I am a long-time devotee of the Mercedes-Benz /8 series, the beautiful Paul Bracq-styled saloon built in Stuttgart in the late sixties and early seventies. Until the winter of 2007, I was a happy and satisfied man with a collection of two very nice /8, both in exceptionally fine condition and with outstanding histories. The red 200/8 and the blue 240D/8 are featured around here somewhere.
Then words reached me that a super-rare Mercedes-Benz /8 estate conversion by the british coachbuilder Crayford was on the market. Except on a few blurred old press photographs, nobody in Germany ever had seen such a car.
Mercedes-Benz never built estates on the /8 chassis and a few coachbuilders jumped in, with the Westerham (Kent)-based company Crayford building about 400 of them.
I bought the car and collected it from its former owner in Essex. You can read the story in german here. What a trip and what an interesting car! It was in its original blue livery with red leather inside and a somewhat smallish 220 Diesel engine under its bonnet.
What was by then known as "The blue Crayford /8" turned out to be (and still is) a wreck. I expected it not to be in the best condition but the first thorough inspection gave no reasons for hope.
So I started buying original Mercedes-Benz body panels to resurrect the hull. While they are becoming expensive and are more and more scarce, most panels could eventually be obtained. What could not be obtained was any information about the Crayford bits in this unique car, first and foremost about the completely shot interior in the "estate" part of the car. The Crayford Convertible Car Club CCCC was very friendly but could not help, as Crayford did not keep records about this conversion.
But they put me in touch with Rory. Appearing out of the nowhere, suddenly a second Crayford /8 estate conversion came into my view. It had been owned by Rory for some years as it turned out. Rory is the membership secretary of the CCCC and kindly invited me to see his Crayford /8.
So, when I went to London to visit some friends of mine in December 2008, I drove to the south coast of England, to Brighton, and went for an afternoon in Sussex. And Rory really is the most amiable person. After he invited me to a cup of tea, my query going like "If you want to make me really happy, you could take me on a ride in your stroke-eight" was answered by getting a move on at once - lets take a ride with Rory. Now this is most fabulous, even very far from home you always feel at home in a stroke-eight, even when its right hand drive.
And then it became even better. Because this is Rorys stroke-eight.
Finally, the other Crayford stroke-eight! A most interesting car with an amazing history. The first owner bought the car from Crayford in 1973 to carry his racing pigeons (we are in England!). He passed the car within his family, and when the head of family was over 80 she simply called the former owner of Crayford - she has got a car that he converted earlier, would he like to have it back? He would, and handed the car over to Rory immediately.
The car is in very fine fettle, and now I can examine all the details of the conversion. Most of it is done extremely beautifully. The conversion was a luxus one, and it increased the price of the base model significantly. You can see this in the details.
And here they are, together:
Rorys car is in unrestored original condition, roadworthy and taxed. The former owner commissioned a repair to the rear left panel that was not done so well, the sills are patched here and there and in the engine compartment the side plates are not really perfect. The engine is an 250 2.8 that runs fabulously and all its horses are still there, while the automatic transmission is doing its job sweetly. The drive was most impressive, this car is full of life and the most beautiful about it is the view rearwards from the passenger seat, as the conversion appears light and harmonious from the inside. Being driven around in the only roadworthy Crayford stroke-eight is an experience of its own.
The car is in really good custody with Rory. And so we say goodbye and the stroke-eight returns to its garage.
This is the way I like to enjoy an afternoon in Sussex, there is no better way.
But the day out left me with question marks written all over my face. Looking back, I can state that I visited Rory with the only intention to see his car, out of blank curiosity, and to meet the man who owned it. I made no preparations to document the parts my Crayford /8 estate was missing. After the visit, I knew that there was another Crayford /8 and that it was well kept.
What happened next is inevitable, at least when looking back. To resurrect my Crayford wreck, Rorys complete and beautifully preserved car would be a perfect template, so to say. But it was much more than this. Rorys car had charmed me, as had Rory, who made great efforts to keep the car on the road although his main interests are more in the world of Crayford convertibles.
When Rory contacted me in spring 2009 to tell me that he wanted to sell his Crayford /8, I bought it.
This it the car this blog is about. I shall call it "The green Crayford /8".
