William Oliver recently posted this old Mercedes van at the Cohort, perched on its current position in the sky of Ontario. Clues? The image quality was good enough for ‘Ontario’ to be clearly read on its front plate, and I’ll admit that’s as far as my sleuthing went.
CC readers won’t be surprised that these have been previously covered. Rather than try to Chat-GPT my way around the L319’s stats; I’ll let Paul’s text fill us in:
The graceful L319 appeared in 1955, and was decidedly one big step above the popular VW Transporter in terms of both size and load capacity. It was built as cargo vans, pickups and passenger buses–and essentially was the very first of the Sprinter-class vans that now dominate the market in Europe and in the U.S. They were mighty pokey, though: the diesel version used the 43 hp engine from the original 180D; later, the 65 hp gasoline 1.9 four from the 190 also became available. Top speed with the diesel? 49 mph!
I take this was the cargo van version. Which my careful sleuthing eye identifies by its lack of windows (Such deduction powers!) As Paul’s original post states, these were very leisurely transport. But did it matter? Have you seen shots of the Alps and Innsbruck? I wouldn’t have been in a rush to get anywhere, even in a cargo van.
Further reading:
Curbside Classic: Mercedes-Benz 207D (T1) And Other Vintage MBZ Vans
What else would one do with an old van? Instead of lying in state, younger generations will see the old grand monsieur. Love the photo and thanks!
That’s a good looking truck .
I see the secondary door behind the driver and wonder did it have crew seats or was that just for easier access to the load ? .
-Nate
Optical illusion, there’s no secondary door.
More like optical delusion, thanx .
I ass-U-me this was designed for in town use, I remember wheezing across America in various 1950’s vintage VW vans at 55 on the flat, 35 going up hills .
-Nate
My memories of these come from the original “Mission: Impossible” American TV series. The producers seemed to have a knack for finding vehicles like these, imported in tiny numbers into the US (but were generally unknown to the average American) and passing them off as vehicles from behind the Iron Curtain.
Weird that there are only two front doors and two at the rear(Id assume) American cargo vans and vw cargo vans of that time had either a sliding door or two swing out doors on the passenger side.
Step vans were always weird and usually hand built to customer spec(ie doors wherever customer wanted them or didnt want them) I have a hunch thats what this larger Benz would have been competing with not the 1960s Dodge A100, Ford Econoline, Corvair van
Nice van, it’s not in my area. I know of a motorcycle on top of a building, and a dump truck, but not a Mercedes van.
I bought one of these window vans in Manitoba Canada as a project many years ago..Someone had brought it here from Ontario where it was used to transport workers to and from a mine in Ontario.The seats had been removed when I got it. Dual wheels at the back .It had a gas motor like the one I had in my 190c sedan. I got it running but it was too big a restoration project for me at that time so I sold it along with the sedan. Would have made a great motor home. I remember it had some sort of machine on the dash that somehow measured its hours of use using paper discs with holes punched in them.
It has been on that rooftop since at least August of 2009. Once promoting the 35th anniversary of the glass and mirror company. Belleville probably best known as the birthplace of Bobby Hull, Brett Hull, and Dennis Hull.
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.1674038,-77.3841671,3a,37.5y,211.43h,98.58t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1skOu-I_x4pxthR4ou7vR6Zw!2e0!5s20090801T000000!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu
I think it used to be Moira Glass & Mirror’s delivery vehicle. Here’s a comparison shot of the 2009 StreetView and a historic image with the van on the ground:
Outstanding research as usual, Eric! That classic Mercedes must have been a long time source of unique viewing pleasure for Belleville residents. Great idea mounting their iconic van on the roof, for eternal enjoyment for the locals!
Excellent work! I don’t think I’ve ever been to Belleville. Driven past it on the 401 a lot though.
Highway 2, which goes through the heart of Belleville, remains one of the most picturesque highways in Ontario. When visiting relatives near Toronto, I will occasionally take that route through Gananoque/Kingston/Belleville, specifically for the scenery.
http://www.thekingshighway.ca/Hwy2index.htm
Van life on top , maybe with the housing crisis this van is rented for living .