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Originally posted by Art Love

I'm intrigued by your statement that the back of the glove box door was always plain brown with a satin finish. I don't think that the glove box doors on any of the 6.3's I have owned have been redone and all have the same timber type on the back as the front..

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Yes, you're right Art. I guess I had the French Walnut finish in my head, which looks like plain brown when it has the satin finish. They never were glossy however.

The inside of the glovebox door from my 6.3 has been signed in silver pen by both Paul Bracq and Erich Waxenberger. I lightly scuffed the surface finish to provide a good surface for the pen, then had Drew spray clear satin over the back to protect the signatures.

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Originally posted by paul-NL

The gloveboxdoor is in my opinion a singel peace of wood what never had been veneered (in the factory). Just the edges which cover the sides were offen finished with a "darker" finish.

If it is veneered it is IMHO not original ...

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I can guaranteed you that all of the wood in these cars is veneered plywood. If it was solid wood it would warp over time. If you have ever seen the dashtop bow from a car with a bad window seal leak, you can see all of the layers from the plywood separating like pages in a book. The side edges are painted black.

The gloveboxdoor is in my opinion a singel peace of wood what never had been veneered (in the factory). Just the edges which cover the sides were offen finished with a "darker" finish.

If it is veneered it is IMHO not original ...

Michael,

I'm intrigued by your statement that the back of the glove box door was always plain brown with a satin finish. I don't think that the glove box doors on any of the 6.3's I have owned have been redone and all have the same timber type on the back as the front. I certainly would not argue about the satin finish, most of the wood in the cars I have bought has been pretty satin on the outside by the time I have acquired them, let alone the inside[:)]. Have a look at the recent photo of #765 on its thread. We definitely did not reveneer anything, just used the shade on the back of the door to try to match the rest.

Art

To me both wood sets look like the work of the same person. Weren't both cars restored by E Thiesen?

That is correct for the silver 6.3.

According that datacard that car should have blue velours.
But now it has blue leather. So the complete interior must have been changed including the doorpanels. In that case I can imagin, they changed also the cable for the electric windows.

As far as I know the green car is original.

There are a couple of reasons why I have a hard time believing the wood is original.

This is a later car with power window switches between the seats, but in addition to the early style metal dash strip, both the glove box door and the ashtray are the early style with a single flat piece of wood. Look at the picture of the later car with a green interior to see how the later style ashtray and door are completely different. If this is the original maple finish, when they converted the dash to the early style, they would have had to reveneer an early style ashtray face and glove box door to match the original color, wood grain, and finish perfectly, an almost impossible task. Also, the back of the glovebox door was always plain brown with a satin finish, not veneered and with a high gloss like this car.

I agree that the chrome strip on the wood seems not to be original. That chrome strip belongs only on the first W108 250-ers and may be on the first W109 300 SE L 3.0 Ltr.

The early 6.3 had a plastic strip like the top of the dash. May be the owner let it change to the chrome strip. But the wood is original.

Never tooo old to learn [:)] Did not know that maple is the translation for ahorn !

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Originally posted by paul-NL

Still unclear to me if it is normal Ahorn or Vogelaugen Ahorn, while one fellow called it Vogelaugen Ahorn, but in which last case it should have pickels in the quirled Ahorn

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Another resurrected old thread!

Actually it's both. Ahorn is German for maple, and Vogelaugenahorn is birdseye maple, which is what you see on the inside surface of the door. The outside veneer would normally be called quilted, flamed, or curly maple. So my original assesment was correct.

I still don't accept that it's original to the car however.

It is now clear, that that woodtype is defenitly AHORN, about ten times build in on special Kundenwunsch.


Still unclear to me if it is normal Ahorn or Vogelaugen Ahorn, while one fellow called it Vogelaugen Ahorn, but in which last case it should have pickels in the quirled Ahorn

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Originally posted by paul-NL

Mike, that's the car I drove. Marvelous technical feeling, so good !

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As long as it's a cool day. (note, no A/C)

Mike, that's the car I drove. Marvelous technical feeling, so good !

Here's the green interior with similar wood.

Mike, I usualy are as suspicious as you, me be a bit extra more, but in this case I was so impressed by that car's orginality I can't imagin it is not factory delivered. Better: I am totaly convinced it was.

W108/109 cars came with three types of wood. All W108s and those W109s with blue interiors had a light brown French walnut with a pretty smooth grain. Other W109s with non blue interiors had either burl walnut or Macassar ebony.

As with everything else, I suppose anything was possible with a special order, although I am usually suspicious of such explanations.

I searched again on internet and I believe it is more:

quilted Honduran Mahogany ..... ????

The difference you noticed on the foto between the front and the backside, was not in the green car. That one has the same front and backside. May the the flashlight made it seem different while taken from a different angle.

The metal strip (aluminum, not actually chrome) was used from the start of W108/109 until 1967, but never on a 6.3. The plastic strip was then used until mid 1969 when they changed to the no strip version.

Here is one of the original factory press photos from the 6.3 launch in 1968.

Mike, you are right.

That chrome striping does not match with the windowswitches in the blue interior.

I did not notice that before [:D]

I think the 600 might have always had a polished back on the glovebox door.

There is no way that that door in the picture is solid wood, just a very nice veneering job. For starters, the front face is quilted, while the back is birdseye, so they come from completely different parts of the tree.

The car is a later one with the early style chrome strip added during the wood restoration. Note that it has the plastic tray with power window switches, and a gear lever with park at the top.

I also think it's interesting that the car has a stereo radio, but no stereo speaker setup (at least up front).

I didn't take any word from a seller or buyer [:D]. The way the glovebox was made from one piece wood without any vineer, brought me to thoughts that it has to be original.

But what you are thinking, that the backside of the glovebox was always without a glossy finish, I will check in my 600. I never noticed that the backface was different from the front.
That glovebox is one piece of wood.
The shown fotocar is an very early one with the chrome marking in the middle. That was original so.
The one the Hamburger bought from Werner in Austria was a very late one # 5721 !!, but I forgot to take foto's. The openingshandle was different. The shown foto has no openingshandle.

Here is a early dasboard from a mirbach 6.3 with a "Plastic striping"




Autch, took the wrong picture.
Here is the good one for the platsc striping: