The Odd and the Interesting
Bob Gunthorp’s Eclectic Collection

by Gary Anderson with Bob Gunthorp
Photography by David Gooley
 
What is the chromosome that moves a person to create a collection of objects, whether those are ancient arrowheads or classic automobiles? There’s no answer to that question, but whatever the combination of genes that forms it, Bob Gunthorp has that chromosome.

Although we don’t know why a person becomes a collector, if we know something about that person’s background, we can make some guesses about what motivated him or her to build a particular collection. Why did Bob Gunthorp decide to build his collection around well-optioned Mercedes-Benz cars with bodies specially designed for utilitarian tasks?

Steve Ross summarizes Bob’s background elsewhere in this issue (pages 75-77). There we learn that Bob’s first car was a collectible station wagon, albeit a Ford Woody, and he bought his first Mercedes, a 1961 220SEb, in 1970, on which he subsequently grafted the station wagon body parts of an otherwise unsalvageable 1967 230S Universal. We also know that Bob was mentored by a master mechanic who could have written the definition of “old school.”

Somewhere in that mix of training and experience can be found an explanation of Bob’s choice to focus much of his collecting on practical vehicles – limousines, station wagons, ambulances, and hearses – that fall in the category of “commercial vehicles.” Each is distinctive.

Shown above, the core of Bob’s collection is this group of special-bodied commercial vehicles including a 1965 190c rhd station wagon, a 1967 200D extended-wheelbase sedan, a 1967 Miesen-bodied ambulance, and a 1966 Rappold-bodied hearse.

Because of the limited production numbers and specific needs of individual customers, Mercedes-Benz rarely did the body work, but rather supplied heavy-duty, usually extended, chassis to outside coachbuilders like Binz, Rappold, Miesen, and Universal, which completed the vehicle to each customer’s particular requirements. In general, Bob looks for Mercedes-Benz cars that are unusual in body style and options, inexpensive to acquire, and may need rescuing from the crusher, so his collection also includes military vehicle, a coupe, a convertible, a roadster, and a few interesting sedans.

Other vehicles in the collection include a fascinating 1951 170Da in German military livery, a luscious 1957 220S convertible, and a lovely 1966 250SE coupe. Quite a group! For the explanation of “onager” see page 75.

Rappold-bodied 1966 200D hearse – Chassis built in November 1965, and bodied in January 1966. Bob acquired the vehicle from owners who had shipped it from Germany to tour the United States, sleeping in the back. It needed little work except an engine overhaul.

1967 200D Extended-Wheelbase sedan – Fewer than 200 of these seven-passenger Finbacks are estimated to have been built by M-B at Sindelfingen, from May through December 1967, on special order for use as taxis and  hotel and airport limos. A 6-cylinder gasoline engine was available, but most were equipped with a 200 diesel engine, with manual transmission. Bob bought it sight unseen from a used-car dealer who needed rent money more than the car, already on the boat from Germany.

1952 300 “Adenauer” – This car was originally used as a staff car by an American flag officer stationed in Germany. The divider window (from a 1954 300 and added by Bob in 1984), interior appointments, and fitted luggage would have been appropriate to the needs of a general for comfort and privacy on long trips between American military bases in Germany.

1963 190b Binz-bodied estate wagon – Mercedes-Benz didn’t start making estate, or station, wagons until well into the 1980s. Just 349 chassis-only 190bs were produced for completion as estates and commercial vehicles. This chassis was delivered to Binz Karosserie in Lorch/Würtemberg in September, 1959. In October 1964, Binz shipped the completed vehicle with its estate body to Daimler for shipment to the U.S., where it was registered for some reason as a 1963 model. The car was on its way to the crusher when Bob bought it.

Binz-bodied 1965 190c estate wagon – This is one of only 12 W110.002-20 (right-hand-drive) chassis produced. The chassis was manufactured in June 1963. Bodied by Binz in a style that shared most attributes with its ambulances and hearses, the car was ordered for use as an estate wagon in Great Britain. Bob bought this car in 1988 from a shop owner who had taken it in payment for outstanding bills but couldn’t restore it.

Miesen-bodied 1967 230 ambulance – The chassis, of which only 406 were produced, 16 inches longer than a standard 230 and only used for ambulances, was produced in February 1967 and shipped from Christian Miesen in Bonn, Germany, to a hospital in Künzelsau, Germany, in June 1967. Driven only 50,000 miles, the vehicle had been in storage from June 1975 to December 2000.

220SEb/230S Hybrid – This is an amalgamation of the  first two cars that Bob ever bought. The chassis is a 1961 220SEb sedan, on which he grafted the station wagon parts from a 1967 230S Universal, with its rear-facing third seat, when he determined that the chassis of the Universal was too far gone to save, but the body too interesting not to salvage.