I Restored This Mercedes 300SEL 6.3 to Honor My Friend’s Son

In November of 2013, my friend Iman walked me to my car after a business meeting, I noticed the Mercedes in his parking lot. There was a solid wall of spider webs from the bottom of the car to the asphalt, the front seats were shredded from the sun, and the finish was peeling from the wood trim. The license plate read AMINT6.3; it was anything but. He told me he was saving the car for his son Kian, who tragically passed from leukemia at 13. It had not moved in the five years since.

That day, Iman said to me, “Mike, you take the car.” Feeling my friend’s pain and his need for relief, I was willing to take the car on the condition that a Mercedes shop would evaluate, and I would decide if it worth restoring. If it was not, I would donate the Mercedes to a leukemia-focused charity. We agreed to meet the next day to transfer the title. It was a nice old car, but I had not heard of a 300SEL 6.3. I learned that it was one of the fastest production sedans in the world during the time and only 6500 examples were sold.

After the title was transferred, I met the tow truck early the next morning to chaperone the 6.3 to the Mercedes shop. Iman had installed a new battery and insisted on driving it onto the flatbed. He then bid it a reluctant farewell. The owner of the shop—another Mike—and I did a cursory evaluation when it arrived at the shop. It needed a water pump, tune up, belt and hose replacements, etc. The water pump was a harbinger of things to come. A global search, one week, and $1000 later, it had a new water pump.

Over the next two years, I tentatively drove and repaired the car. Several broken exhaust manifold studs were causing exhaust leaks. As the noise became more untenable, I decided to pull the engine.

At some point in its history, the original color had been painted over in a Mercedes color not available in 1970. The body issues appeared to be minimal, but as the car was dismantled, significant damage was uncovered.

The costs were increasing exponentially, which caused me to take a step back and reevaluate my commitment. Iman and I met for lunch to discuss. The conclusion was to abandon the project and donate the car. I felt relieved. However, over the next couple of weeks, I decided that I was hopelessly in love and, damn the torpedoes, it was full speed ahead. I committed to restoring or replacing everything on the car to minimize issues down the road.

The car was completely dismantled. The transmission went to a German-born, Mercedes-trained specialist, and I delivered the fuel-injection pump to a shop over 400 miles from my home to another highly experienced German. The rear axle assembly was completely disassembled, restored, and reassembled by a 75-year-old retired Mercedes technician that was trained in Germany specifically on the 6.3 and 600 models. His work was so meticulous and impressive that I approached him to assemble the rest of the car at my house.

After a 10-year journey, the Mercedes was finally finished. Thank you, Kian and your family, for allowing me to oversee this period of the car’s journey.