Tool, and his Tools (An Originality Story)

Lately I have been analyzing the datacard of my car and spending some time getting to know how it was accessorized from the factory.

Here's the list of options for this car.

228 AUXILIARY HEATER
245 ON-BOARD COMPUTER
291 AIRBAG FOR DRIVER AND FRONT PASSENGER
300 STORAGE BOX IN FRONT TRAY
404 ORTHOPAEDIC FRONT SEAT BACKREST, LEFT
405 ORTHOPAEDIC FRONT SEAT BACKREST, RIGHT
406 DESIGNATION NOT RECORDED [ortho seats also]
430 HEADRESTS IN THE REAR
540 ROLLER BLIND, ELECTRIC, FOR REAR WINDOW
551 ANTI-THEFT/ANTI-BREAK-IN WARNING SYSTEM
620 EMISSION CONTROL SYSTEM
682 FIRE EXTINGUISHER
873 SEAT HEATER FOR LEFT AND RIGHT FRONT SEATS

The "auxiliary heater" is a Webasto unit that pre-heats both the engine and cabin. It has a control panel forward of the gearlevel. Sadly, the heater unit has been removed from my car, as it would not run, according to the previous owner.

The on-board computer refers to the reiserechner trip computer.

The 291 and 300 options were always added in pairs, as you can't have a glovebox if you elect for a passenger side airbag.

The emission control system designates this car as a catalyzed one.

Rumor has it, the fire extinguisher was mandatory in Germany for cars with engine capacity of more than 2.5 litres.

Manual aircon, electric seats with memory, all electric windows, electric passenger side mirror, limited slip diff, Becker stereo system, rear window heater and power antenna were all standard in a 560 SEC. Thus the option lists are usually rather short on these cars.

So, over the winter I've been digging into the accessories that originally came with the car and making sure I have everything. On the microfilm page, you can see a breakdown of all the different accessories.

When I bought the car, it had the original spare tire and jack, which was nice.

The spare is a 7x15" ET24 old-style Kanaldeckel wheel, which I assume is the rim type that this particular car originally came with in all four corners. The spare is in pristine condition, save for the missing center cap, which spare alloys cannot have.

It also came with an original toolbag, but that one wasn't in great condition. Most of the tools were missing and the trim at the edges of the toolbag was cracking.

After some digging, I'm guessing that these old Mercs came from the dealerships with slightly varying toolkits. As you can see from the microfilm the following special tools were available from the factory.

(41) Screwdriver with 2 detachable bits
(44) 2-part (collapsible) spark plug tool
(30) Tire iron

Also added to toolkits:
- 3 wrenches in the most common sizes with Mercedes-Benz logos
- Small pliers
- A little tool with threads for matching the wheel to the bolt holes

I was able to locate a wrench, pliers, wheel fitment tool and a screwdriver from my old Merc. I asked the buyer and he didn't want them so I got lucky there. I took the toolbag from that car also, and used it for the SEC. The worse condition bag is now in my mom's 190E which was missing a toolbag completely. I also sourced a pristine tire iron for the SEC from Germany.

Here's the almost complete toolbag.

Note that this is a version of the toolbag with the black Mercedes-Benz logo stamped on it

I've also been looking at gear knobs. I'm guessing, but not sure, if this car came from the factory with a black leather knob, similar in shape to the plastic one in the W201. That would make sense and correspond with most respectable looking images on Google.

Sources:
http://mercedesbenzblogphotodb.wordpress.com/
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mercedes_W126_500SEL_Armaturenbrett_1.jpg
http://theknifeandme.wordpress.com/

One in good condition might be cool. Don't really like the accessory-style wooden ones.