Driving a Hydrak in the city - 1959 Mercedes 220S Ponton

This 1959 Mercedes 220S Hydrak is a prime example of an authentic and completely restored "Ponton". See how convenient and fun it is to drive a Hydrak Ponton around in the city. Learn more about this car @preciousvintagecars.com

[@keymanmtj]

Beautiful example. I lived north of the Golden Gate Bridge in the early '70s, and was in a position to buy a '59 220S Ponton Coupe that I spied sitting in the showroom window as I drove past Mercedes-Benz of San Francisco on Van Ness Ave. one day. It was black over bone leather, 59k miles, and it had a Hydrak. This was my first exposure to this feat of German engineering, but I soon came to realize that it was a perfect solution to San Francisco's many steep hills. It had a hill-holder function, where if you were stopped at an uphill light, you'd just put the shift lever in gear and it would hold the car without having to apply the brake - then when the light turned, you'd just press the accelerator and go - no feathering the clutch or smelling burning clutch discs. Brilliant. The previous and only owner was a woman who bought it new. She obviously made an informed and appropriate choice. One question for you: my car was a 4-speed, with first in and up; in the video, you always pulled away from a stop in what my experience suggests is second gear. Am I correct? Of course, the other possibility is that yours is a 3-speed box - but that's pretty far-fetched, being as your car and mine are the same year. So which is it?

[@preciousvintagecars]

You observed correctly but this car is actually a 4 gear. The factory manual is suggesting that driving a Hydrak on level streets can start-off in second gear. 1st gears should be used when driving uphill on inclining streets or driveways. This makes driving in the city really comfortable because the second gear has a wide range resulting in changing gears less often. Honestly, I have been driving this car frequently in the city and I don't even remember using the 1st gear (in Los Angeles). Driving in SF on uphill streets you would find yourself in 1st gear very often.

[@philippbehrend5559]

what lovely interior

[@rarcharbury]

...you make that car look so easy to drve.. the steering looks amazing ...when you are driving in a straight line your not correct ing it at all ..gear linkage so tight ..as a kid /teenager/ early 20s we had 1958 190 .. know a lot about them . Thanks so much for your video 😊

[@preciousvintagecars]

That’s because the car was completely restored, including the steering with new bushings etc, so it has the original factory specifications

[@marcgianandrea8333]

I live in San Francisco and have the same year and model. Not quite as nice but in very good shape. Have owned it for decades.

[@derekheeps1244]

Very nice ; I had a W105 219 for almost 40 years , alas I got too old to work on it and eventually sold it . Mine was of course a conventional manual , I never drove a Hydrak although I knew of them . One curiosity ; your car seems to have an indicator stalk where the headlamp flasher stalk usually is ; I much prefer the indicators being operated via the horn ring because this is so easy to reach with a thumb , regardless of steering wheel position .

[@preciousvintagecars]

The indicator on the horn ring is usually meant for European version cars. US versions always have the stalk. Driving a hydrak is super nice, especially in Los Angeles with the rush-hour traffic… I can’t even imagine clutch-shifting in this traffic.

[@doctorzaius4084]

Nice driving! I've never driven a Hydrak myself, but I'm sure there's some skill required to operate one this smoothly.

[@waltertaljaard1488]

It's the same principle as the so called 'Olymat', by their than biggest competitor on the German and European market, Opel. You just release the gaspedal to shift gear.

[@alexanderhermann4539]

`Hydrak` was the name of the automatic. But this is a hand shifted car.

[@preciousvintagecars]

That is correct, you shift by hand but without a clutch.

[@derekheeps1244]

It is an automatic clutch , not automatic transmission - that came later in the Ponton-B or Fintail models , as well as in the Adenauer .

[@preciousvintagecars]

No, this is actually a hydrak. You shift but you don’t have a clutch on the floor, the clutch is actually electronically triggered by touching the shift lever. It really is fun, I wouldn’t want to drive a regular stick shift anymore

[@mw8653]

The gearshift seems to work beautifully car looks a pleasure to drive.