Restoration Tale: 1929 Mercedes Kit Car
My car is a restored Kit car – a 1929 Mercedes built on a 1970 VW frame and engine. A friend found it in a barn with chickens laying eggs in it, he bought it and completely took it apart but then lost interest and sold it to me. It took two pickup trucks and a trailer to get it home, after which I spent a year restoring it.
For bumper ends, rather than leaving it an open-pipe look, I turned down some oak pieces to fill the ends of the bumper. I couldn’t find a replacement grille so I had one made out of stainless steel, which took forever to polish but it was worth it in the end. Different grinders and polishing tools were used to get the stainless steel grille back in shape after wielding on it to fashion the grille. The chromed engine was rebuilt and then put back in place before painting everything prior to reassembly.
Living in the South I never got around to putting a convertible top on it, so I refer to it as a roadster and keep a sharp eye on the weather.
Throughout the entire process I had some problems and challenges, but it all worked out and in the end it was a great pleasure to complete.
– Bill Witty,
Montegut, LA
