I was thinking that I have never seen a thread that had a compendium of cellette benche shops.

The thread on the factory in Stuttgart that is restoring the 914/6 brought this to mind.

Thought maybe it would be good information to have a sticky somewhere.

I have heard rumors that there is one in Nor Cal.

One in New jersey

And one in Colorado/Arizona.

Can anyone bring some clarity to this?

Would be much appreciated.

Twystd1

I heard Yeamans in the SF bay area has one. Ask Andy, he is getitng his straightened currently IIRC.

The one in Nor Cal isn't a rumor. Yeaman Auto Body in Palo Alto has one, and Scott Yeaman owns more than one 914 himself. Very expensive, but very high quality.

One in NJ? Really? I'd love to know where that is, I'm sure I am going to need it when I am done welding mine back together.

Chris,

I heard about that NJ bench about 6 months ago... I just can't remember from who.. Damit..

Lets see what the rest of the fellas say over the next couple of days.

Twystd1

I had one in my shop about 18 years ago. Sold it about 15 years ago to a shop in So. MN I think someplace in Savage. Great for heavy hits on new cars. Or stuff like a resto high end Porsche. Lots of suspension removal if you want to do things right.

Great idea.

You can buy one here Celette NA

I bet if you asked for a referal to one of their customers in your area they would be happy to supply a list.

I did a search for cellette bench, and quite a few places turned up. Here's a place in Pasadena, CA.

http://www.holmesbodyshop.com/locations_pasadena.asp

They claim they have the bench, now for trained techs,,,,,,,,,


-Rob

Thanks for link, great reading about the history of the bench and the inventor of it......

Cecil at Body Styles has one.

Looky at some of the lifts they sell!!! sweet!

I like the eco2000

Yup,

Before I posted here I had already looked up the Celette factory.

Wonderful story of how the company got started and progressed throughout all these years.

And they have a location In Kali. I wrote to them to see if they
KNEW OF ANY shops that had one of their benches with 914 specicfic hardware, hooks and stands.

I will post back if they send me anything.

Does anyone else know where a Celette bench is with the 914 tooling.???

By the way. I am not looking to buy one. I just want to know where they are.

I get asked this question quite oten. And until now... I have not been able to answer it.

Keep it up guys.... There has to be a few more in the US...

Twystd1

Any word on the one *supposedly* in NJ?

call and ask

Reliable Automotive Equipment
49 Navesink Ave
Fairhaven, NJ 07704

732-747-1770

Right on. I spoke w/Sara @ Reliable. She can provide the names of shops who've rented the specific jigs in the past. Just need to know which jigs are needed to adapt the bench (aka sevenne bench) to fit the 914 frame.

Anyone know specifically which jigs (think of them as adapters) are used for the 914?

-pt

Anyone with a Cellette bench can get loaner hardware directly from the USA Cellette distributorship.

Says so on their web Site.

They rent all the pieces out...

They have ALL the parts "N" pieces to get a teener straight......

If ya know how to use em.

Clayton

I'd be interested to know of the Colorado contact if it exist...

-Josh2

There should be pics around here somewhere of when we did Aaahndy's car at Yeaman's.

Let's see if I can remember... One each for the front shock towers. One for the front torsion bar mounts. I think one for the front crossmember mount?? One for each of the -4 motor mount pods, or a single one for the -6 motor mount location. One each for the trailing arm mounting points--I believe it was one piece that hooked up to both the inner and outer mounting points. One or two for the transmission mounting points, I believe. And was there one more each for the rear shock towers? I forget that last bit.

Each of those parts was solid steel. Very strong--and heavy as hell!

--DD

Bodystyle in San Jose CA.

Cecil Beach....he has a Cellette bench

There's one in San Diego at Phil Thearles Autobody in Santee. PCASDR usually has a tech session about every other year at his shop. Phil's pretty cool, at the last session he even set up one booth and gave paint lessons, supplied all the equipment, coverall, masks, etc, let everyone keep the coveralls and masks, how cool is that. Anyway, I saw it there at the last one.

