By Marcal Eilenstein
I’m continually surprised by the sheer variety of cars in this area; just a few weeks ago, I was sitting in traffic next to a black MP4-12C. I’ve seen a blue Superbird on the highway. I’ve seen bro trucks, low riders, ricers, and rally cars (on a trailer this weekend!). If the Seattle area has anything to offer the car scene, it’s variety. Click past the break to meet Hitchcock.
This is Hitchcock, an apt name for a car, if ever there was one. It’s a 1972 Mercedes-Benz 220 sedan. It’s hard to believe that in Bellevue, burgeoning metropolis that it is, you could find a decent old Mercedes, parked behind an actual HOUSE (not a high-rise condo) that doesn’t move but runs like a top! As the seller indicates, it does need a new transmission. I’m not a Mercedes aficionado by any means, so some of you can weigh in on how reliable these transmissions were.
Like Hitchcock, it’s a little rough around the edges,
but imminently loveable.
If only Hitchcock could talk, he could probably tell a few tales.
Over to you – would you adopt this understated little Merc? It’s hard to beat for the price.
Jeff Glucker
Oh man, I've been wanting one of these for years, but all the ones in my area have more rust than I want to deal with. I envision a RB26 with a nice big single turbo system under the hood, because why not? It's a damn good thing for my girlfriend that this is too far away from me, or she'd have another project sitting in the driveway 🙂
That's a damn good price for the apparent condition. Sure, it'll need some love, but the body looks to be very very solid, and a great place to start a restomod project from.
My wife told me that by the end of the day there better be one less project sitting in the driveway so I moved my lawn chair into the garage.
Pushing one or more cars onto the lawn is an equally valid strategy.
Ranz Motorsports put a 2JZ in a 280 Coupe. http://badcopnodonuts.com/2012/10/28/ranz-motorsp…
That is less rusty than most. I'd take a look at the driver's floor too but looks decent from the photos. It has the later plastic grill but still has the nice older style interior and tail lights. Usually it is the carbs on the gas models that go back on these. I've got a spare 4spd from my parts diesel but not sure if it would swap over.
Here is mine – 1970 220D bought for $500. I bought the parts car for an extra $250.
<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8224/8355904639_888d71489d_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="1970 Mercedes-Benz 220D rear">
I sense another entry into a Hooniverse calendar…
Awesome photo.
Thanks – I hope to get the car looking a little better by summer time. Some rust repair needs to be done.
The carpet is pretty dirty, and around here, I would pay careful attention to any moisture inside the car. You wouldn't believe how fast stuff can start growing in wet carpet.
Barring that, it seems like a pretty good deal to me.
Growing up in Bellevue, these were plentiful. But that was when you could rent an older ranch house with it's own yard right in downtown … for cheap.
You've been away from Bellevue a while, haven't you?
Oh, I know what it's like today but I also remember what it was like when nobody wanted to live in the Seattle area. If only I'd started buying real estate when I got out of school.
Bellevue was originally the rural alternative to living in Seattle. Ferries ran across the lake every day, so you could go to work in Seattle, and be home working the garden in the evening.
Bellevue was famous for its strawberry crop. Where Bellevue Square now stands was a strawberry field.
The patches (strawberries, blueberries) still exist. You just have to look for them a little bit.
True.Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
The only standalone houses I can think of anywhere close to downtown Bellevue have been converted to small businesses, and even those are disappearing fast. They tore down two of them just recently to build another mixed use tower.
There are still a bit of them between 17th and 12th west of 112th. Also south of old Bellevue. But yes, they're getting more rare.
Love this body style. Love the paint color and the patina. I could drive this car for a long, long time.
Send me $800 and I'll pick it up for you.
¡Ay, caramba! That is seriously tempting.
But my wife will kill me if I buy another car before finishing the three in the back yard.
Ooooh, Valentine's Day is Thursday. Maybe I could buy it for her.
I'm just sayin . . .
What's going on in the middle of the hood? Looks like something tried to escape the engine bay.
<img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/redlabelmoto/RLM%202/IMG_2957.jpg">
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That's the John Hurt edition Mercedes.
'Twas a baby Alien.
<img src="http://successwarrior.typepad.com/chronicles/images/2007/09/02/alien.jpg" width=300>
I work in southwest Bellevue (Factoria/Eastgate area). Downtown is a few minutes away. My lunchtime run loops me through largely residential streets where I frequently pass interesting machinery. While Lexus, Audi, Fisker, and Telsla Model S may own everything east of I-405, you can find an E-type, Rolls, and some sweet Chevy trucks if you know where to look closer to Lake Sammamish. There was a corner house that had no less than four Pugeot 405s in the driveway. One of them probably ran. Just down the road, a gangster Mercedes 560 coupe with WSU plates sits dripping oil on the driveway. I really should mix up my route to see what else I can find.
I got my former Sonett from a guy who lived along Lake Sammamish. By "lived along" I mean that his house was served by a short, steep driveway which ended at the lake. It was a little unnerving dragging the car out of the spot where it had been sitting for about 25 years, as, absent any working brakes, it would have taken a swim had it gotten away from us. The seller insisted I pay cash, in full, first.
If you'd lost it you would have made a swan song from a Sonett.
Ha! – excellent!!
Meh! Drop in a MB 3.5l baby V-8 and get rid of the 3-piece driveshaft. Put in the 2-piece unit and the later model rear pumpkin. Leave the brown cancer in with a coating of Rustoleum primer as q-ship camo. Awesomeness unbounded…pz.