Stories of individual Crayford-Benzes can be found here—a mix of stories, registries, and owners’ personal sites / blogs.
If you can help to verify, expand, or enhance any of these vehicles’ stories, please contact the site administrator.
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Chris Martin from Shoalhaven AU has a 280SE estate that he calls Wasabi. Chris has put considerable time and energy into making this vehicle more roadworthy and presentable—a credit to him. [last update 1 July ’09] -
Christian Dannert from Essen in Germany has rescued from England a 1972 220D estate. You can read about it (in German) at Christian's blog: Christian's Diesel. NOTE: If you need some help with translating from the German, try Google Translate or Yahoo! Babel Fish (but keep in mind that these online translators are rather basic and can give some hilarious results). Christian has also launched a registry solely for W114/115 series conversions by Crayford. [last update 1 July ’09]
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A 1973 W114 250 estate until recently owned by Rory Cronin of West Sussex, UK, has recently changed hands and is now owned by Christian Dannert in Germany (see above). The car is a 250, with the M130 2.8 litre twin-zenith engine, and is one of the very first Series 2 stroke-eights. This is a very good example of the conversion. You can read more about it at Christian’s blog. [last update 1 July ’09]
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John Green in Canberra AU owns two estates:a 450SEL estate that he is restoring and a 280SEL estate that he uses as a business chariot. [last update 5 October ’08]
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Oliver Stork, a W116–W126 specialist in Neu-Isenburg, Germany, recently acquired the now ex-VDH 280SE estate (previously resident in the US and taken to DE by the VDH club). Oliver plans to restore and use the vehicle as a business promo car. For those close to Frankfurt am Main: If you need some parts (W116/126) you can visit Oliver’s eBay shop. His trading name is 116rider. [last update 1 July ’09]
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Alfred Barg of Berlin, Germany has imported a 450SEL estate to Germany from the US; it has just finished being restored, and has some unique features. [last update 1 July ’09]
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Barry Hayton (UK) has a W123 280CE St Tropez. First registered in 1983, it has driven only approximately 85,000 miles and is still in very good condition, with just a couple of rust spots that are in the process of repair (by renewing the front wings rather than patching). The car may be for sale once the work has been completed as Barry has “too many other projects” on the go. [last update 1 July ’09]
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An unnamed retired airline pilot from St Croix in the US Virgin Islands is reported to own an ex-UK RHD W116 estate (model / engine unknown). Despite offers over the years, this owner has refused to part with the vehicle. At last report it was rather surface-rusted and, as that news is quite some years old, the vehicle’s current state of health is unknown. Enquiries made of various VI people and businesses have yet to yield results. [last update 1 July ’09]
der Rolfwagen:
Site admin OzBenzHead of northern NSW AU owns a 280SE estate that was built in September 1973 (M-B ‘birthdate’; conversion date unknown) and once belonged to artist / entertainer Rolf Harris. Now known as der Rolfwagen (and formerly as Wiggles!), this Crayford has had at least seven custodians!
The first owner was allegedly too afraid to risk taking out such an expensive and ‘powerful’ vehicle, so it spent most of its first year garaged and unused. Rolf Harris purchased it from Christchurch (UK) Mercedes-Benz dealer, Majestic Motors in 1975–after its being Crayfordised.
Around the world with a wobble board
Harris owned the car in the UK for about 10 years before bringing it to AU, and it has since had at least five owners here; the ‘Rolf Harris Industries’ ownership details, including a Woolwich AU address, are noted inside the front of the replacement service booklet (dated September 1987).
This estate must have been a very early W116 Crayford conversion. Harris certainly owned it by no later than the beginning of 1976 (according to an article in In Aller Welt 1/76 # 139E). The original owner had it for about a year, leading one to the conclusion that it must have been converted by late 1974. Crayford converted its first W116 in 1974 and had one on display at the ’74 Earls Court Motor Show.
Is der Rolfwagen the first example of the W116 estate by Crayford?
Is it the original W116 Crayford Estate? If the Earls Court display car was Maple Yellow (Ahorngelb 606), that was probably der Rolfwagen, as to date it is the only yellow one known. As 13 other colours are known of in W116 Crayford wagons, the chances of there being a second yellow one are slender. OzBenzHead has a monochrome photo of the ’74 Earls Court stand from which the display car’s colour cannot be determined. If anyone knows for certain the colour of that display vehicle, please advise the site admin.
A hard life
Der Rolfwagen has suffered the ignominy of multiple heart transplants: its original M110 engine was replaced with another M110 in October 1989, which was later replaced by a GM V6 (and possibly also a GM I-6); it landed in OzBenzHead’s custodianship with neither engine nor transmission—both of which the current owner just happened to have waiting in a spare sedan.
The body is rather rough (rust and bog—loads of sculpted bog!), but the cabin’s avocado MB-Tex interior is in very good condition (carpets excepted). The dashboard trim is of a very pale wood quite unlike zebrano, macassar, burl walnut, or any other familiar W116 timber, and has the stepped profile typical of only the very earliest W116s. Good replacement doors, engine bonnet, front and rear guards, and lampwear have been obtained, as well as new glasses and weather seals from Germany. It has manual window cranks, no sunroof, and no roof rack—a sort of ‘povvo’ issue, if you like. This is a work in progress—sehr langsam.
UPDATE via Rolf Harris’s PA:
Correspondence between Chris Martin (owner of ‘Wasabi’—VIN 116024 22 051616) and Sue Defries, PA to Rolf Harris, has yielded this information on der Rolfwagen:
“Rolf says he bought the car from a Mercedes dealer in Bournemouth in 1985 [typo: it was actually 1975]. It was a ‘Crayfords’ conversion and apparently was originally bought brand new as a saloon car by a retired gentleman who was actually frightened of the power of it. After two years, he’d never been over thirty miles an hour and that was just short trips around his local area, to the shops etc. He hadn’t even ‘run it in’. He sold it back to the man he’d bought it from, who sold it to Crayfords, who then converted it into a station wagon.
“Rolf saw it in the showroom where he was doing a summer season in Bournemouth. He’d always said that if Mercedes made a station wagon he would have one—he was smitten and bought it. He really loved that car.
“About ten years later [circa 1985] he had it shipped to Australia, as he was doing a lot of touring over there and he thought it would be nice to have it there every time he went to Sydney. It was parked outside his brother’s house in Woolwich, a Sydney suburb.
“Sadly, this is where it becomes hazy; it was eventually sold, but Rolf can’t remember all the details.”
Thanks to Chris Martin for persisting with his attempts to get some info on this car from the Harris establishment! [last update 1 July ’09]
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