Later, Don

While this is true, they need to know from you which jiggs to send. Reliable Auto Equip in NJ rents the jigs - they just need to know which jigs you want to rent. I guess that some of the jigs are universal or maybe there's certain names for specific applications - like the numerous points Dave mentioned...

This is getting too confusing. I'll follow up on Monday.

-pt

I know of another shop here in town that had one. I'm going to check with him to see if he still has it collecting dust in the corner. I know for a fact he has since moved on and now has two other stanard benches. Fixture rental up here was a PIA! and shipping was worse! I probably don't need to fixture the Raspberry car but if I can buy that Cellette cheap enough, I may invest in the 914 fixtures.

I recently purchased an old Blackhawk frame bench. It's kind of old and was obviously stored outside, but it's still big, flat, and heavy, probably 4000 lbs!

Unfortunately there were no fixtures for anything. I am planning to make my own fixtures specifically for a 914 chassis.

The Celette 914 fixtures (from the catalog of fixtures) is:

153.300

There is a currently hijacked thread that shows the fixtures in place and Andy even numbered them for us.

Maybe there should be a classic thread just on the Celette bench and 914 fixtures.

Clarity? You should ask Clayton!

Shops in SoCal that use Celette............

EPR Collision - Camarillo
101 Collision- Oxnard
Northranch Bodycraft - Thousand Oaks
Precision Autobody- Goleta
Precision Autobody -Reseda and Thousand Oaks
Diamond Autobody- Canoga Park
Marcos Autobody- Pasadena, San Gabriel, Monterey Park
Avio Coachcraft- Los Angeles
Golden Hammer- Los Angeles
Platinum Coachworks -Covina
Toyota of N. Hollywood - North Hollywood
Neiras Collision Center- Bakersfield
Marina Autobody- Marina Del Rey
New Tech Autobody- Los Angeles
Eurotech- Van Nuys
Pride Autobody- Van Nuys
DC Coachcraft- Burbank
Harry's Collision Center- Los Angeles
Y&S Autobody- Long Beach, Torrance
Class Auto Center- Long Beach
Beverly Hills Autobody- BH
Paulee Autobody- Los Angeles
Ford Autobody- Van Nuys (Jaguar cars)

That should cover from your house to mine!!

The benchs are shop owned. The fixtures are rented from Eurocar for $175 to $250 a day for the basic undercar set. A handful of shops own there own that cost from $5k to $12k a set for various model vehicles.

A few years ago I did find a set of used 914 fixtures. Guy wanted $3k for the Eurocar set and the factory upper body fixtures (Baum Tools -door and windshield openings). This was a bargain. He ended up cutting them up for scrap as he felt the 914 was obsolete and would always be a total loss if they get hit.

Whoa, is that $153,300?

http://www.foranythingautomotive.com/
There is a Celette bench for sale (??Redding CA??) Spelled Celette with one l if using a search engine).
Since Cellette will (rent/loan/whatever) the fixtures if you own the bench, you or anyone reading this might be interested.

Edited: Correction to above. Item info pasted below:
Redding Ca
Contact brad at 530-938-2768 or brmo44@yahoo.com

More important than who has the bench is can they get the 914 specific fixtures. My car sat at one of the shops mentioned in the NOCAL area for 4 months while I kept hearing stories of the fixtures (jigs) being difficult for them to come by. The last straw was that they had located them for rent but I had to pay for shipping to and from the rental location ($1200). I picked up my car and it's now in good hands and on a Car-O-Liner bench with a VERY talented bodyman at the helm. I'm inclined to think the Celette mystique is just another piece of 914 folklore. There are several pieces of equipment that can do the job equally well. The biggest factor may be the human element. If you give a monkey a micrometer he'll use it as a hammer.

John

Does anyone have the info on the place in AZ? I'm gonna need one someday.

flat6 in minneapolis,minn has a cellette bench

Cecil has the bench, but not the 914 jigs. I asked Yeaman's and they said they did not have the jigs either. So, if you want to fix an 914, having the bench is not good enough.

