1963 Mercedes-Benz 220 SE Coupe

We are delighted to be able to offer you this European-spec Mercedes-Benz 220 SE Coupé. Recently imported from the West Coast of the United States of America in August 2019 after making its way there from Switzerland many years ago, all UK duties and VAT have been paid and there is a V5 registration document in the owner’s name showing no previous UK owners.

In the care of the vendor for the past nine months, it is finished in its original colour scheme of black coachwork with a contrasting red leather interior. Fitted with the ultra-reliable and powerful 2.3-litre engine and automatic gearbox, along with the optional power steering, it is the ultimate boulevard cruiser.

A ‘matching numbers’ example, it’s unusual specification is further bolstered by the presence of the rare middle seat option. The owner bought it - after a long search for this colour combination - with the intention of restoring it but is now forced to reluctantly offer it for sale.

So, if effortless cool and shabby chic are your thing, then please take the time to browse through the extensive photo collection. It’s a lovely old barge, and would make a wonderful rolling restoration with an enthusiast for whom design is as important as top-flight engineering.

My word; she’s gorgeous, isn’t she? We usually steer clear of giving cars genders, but she’s a grand old dame and kinda named herself.

Quite possibly still wearing her original factory paint, albeit blistered in places, she’s going to need the attentions of a decent welder in a couple of places before she sees the inside of a paint shop. It is, the owner tells us, the usual areas that need work so you’ll need to direct your initial efforts towards both sills, both rear wheelarches, and the front cross member. He tells us that all the panels are readily available from Germany via specialists.

Other than blisters and cracks, the paintwork is okay. It’s certainly not going to win any prizes, but a sympathetic owner might focus their efforts on preserving what’s there because it’s original and as such worth preserving for as long as possible.

And, the chromework is, the vendor says, the best he’s ever seen on those he examined. Possibly re-chromed at some point it’s holding up very well and just needs a decent polish to bring it up to a very good standard.

The glass is good, as are the light lenses, including those huge, and presumably expensive, headlamps. The badging appears to be all there too, and the chrome radiator grille, which dominates the front of the car and acts as a foil to the trademark headlamps, is good. As a Euro-spec car, it’s got a simpler, cleaner look than the more usual US models, which is another tick in its favour.

The 13-inch (13-inch!) steel wheels are good, and covered with the original chromed hubcaps. They’re shod with decent, and matching, Cross Climate all-season tyres.

As we will never tire of explaining, our experience shows that matching high-quality tyres are an infallible sign of a caring and mechanically sympathetic owner who is prepared to spend the appropriate amount in maintaining their car properly. Their presence does not, of course, preclude the need for a thorough inspection - something the vendor would welcome, by the way – but do give you a shortcut into their attitude towards maintenance.

The interior is wonderful, if decidedly more patinated than most of us would feel comfortable with. That said, restoring it is the sort of straightforward job that you could either throw money at (and maybe less than you think; read on…) to get a pro to do the heavy lifting, or use it as an opportunity to learn some new skills and save some money into the bargain.

The west-coast sun has played havoc with the leather, so it’ll need completely re-trimming unless you’re an authenticity obsessive, in which case you might be able to get away with replacing just the centre sections. The owner has researched what is needed and has discovered that a factory quality, pre-made leather interior can be bought for £1500 from an independent specialist; this will then just need to be fitted by your trimmer of choice.

The Ivory steering wheel is a little cracked, but it could easily be professionally refurbished – and it’s so wonderfully OTT that to replace it with anything else is probably illegal.

Other problems are the interior lower windscreen wooden trim, which needs the veneer renewing on it, and the rear parcel shelf, which is peeling heavily.

Other than that, the rest is all pretty good. The extensive wooden trim is good – and just take a look at the way it swoops its way around the instrument cluster, across the dashboard and up the A-pillars, joined in a supporting role by red leather, decent chrome and a full suite of Art Deco-influenced VDO instruments; it’s all utterly gorgeous, it’s worth the price of entry just to be able to sit and look at that.

It still has the period correct radio, which is often missing and is, the owner assures us, worth a lot of money by itself. He thinks it still works too, telling us that it just needs wiring up as a previous owner had installed a more modern one in its place.

The roof lining is good, being taut and clean and free of droops and sags. The red carpet is decent too, with no wear or holes, and should clean up well.

More good news; the owner has sourced an original rotary light switch and a new knob from Mercedes-Benz as a previous owner had replaced this with a modern switch, which looks dreadful.

The boot floor is solid, even if it is suffering from a little surface rust in places. The tyre on the spare wheel is new.

