1929 Mercedes Gazelle Facelift

[karguy12]

Not a huge fan of the Mercedes Replica Gazelle. It's VW based, so I like that, but they really missed the mark, especially on the face of the car. It doesn't look like a Mercedes, doesn't look good and comes off kind of cheap looking. Plus, 95% of them were gel coat beige with brown fenders. While it may have been popular in the 80's, it's not a very attractive color combo today.

So when one fell into my lap, I considered just moving it immediately on to someone else. The car itself was originally built in the mid 80's but never finished. Then in 2016 the owner pulled it back out and finished it with a total spent of $16,000, not counting the cost of the original body. Then he put 15 miles on it and stopped driving it. So besides being a little dusty, it was like new. Completely rebuilt engine and trans, all new brakes, wheels, tires, interior, etc.

So I took pity on it. I decided I would give it a facelift, my style. Could it be made to look semi-cool?

First things first, I decided to remove everything that was ugly. That means the grille, headlight bar, Shave the turn signals, those stupid horns, the ugly rear bumper that looked like a stepping stool. and lots of little things.

[karguy12]

So the strip down starts....

[karguy12]

First order of business was replacing that super ugly fake looking grille. After looking over a few REAL Mercedes grilles, a 1959 grille from a pontoon Benz seemed to be the closest to the Gazelle grille. Getting one close would make it easier to refit the fiberglass body to match the grille contour.

While the grille fit pretty decent considering, the body had to be narrowed about 3/4 of an inch and the front of the car body cut back about 4 inches. I also cut relief cuts into the floor section in the nose so the body could be narrowed

I literally cut the nose off of the whole front body section. I reinstalled the front hood drip moldings. I used a long threaded rod to pull the two body sides narrower and then glassed the nose cap back in 4 inches farther back.

The original Mercedes grille actually worked perfectly by sitting it over the lip of the original from hood drip rail.

[karguy12]

I split the hood down the middle about a foot and reshaped the hood crest to match the top of the Mercedes grille. I had to ad about 1/3" of fiberglass to fill in the gap and had to add about 1/2" to the top crest to get it to fit properly.

[karguy12]

I then used a pair of 1973 Mercedes 450SEL front bumper over riders to replace the ugly "step" bumpers that I removed. They fit pretty good and the sides lined up perfectly with the fender body line.

[karguy12]

The original headlight location was way too high and way too far apart making the entire front end look weird. I also wanted to emulate some of the 540K Mercedes by using a set of headlights along with a larger vintage style fog light. I found a pair of spot lights from an old fire truck for $50 that had lenses that matched the grille squares of the original Mercedes grille I was using. I made pedestal bases for them that would locate them just inside the frame rails and just above the original bumper.

I will be using a pair of 5" stainless hot rod headlight stands to move the headlights in lower and closer together.

[karguy12]

Paint is a Corvette red that is not too bright or orangey to give it a vintage color. Single stage urethane no sanding and buffing. Stretched two quarts to try and keep costs down. It will match the dark tan interior better.

[karguy12]

Starting to come together now. The old gas filler was under the hood so You had to open the hood to put gas in it. So I relocated the filler to the cowl using a 68 Mustang filler neck and a 1968 Plymouth Barracuda flip top gas cap. Going to lose the whitewalls and a few other minor changes. Will post photos when it is complete.

Now just some reassembly and a few more simple touches.

[oprn]

My first reaction was "Leave it alone and sent it to me!"

Having seen what you have done to it I have changed my mind. It looks much classier now for sure.

But... the color change was definitely NOT an improvement! That cheapened the whole thing badly in my view. Now don't think I am a red hater, not so, most of my cars are red and I love red! But not on that one - no! Try a cream body - maroon, deep blue or black fenders, maroon body- black fenders, pale dusty rose body - maroon or black fenders, silver body - black, maroon or deep blue fenders. Or to accentuate the fenders ( if that is your favorite part) reverse the colors and do a dark body with light fenders.

And pinstriping, a bit of subtle hand done pinstriping...


That car begs to be two tone and there are so many combinations that would do it so much more justice! To me it changed the personality of the car from a classic touring car to a "I wish I had a race car but I don't so I will fake it!" look.

Just my personal view, don't take it personally you did a very nice job on the other changes!

[karguy12]

I considered two tone, but in reality, actual Mercedes were hardly ever tutone and this rear section of the body of these Gazelles have as much style as a fat mailbox. When they are tutone it makes it more obvious. Most cars of the 30's were also not tutone. Not that anyone would mistake this car from an actual car from the 30's. lol By painting it all one color it slightly hides the squareness of the main body a little bit.

The "red" is "retail" red hoping to make it sellable.

[oprn]

[heywebonya]

Wow, what an amazing transformation. Good work.
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If I knew what I was doing; I wouldn't be building a buggy!

[Wetstuff]

I give you all A's K-G. You did some nice work and good thinking. The color is fine also; it's not a real anything - 'just an expression of a period theme - you clearly improved upon.

The only thing that snagged my eye was the headlamp placement. I had a '53 Merc 300 Sedan in the Army in Germany - it's driving lamps look like your headlamps.

Jim
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Manx #2614

[jwp67]

It is a personal choice on the color. I love it! So much better than that bland two tone. Great improvement on the grill, bumpers and lights. That looks so much better now. Great job, you should be proud!

I'd drive it.
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21 million of these cars were built,and everyone of them were sold...kinda astounding given how unreliable they are.---johhnypan

[finster]

[karguy12]

Now with the actual Headlights installed.

[karguy12]

[oprn]

Wow! Details please!

[oprn]

Wow! Details please!

[karguy12]

It has its own Facebook page about how it was built.

https://www.facebook.com/Boatswagon-1445215595788219/