I recently spent two weeks in Surat Thani, Thailand. On the way back, the flights from Surat Thani to Bangkok do not line up with the flight back to Sydney. Therefore, I had an afternoon to spend in Bangkok before returning home. It turns out there is an amazing classic Mercedes (and select other models) restoration shop very close to the airport. It is called Auto Vintage. This was a far more preferable place to go than the nearby shopping centre.
The owner of Auto Vintage Bangkok, Jay, was kind enough to give me a tour of his whole facility. While most of the cars were classic Mercedes-Benz there were a couple of Volvo P1800s, some BMWs, Jaguar, Daimler and a few other miscellaneous cars such as a Range Rover and a Lancia. Jay also showed me some photos of some of his personal cars, including a 250SE Cabriolet, a 280SE 3.5 Coupe, a couple of W108s, W123s and more.
Of the cars there, it was surprising how many were previously USA models. Some of these were converted to right hand drive. I guess for many years these cars had very little value in the USA. States like California and Texas were sources of rust free examples. The humid Thai climate is not. You can see some of the USA specific features on a few of the cars. It’s unusual to see those on right hand drive cars.
The cars under the cover in the main building are the complete or mostly complete projects. A lot of them were in final stages. The cars out the back are in the full restoration stage, being taken back to bare metal and having their engines done. Under way was a W108 with a lot of welding and back to bare metal. Soon to start was a Ponton 220S cabriolet, and W111 220SE coupe. The coupe currently has an M110 engine, but will be put back to a M127 during the restoration. They were also working on a W114 airport limo, quite a rare car. Along the sides were other rare cars like the 60s BMW, Volvo P1800, 190SL and more.
Out the front are future projects. There were a couple of finnies, a few W126 models and a 107 that looks like it will need a very comprehensive restoration. At Auto Vintage Bangkok, not only do they have the cars, but a good set of spare parts for the restoration and the walls are covered in amazing memorabilia.
I was very lucky to get a full tour of the place. After that took a taxi back to my hotel. I didn’t want to stay too long as it was a busy business and I didn’t want to get in the way of that. Next time I have to transit in Bangkok, I hope to stop by Auto Vintage Bangkok again to see what other projects they are working on. It’s great to see the amount of effort going into these cars.
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