The story of Frank: a Rare Long-Wheelbase W115

by Bob Gunthorp
edited by Sheila Heaney

This W115 LWB 220D was restored and converted to a W114 280E using no less than nine donor vehicles, earning the name “Frankenstein”, or “Frank” for short. Here’s the verbal and pictorial history of this unique project.

This extended wheel base 220D (W115.112) was originally sold in Hong Kong. It was first registered in Hong Kong on September 13, 1973. It was delivered with right hand drive, power steering, and air conditioning.

The O’Donnell Tour & Travel Service imported the vehicle into the US on June 12, 1984. Since the vehicle was RHD they were unable to get to it pass the US DOT requirements to register in the United States. So, they donated it to the Riverside Community College in March of 1988. On March 25, 1989 a man acquired the vehicle from the Riverside Community Collage. This man’s father had at one time owned a wrecking yard across the street from Onager Corporation. The father suggested that his son call us about purchasing the vehicle. He then called me and told me about the vehicle I said, “Sure bring it down and I’ll buy it.” To this day, I maintain a reputation for buying any unusual vehicle.

At that time there were 9 vehicles in the collection and my wife Terry put her foot down and said, “Nine is enough you cannot have any more.” However, as soon as she saw the 220D she said that she wanted it as one of “her” cars. I said that’s fine with me, I will restore it for you. The next thing that she asked was which of the vehicles I was going to sell so that there would still be only nine in the collection. I listed off several of the ones that I would consider selling. Terry then asked about the rest of the vehicles. My reply was: “The ones that I listed are your cars. Why do I have to sell one of my cars so that you can have another one of your own?”She looked at me for a moment and replied, “A miracle, we now have 10 cars” and the restoration began.

In addition to the challenge of converting the vehicle to LHD in order to register it, the floor was rusted to the point that it had become unsafe to drive and most of the mechanical components were shot. Thus, the first step was to park it and wait for the parts we’d need for the restoration. Two months later, we were able to buy a wrecked 1974 280C to use as a donor for the LHD-specific parts. The coupe was severely damaged in the rear and also had some damage to the right front fender. It was mechanically in excellent condition. The 280C came equipped with an automatic transmission, US-impact bumpers, electric windows, and central locking. These were options the 220D did not have. This solved the problems for the front section of the 220D, including changing it to LHD from RHD. However, the rear floor and all the doors were so severely rusted that they had to be replaced also.

We spent two more years gathering together the rest of the parts needed to complete the project. The first step was to strip both vehicles of all the interior parts. Because the front window posts (A pillars) on the Coupe model are different than those used on a sedan, I had to remove the dash from the coupe as well. I also removed all the exterior moldings and the bumpers. A number of other parts were used from a number of parts vehicles.

Two and a half years into the project, on October 7, 1991 I drove both vehicles to the body shop. In spite of all the parts that I had removed, I had still left both of the vehicles in drivable condition. The body shop replaced the front and rear body sections and the front doors. They had to totally rebuild both rear doors, as the only parts of them that were the door frames. They also had to fabricate the extended section of the rear side panels. To do this they used a pair of rear door skins so that the contours matched. When all the major body re-assembly was completed, the vehicle was towed to my shop. There we did all the mechanical re-assembly and the mechanical modifications that were needed. These modifications included extending the fuel lines, the brake lines, and the exhaust system. A new drive shaft center section had to be made. All this work took several weeks to complete.

I then drove it back to the body shop for painting.

After it was painted I finished the re-assembly. This included the bumpers, all the exterior trim, and the lighting systems. The entire interior had to be re‑installed including the dash. This work took another six weeks. Once we started work on the project, the time from start to finish was about six months. This is record time for the amount on work required on this type of resurrection. Two months after completing the restoration and several short “shake down” runs, we drove the vehicle on a 3,500-mile trip with no problems. In 1995, we completed the project by installing a fuel-inject M110 gasoline engine and transmission from a W114 280E.