Wagon, convertible, landaulet …

Most of the Mercedes conversions were from sedan to station wagon (a.k.a. ‘estate car’ in the UK and ‘Kombi’ in Germany), and the majority of those—approximately 400—were based on the W114 / W115 series compact Mercedes-Benz (also known as the Strich Acht – /8 – stroke-eight, indicating the year of the series’ advent: 1968). These included the models (W115 series) 200, 220, 220D, 230.4, 240D, 300D, and (W114 series) 230.6, 250, 280.

A few—far rarer—were the 280SE/L, 350SE/L, and 450SE/L S-Class (W116) wagons, and there were also the St Tropez rag-top convertible W123 coupé derivatives.

The Condor

The unique Condor was a ‘sports estate’ or ‘shooting brake’ that had started life as a C107 450SLC coupé. And Crayford converted one ‘Grand Mercedes’ 600 (W100) to landaulet form using M-B plans and specifications (a job that took two years and most of the workshop floor space!).

Other one-offs

Recently come to light is a cabriolet version of a W116 350SE, built for the Emir of Kuwait. There was also a W109 300SEL 3.5 Estate, once owned by a Mr Turner of the UK (1984 to around 1989), and the one-off W114 ‘Dachshund’ 230.6 LWB Estate. Why it was called ‘the Dachshund’ is unknown, but perhaps the sobriquet refers to the car’s dimensions—disproportionally long (?).

Bespoke vehicles

These customised / personalised Mercedes-Benzes were generally built only to order, and then only after a deposit had been taken. The Condor sports estate was the exception: built on spec, it was sold, shortly after being displayed at the 1980 motor show, to a famous heart surgeon who lived in Spain. They were generally not built on speculation of random salesroom success. Crayford started each conversion with a complete car—sometimes ex-factory, sometimes not quite new—which was then stripped and modified.

These customised vehicles were not cheap. For example, the 1976 London Motor Show catalogue listed a W116 450SEL Crayford Estate at £16,550, while a stock Ferrari 308 cost a ‘mere’ £11,251!

Mercedes-Benz warranty

Following some initial disputes, Crayford eventually received the blessing of Mercedes-Benz itself (initially for the W114 / W115 series), and from August 1973 all Crayford M-B wagons carried the full M-B warranty.