Mercedes-Benz 230 (W114) 1976, Rappold Karosserie

Hello,

Sorry I can't write or understand Frenc language...

Long I've been promising to write something about my hearse called Gurthang (the Iron of Death, J.R.R. Tolkien), but now is the time.

This hearse is a W114 or /8 Mercedes with long wheelbase. The conversion to hearse is made by Rappold Karosserie. They also added (allready in 70's) the S-class MB W116 headlamps to make the car look younger. A german webpage (www.strichacht.de) says that Rappold didn't make these W116 conversions at all to hearses with long wheelbase, but here is a one. I've confirmed from Rappold, that this is a coach made by them.

I bought (or my friend picked it up) the hearse from Germany in 2004. The condition could be little better, but the car runs with no problems at all. I've driven it only on summertime and it will be just a summerdriver in the future too. In Finland the winter is quite harsh and they put tons of salt on the roads!

This is how the hearse looks right now I've rented it to promotional use for Helsinki Halloween festival.


The hearse is going to be restored during next winter. All the rust will be removed and it will have all new paint. The engine is now 2,3 litre 6 cylinder M180, but it will be replaced with 2,8 litre twincam (with fuel injection) M110 engine. I'll also going to put new 16" Lorinser RS90 wheels under the car and work with interior. Propably I'll use Marimekko Fandango for the interior fabric. Here is a fabric sample:


Here are some other photos:

absolutely awesome !
Have you noticed that your hearse is the same that the one in the video of Impaled Nazarene called " Hardboiled and stil Hellbound " ? This is a Mercedes too





So, how is you club over there ? if you want some parts, maybe we can found it here on the continent

Please ! translate your forum menu in english !

Admin a écrit:

absolutely awesome !

Thank you!

Admin a écrit:

Have you noticed that your hearse is the same that the one in the video of Impaled Nazarene called " Hardboiled and stil Hellbound " ? This is a Mercedes too

Funny, its another Finnish metal band. Not my favourites and I didn't konw about the video. If you look closely the hearse on the video, you can see it is VF123 (made by Pollmann, I think), not a VF114 with W116 headlamps. But the model in general has the same looks of course.

Admin a écrit:

So, how is you club over there ? if you want some parts, maybe we can found it here on the continent

We still don't have official registered club, but the unofficial is going fine, thanks for asking. I've ordered parts from Germany and for now it looks I'm having everything. Thank you for your offer!

Admin a écrit:

Please ! translate your forum menu in english !

If you register, you'll can choose English. Or did you mean the titles like "Yleinen keskustelu"?

Since we came down to hearses in Finnish music videos...

Senteced - Ever Frost. Sentenced itself has moved beyond this world and this is the bands funeral with view to alternate future, where band still plays at old age. The hearse in this video is more related to my hearse as a model. It is a 115 (1968-1976 MB with 4 or 5-cylinder engine) mine is 114 (1968-1976 MB with 6-cylinder engine).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY3PFySufFw

Deahtlike Silence - Six Feet Under The Ground. A newer band. Not nearly at the level of Sentenced, but they have a Volvo hearse which can also be found from Ruumisauto.fi hearse showroom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acTaOlFzyvc

saul a écrit:

Admin a écrit:

Please ! translate your forum menu in english !

If you register, you'll can choose English. Or did you mean the titles like "Yleinen keskustelu"?

ah ok ! I cliked on english translation but the titles in the forum do stay in finnish ! But nevermind, it's an occasion to learn finnish ! :p

Admin a écrit:

saul a écrit:

Admin a écrit:

Please ! translate your forum menu in english !

If you register, you'll can choose English. Or did you mean the titles like "Yleinen keskustelu"?

ah ok ! I cliked on english translation but the titles in the forum do stay in finnish ! But nevermind, it's an occasion to learn finnish ! :p

The "In English" -link doesn't change the forum, but if you register as a user on the forum you can choose English as a forum language. Here are the instructions: http://www.ruumisauto.fi/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9

Thx !

