hp but engine was rebuilt not too many miles ago. It is slow but not nearly as bad as one would think. Pretty decent around town but certainly not a high speed highway cruiser.
A quick few photos before it hit the garage.
Looks good! I've been sparaticaly looking at these as a nice daily driver so keep us posted.
Nice! I like those, a lot of us had them in Germany as broke students and have fond memories of them.
I had a 72 (white) and a 70 parts car, also blue. I know a lot about them. 26 MPG (US gallons). Call your shots in traffic. Rust in front of the door and rear quarter panel.
The rust on mine is the worst in the front fender. Unbelievably horrible here - I don't even want to post of photo of it until I fix it. This lead to to rust by the driver's floor. I have some in the rear quarter panels too. The other bit I have is below the rear tail light - you can see the bumper is a bit saggy due to bumper mount being rusted out too - the previous owner tied it to a bit of wood in the bumper - nice!
I believe my grill is incorrect for the year but the parts car has the correct - not that it is going the concourse circuit.
Mine is pretty much third world taxi cab spec - roll up windows, no rear defrost, etc.
As far as I know, they all had roll up windows. All the ones I've seen, anyway. The fact that they are taxi cabs the world over is one of the reasons I bought one. Get the factory shop manuals. Once you figure out how they are organized, they are fantastic. The AC will blow you out of there. Of course, it takes about half the output of that 46 HP motor to run. The 72 had a standard York compressor. The 70 had a different American compressor.
I rebuilt the motor and put >70K on it. It started to fall apart around the motor. I eventually got tired of having to fix whatever fell off the car in the past month on my one day a month off. Or more like 3/4ths of one day off that I got each month. It got real old real fast and I sold it for five bills with probably broken motor mounts (I didn't care anymore). It was pretty easy to work on. Like shocks: To get to the top mount nut, it is right under a relay bracket. The Germans put a hole in the bracket just big enough to get a socket through so you can get to the nut. A US car of the era probably would have welded a panel over the nut as they laughed at whoever would have to change that shock out later.
Hoop
SuperDork
1/21/13 9:26 p.m.
Nice car! I want one badly.
Mine doesn't have A/C - I think pretty close to a no option car. Does have a AM radio 
My 72 had factory AC. The 70 had what appeared to be a dealer added on AC unit under the dash. As I said, the compressors were a little different as well. I think the under the dash unit was MB, just put on either at the dealer or the factory did them as an after thought. The 72 unit was all inside the dash like a regular system.
Looks great! A German mechanic told me a long time ago:
"You know what diesel sounds like?"
(mechanical voice)
"Savingmoneysavingmoneysavingmoney"
Former girlfriend's parents had a 74' back in the day. It was the slowest car
I had ever driven up to that point, but the interior was cool, especially the
large steering wheel that came with it. Roll on!
Meet the parts car - another 220D with a 4spd stick - this time a nasty '71
I'm maybe about 1/3 of the way stripping it down thus far
Parts car stripped and sent away.
I've swapped the rear shocks from the parts car on. Also the gearshift leaver, coolant valve and some small bits. Next up is front fender replacement.
Wonderful machine. I had a 72 220 gas model when I was stationed in Germany.
Leo
We need an update. I've done a ton of body work thus far.
replaced horrible fender with the one from the parts car - had to do a bit of welding to repair it.
Well I got the fender repaired and a few other spots. The car is now been primed and re-painted. I still need to wet sand it down in a few days once the paint hardens a bit more. Will start to look better as more of the chrome goes back on.
I've always wanted on of these. Problem is you can't find one that not rusted to pieces.
My dad had one when I was in high school, a 72 220D with an auto. It was tragicly slow but a great cruiser. His was pretty mint.
Mine is a long way from mint but I like it. Should get plates tomorrow I hope.
A bit dirty here as the garage is rather dusty. Still need the bottom bit of chrome trim to go on but definitely getting there. I need the bit to hold down the trim on the windshield too. The plastic grill swapped out for the chrome one. Just about there.
That looks great and you got on it FAST
Thanks. Still some bits and pieces to be done. It will never be perfect but it is now officially my daily driver.
Excellent! Any other pictures of it?
I just realized I should take some of the rear too. Here is a little album
http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveseven/sets/72157632455600695/with/9006607414/
It started out like this. I didn't quite match the colour on the repaint though.
Really pretty, whats your MPG like?
