The inner wings and several pieces of the bulkhead from the 1987 Mercedes 500SL have been finished in thick durable Raptorguard by the Bridge Classic Cars in-house paint shop.
Alan, one of our painters, has been working on completing this task as part of the final paint stages on the classic Mercedes R107. This stage involved coating several key areas of the car with a thick, durable Raptorguard. This particular product seals the surface from any form of moisture that can find its way inside the metal. So, the team have finished the inside of the front wings and several key parts of the bulkhead and heater matrix.
With this done and now curing, the team can soon begin reassembly of the classic Mercedes 500SL.
The bonnet of the 1987 Mercedes 500SL has been taken into the Bridge Classic Cars paint shop to be painted by our in-house paint team.
The piece has been beautifully prepared and readied to go into the booth with our painter Alan to shoot the layers of Selenit Grey needed to complete the deep, glossy paintwork which has been done to the body of the classic Mercedes.
The 1987 Mercedes 500SL has been moved from the preparation area at Bridge Classic Cars into the paint shop and then, into our in-house paint booth/oven.
The paint and body team, along with the fabrication shop, have spent a lot of time getting the classic R107 ready for its date with the paint booth making sure each part, panel and piece was perfect before beginning the painting process.
The car is being finished in a classic Mercedes colour, Selenet Grey. Most notably seen on the classic 280SL Pagodas, it was chosen to compliment the beautiful burgundy red interior that the trim team have made for the car.
So, with the car ready it was time for Alan and Nick to go into the booth with the car and lay down the first coat onto the body of the SL. Starting with the engine bay.
Alan began under the transmission tunnel and worked his way up and across the firewall making sure every inch was covered to give each coat an even and flowing look. The inner wheel arches and front core support finished off the first stage. Then, Alan began to work getting the scuttle panel and windscreen surround shot in the dark, deep grey and worked his way back towards the boot on the classic Mercedes.
The rear quarter panels and rocker panels were coloured line by line. Each gently overlapping on the previous to give the consistent and uniform look needed to achieve the flawless finish that comes with Selenet Grey. But with the car having its first coat complete, it was time to let it settle and get the paint mixed for the next round.
The 2nd coat was done in the same order as the first. Alan making sure to get every exposed piece of bodywork coated properly for the uniform look. Again, it was all about consistency and movement in order to achieve the finish on the classic R107. And once the 2nd layer had flashed off, Alan waited for the prescribed time and then shot the 3rd coat to finish off the car.
With that, it was left in the ovens to completely cure and harden. Once it has completely hardened, it will be carefully transferred back to the preparation area in order for polishing and preparation for the next stage.
The 1987 Mercedes 500SL has had all its fabrication work completed by the fabrication team at Bridge Classic Cars and been moved into the paint preparation area.
The car has had several crucial pieces of the car’s metalwork repaired by the fabrication shop. The paint and body team then worked on getting the car reprepared for the spray booth by sanding down the panels and masking the car ready for its date with the spray booth.
The brand new heater matrix has been installed into the 1969 Mercedes 280SL Pagoda by the workshop team at Bridge Classic Cars.
During testing, the original heater matrix was found to be leaking so the Bridge Classic Cars team sourced a new replacement. This was fitted in behind the dash by the workshop team and the various pieces of the dash assembly secured around it.
Now with the heater matrix in place inside the classic Mercedes, the workshop technicians can begin testing the car once again.
The 1987 Mercedes 500SL has been transferred from our body shop to the fabrication shop at the Bridge Classic Cars workshops.
During the preparation of the body for paint, our body shop noticed some areas of corrosion in some key places. These are being cut out and addressed by our fabricators so the classic Mercedes R107 is in perfect condition to go back into the body shop to have those areas prepared again for paint.
The 1969 Mercedes 280SL had begun the final stages of its testing since the engine and gearbox rebuild at the Bridge Classic Cars restoration workshops at our Pettistree HQ. During that testing, our restoration technicians discovered a leak.
Part of the tests on the classic Pagoda was to pressurise the cooling system of the car. During that crucial test, our technician John discovered a leak coming from underneath the dashboard. Removing various pieces of trim, he discovered the heater matrix for the car was leaking due to previous poor repairs at some point in the car’s life. With that, the heater matrix was removed from the car to be fully inspected.
After the inspection, it has been sent away to a Radiator and Heater Matrix specialist to be refurbished for the car.
The wheels on the 2012 Mercedes SLK have seen better days. There’s some corrosion and paint flaking around the hub centres which is a common occurrence on this generation of Mercedes wheels. But, they can be refurbished!
Our good friends over at WheelWorx came down to the Pettistree workshop to assess the wheels and then safely remove them from the car to be taken back to their workshops to be entirely refurbished for this beautiful modern Mercedes convertible. Once these are back on the car, we can’t wait to show you the rest of it.
The 1987 Mercedes 500SL in the Bridge Classic Cars body shop having its engine prepared has turned up some new discoveries.
Our body and paint technicians have been working on getting the engine bay of the classic Mercedes into the same shape as the outside of the car but upon further inspection during sanding, some areas have some rust issues and previous poor repairs.
These will need to be addressed before the rest of the engine bay is finished in primer ahead of its colour coat.
Alongside that our technician, Mauro, has removed several pieces of the suspension in order to get to the harder to reach areas of the classic Mercedes. This is is to make sure every area of the car is inspected, prepared and primered.
February 25, 2022 9:49 amPublished by Craig Ranson
The Bridge Classic Cars body team have been working on getting the parts and pieces from the doors of the 1987 Mercedes 500SL prepared and catalogued before being painted and put into storage.
Mauro has been working on checking each of the components before then carefully disassembling and refurbishing anything that needed to be reworked before final assembly on the classic Mercedes.
February 22, 2022 9:02 amPublished by Craig Ranson
The stunning 1987 Mercedes 500SL which has been in the Bridge Classic Cars body shop getting prepared for its paint job has been transferred into the spray booth for the first layers of finish primer to be laid onto the iconic classic Mercedes.
Chris, one of our paint technicians, has taken the R107 into the booth and thanks to the hours of preparation on the body by our body team, flawlessly laid down the first in a long process of getting the car into its final colour of Selenit Grau.
Chris treats every coat of primer like it is a final layer of colour or clear and all the paintwork that comes out of the Bridge Classic Cars paint shop is held to the same exacting standards.
We’re excited to show you the next step in the restoration of the 1987 Mercedes 500SL very soon here on the Bridge Classic Cars news page.
February 18, 2022 10:48 amPublished by Craig Ranson
We use cookies
We use cookies to deliver the best possible experience whilst visiting our website. By clicking "Accept All", you consent to our use of cookies, or you can manage your preferences by clicking the link below. You can manage your preferences at any time from out Cookie Policy page.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