Hi, I found this video. Is it your hearse ???
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=wXq1NuVvj54&feature=related

hellcome guys

pscy a écrit:

Hi, I found this video. Is it your hearse ???
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=wXq1NuVvj54&feature=related

Yes, it is and the video is the first video I've ever made.

Repairs of my hearse's body have also started. If it would be a horse, it would have been shot! I had no idea, the body was in this kind of condition.





I don't know if this is the finnish "sisu" (pushing through the solid rock or whatever) or just plain stupidness, but the hearse will be repared and on the road again - hopefully before July.

Wahou !

how did you see that ? i can't see such thing of the pictures ! It was hide ?
Ther's quite work to do ! I hope you can do body work !
if you want, i know some french forum that show body repairs exemples..

i've kind ofthe same thing on my 1970 Plymouth hearse :



I see you bought new wheels..

I'm not doing the bodywork myself. I'm more like a team manager. Of course I'll be poor as a church mouse after everything is done, but I don't care. There are no pockets in shourds, if you know what I mean.

This is how the fender looks at the moment.



All the photos are here: http://saul.kapsi.fi/autotalli/gallery/kalmanrauta_kunnostus

Admin a écrit:

I see you bought new wheels..

It was the first thing I did about 3 years ago.

Nice job !
thanks for the news !

Hi! Nice to read you

Great work on your hearse, congratulation! Please, let us know the following steps

pscy a écrit:

Great work on your hearse, congratulation! Please, let us know the following steps

Thank you! And sorry, I haven't kept you informed...

The other side of the car and the doors were also in terrible condition:







There was also some other "minor" holes in the bottom of the car.





Everything was finally fixed and we could move to painting.







I didn't do the body repair and the painting myself and after I got the car from the paint shop interior looked like this.



I removed the original inner roof lining and the remainings of the wall between the front seting and back where the coffins used to be transported. After that I insulated (for heat and sound) the roof and made a little new "wall" or divider. The place of the wall moved about 35 cm from original to the front of the car. As you can see at first I had an idea to install speakers into the divider, but it just didn't work.





After that there was a time for a new lining. The fabric is teflon coated cotton called Fandango by Marimekko.





Fandango and artificial leather was also used to do the door panels and the seats.





There are still many things to do, but I won't have the time untill next summer. Thanks if you made it this far reading and watching photos, but if you want to see more, there are more photos on my webpage:

http://saul.kapsi.fi/autotalli/gallery/kalmanrauta_kunnostus

your seat is very very beautiful

It's alive! But still missing some parts here and there...

oush!!!!!

Thanks to come here and gives some news!!! Wondeful Hearse, Congratulation!

Wonderful !!



more pictures !

Thank you!

There aren't too many new photos. The biggest new thin in my hearse is the "new" engine. It is 280 E (M110) six sylinder with 185 hp. I don't have a garage, so right now I'm having "a last stand" before it starts so snow and I'm trying to put everything together as much as I can before the winter. At the moment I'm trying to learn to use sewing machine, because I'm making a folding backseat for two people. The fabric is the same as in the rest of the interior.

I just got headlamp surroundings from painter. I also have a grille painted in black, but it is still waiting to be installed.



The doorpanel on it's place.



Did anybody notice my new silver star?

Door panel are great !

Can't you built something to protect your car ?

Great!!!! Maybe try this Duck (look at "Death Proof" and "Convoy" movies)



http://cgi.ebay.com/DEATH-PROOF-CONVOY-RUBBER-DUCK-HOOD-ORNAMENT-CAR-MASCOT_W0QQitemZ200384972551QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2ea7e00707&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

I've seen the both movies. Actually I was looking for a Convoy-duck allready over a year ago and found it from eBay, but I thought it is too expencive to be placed on the hood for local bandits to steal. I'll stick with rubber duck. You can buy new for a Euro or two. I also think, that is good to have something that tells that driving a hearse isn't that serious. Plus it catches attention of those who seek someting to break and hopefully they'll grab the duck and leave the rest of the car alone.

I'll take the hearse to my fathers garage to Central-Finland for the winter. So it'll have protection.

stunning , what a huge amount of work you ve done! tastefull car, congrats