A few years ago, I was riding my bicycle on an old rail bed when I discovered a pair of heckflossen at a hack mechanic near my house. They were complete and in decent condition overall. One was a 220S and the other was a two tone Euro 220SE with a sunroof and column shift 4 speed manual. I chatted with the mechanic and said, "if the owner wants to sell one after the repairs were done to the other, I would like to buy the donor car." I never got a call and both cars disappeared. Since then, I saw them disappear and reappear at several locations across the city, but I didn't meet the owner until recently.

Through a tip from a mutual friend, I learned that one or both of the cars would be for sale in the near future. I saw the pair at a new location near a building where I work, so I stopped by to take a look. I was intercepted by the owner, I introduced myself and we chatted for quite some time. He explained that a series of local shops did poor quality repairs to the 220SE, and the 220S was cannibalized in part to restore the 220SE. The straw that broke the camel's back was that a tow truck driver lost the key to the 220SE, and it was left on the grass in front of his cafe.

I expressed my sincere interest in the cars and he offered me the pair at a great price if I could get them out quickly. (Upstate NY winter is coming!) The 220SE runs, but is missing the key and needs brake work. The 220S has a seized engine and is partially stripped, however, the parts are in storage and the body is surprisingly not rusty. A significant amount of spare parts to restore both cars was included in the sale.

Yesterday afternoon, with the help of the seller and a friend, I dragged the 220SE to temporary storage. I will return later in the week to gather the spare parts and the 220S once my storage spot is ready.

My plan is to sympathetically restore the 220SE to be a fair weather daily driver, and I'm playing with some ideas to make the best use out of the 220S. I'm not 100% sure that it is viable at this point, but I am toying with the idea of building some kind of restomod or a partially stripped road rally car using some of the parts I've salvaged from other Mercedes-Benz cars.

A heckflosse is something I've wanted for quite some time, and to have a pair of heckflossen is certainly a real treat. These two will be great stablemates to my W116 280SE and W124 300E AMG.

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1963 Mercedes-Benz W111 220SE | 1965 Mercedes-Benz W111 220S
1966 Volvo 122S Wagon | 1969 Volvo 1800S
1972 Mercedes-Benz W108 280SE 4.5 | 1977 Mercedes-Benz W116 280SE "Rude Benz"
1986 Mercedes-Benz W124 300E AMG | 1996 Volvo 960 Wagon