The owner has replaced (with genuine Mercedes-Benz parts from the MB Historics department natch) the oil and filter, the fuel and air filters, the sparks plugs, rotor arm, distributor cap and ballast resistor, and changed the ignition barrel. It has also been fitted with a heavy duty Bosch battery and an upgraded Bosch fuel pump.

It has just come back from a Mercedes-Benz specialist; it went in for a new timing chain and to have the valve clearances checked and adjusted, but the former had already been done only recently, so only the latter was carried out at a cost of £360.00.

Fitted with a FireBall electronic ignition system, the owner reports that the engine is “super sweet and starts instantly from cold. It’s nice to roll all the windows down and stick it and gear and just cruise.”

The car will be supplied with a new set of quality HT leads and a genuine coolant thermostat.

The underside is, apart from the areas we’ve already identified as needing work, pretty solid and it looks like it’s fit to see off another half-century after having been welded. There’s a new exhaust under there too.

The Mercedes doesn’t have a current MOT certificate, and while it is exempt by virtue of its age, we would strongly encourage the new owner to have the car re-MOT’d at the earliest. The cost of an MOT is a small investment when offset against the purchase and upkeep of any classic car, and it gives an independent, third-party assessment of the car’s condition, which not only provides reassurance to the owner (and any subsequent purchasers) but might also be invaluable in the event of a bump when negotiating with the police and any interested insurance companies…

The car comes with two sets of keys, its MB wallet with the original handbooks, plus various bills and invoices, including some big bills from its time in the USA.

The vendor has also obtained a copy of the original data card from Mercedes-Benz, and it confirms that everything is correct, the exterior and interior colours are as they were when it was first built, and that the engine is still the original.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of this and other paperwork.

If you’d like to inspect the car prior to placing a bid – something we would encourage – then please use the Contact Seller button to arrange an appointment.

NB. We know that many of you will be limiting your social exposure over the coming days and weeks, so if you’d rather not come to see the car in person, please give the vendor a call and ask him if he can shoot a personal video of the car honing in on any areas you’d like him to concentrate on. 

The vendor has now supplied a pair of videos with the car on the road - they can be seen at https://vimeo.com/417698282 and https://vimeo.com/415892703.

At a time when the world and his dog are driving the Citroen ID/DS and thinking themselves unironically cool, the opportunity to get behind the wheel of something undeniably cooler and much rarer should be taken seriously.

Yes, there’s some work to do but it’s nothing your local independent Mercedes-Benz specialist can’t handle, and by the time the welding and trimming has been done, you’ll have a wonderfully patinated, utterly solid slice of German shabby chic that will out-pose anything you neighbours are driving with their no-deposit-£400-a-month PCP-special rapidly depreciating on the driveway.

And, don’t forget that you will be adding value with everything refurbishment you make; cars like this hold their value extremely well, and a rolling restoration over the next few years would allow you to spread the cost while reaping the benefits of owning and driving one of the most charming cars we’ve seen all year.

It’s exempt from road tax, and because it is listed as ‘Historic’ on the V5, it’s also exempt from the Central London Congestion and ULEZ charge. This would make it an awesome car for smoking around the capital in. #justsaying

As for how much it’s going to set you back, we think the numbers will read somewhere between £16,500 and £23,000 by the time the dust has settled., which is good value when you consider that the best cars were fetching almost six-figures not that long ago…

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with the vendor in Bracknell; to arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.

If needed, please remember we have a network of trusted suppliers we work with regularly and can recommend: Classic & Sportscar Finance for purchase-financing, Footman James for classic car insurance Thames Valley Car Storage for storing your car and AnyVan for transporting it.

BORING, but IMPORTANT: Please note that whilst we at The Market always aim to offer the most descriptive and transparent auction listings available, we cannot claim they are perfect analyses of any of the vehicles for sale. We offer far greater opportunity for bidders to view, or arrange inspections for each vehicle thoroughly prior to bidding than traditional auctions, and we never stop encouraging bidders to take advantage of this. We do take a good look at the vehicles delivered to our premises for sale, but this only results in our unbiased personal observations, not those of a qualified inspector or other professional, or the result of a long test drive.

Additionally, please note that most of the videos on our site have been recorded using simple cameras which often result in 'average' sound quality; in particular, engines and exhausts notes can sound a little different to how they are in reality.

Please note that this is sold as seen and that, as is normal for used goods bought at auction, the Sale of Goods Act 1979 does not apply. See our FAQs for more info, and feel free to inspect any vehicle as much as you wish.