No, that is the "part number" of the fixtures.

I found a catalog of fixtures on-line:

See bottom of page 46.



Click to view attachment

Friggin amateurs:

I have a celette bench - and FYI, any and all certified Mercedes Benz repair facilities must have one. So, just look on MBusa's site for certified collision centers and - BAM - shops near you with celette benches...

http://www.mbusa.com/care/service/collision-centers.do

Call these guys they can tell which jig set you need - Oh, it aint cheap. Good luck..

Euro Car Bench
800-692-3900
ebsusa@aol.com
www.eurocarbenchsystems.com

Why all the interest in Celette? If my 914 was hit and the uni-body was in need of fixtures for repair - I would be putting it on the Car-o-liner!! Universal jig set and much - much faster...

The funny part about this - He just ate lunch on Saturday, in my shop, 10 yards away from a celette bench. How's that for clarity???

The Celette fixtures are handy, as they take any guesswork out of where the mouting points for the more critical parts of the car go. You don't have to dig out measurements, or try to figure out how to set up a universal jig; just bolt the jigs in place and set the chassis on the jigs.

The downsides include the expense and hassle of getting them. If your body/frame guy knows how to set up the universal fixtures for a 914, then the Celette isn't needed. But it's the knowing...

--DD

I've been thinking as I'm welding it would be a good idea to check the dimensions when I'm done. I just didn't have a clue about how to go about it. This thread has been a great start. I called Reliable Automotive Equipment and also talked to Sarah about local shops that have a Celette bench and was told the following shops have one in the Boston area:

-Dick's Auto Body, Somerville 617-625-9171
-Herb Chambers, Ashland
-Carl's Collision , Fall River

She also confirmed the avalability of the 914 fixtures (part #153.300). She said they would have to come from some headquarters in Chicago though.

I'm closest to Somerville so I'll be calling and finding out more.

because it's easy to set up and if you have someone who knows how to work it, you have the car back to factory specifications in no time ...


celette bench with 914 fixtures:


my conversion car on the bench:


my factory /6 before, all bend and twisted:
Click to view attachment

'ya think this tub is out of spec?
Click to view attachment

outsch!
Click to view attachment

and finally all straight again!
Click to view attachment


all this work was done at Yeaman Auto Body in Palo Alto. He's got the celette bench and we rented the fixtures for the 914 from celette. they were delivered to the door in a big wooden crate. over 1000lbs worth of fixtures!
Andy

Andy,

Thanks for yet more great pictures of those fixtures. The close-ups of those steering rack mount fixtures helps as well. (If you have more, please post ....)

Yea - I dont know about the whole "no time" thing. We have been a certified Cellette facility for 30 years. All I was saying is that the jig sets are getting harder and harder to acquire in a timely fashion. Universal jig sets like those of the Car -O- Liner are better for me because - measurements are a lot easier to lay hands on than a 500Lb set of rigid fixtures. Euro Car Bench systems has taken as long as three weeks to get me jigs for a C Class mercedes. While completely striking out on upper body jigs for a CL65. Those I had to buy from the factory. The great thing about rigid fixtures is that there is no interpretation by the tech using them - they either fit or they dont. A universal jig set is adjustable by nature - thus introducing the element of human error or in a worst case scenario there mis-use to represent somethng as straight when it is not. I have techs here that can put a late model car on the celette in 3 to 4 hours. I also have a tech here that will be damn near done with the job in that time using the Car -o- liner. As I am sure Yeamans can attest, being in the business. I have spun my wheels wasting time in the past trying to straighten a car to a bent (yes, they bend) jig. Only to be forced to put the job on hold while a new set was shipped out. I only want to let readers here know that - A cellete bench and rigid fixtures is not the only path to a straight unibody - As with any work you look to have done - The shops reputation will tell you if you are going to get a good job. Whether I use a snap-on socket or a craftsmen socket to tighten your lugnuts - are they tight? That should be the main concern. I am just trying to relate some real world experience. And if you can't find one in your area then a good tech can straighten anything accurately with a quality bench from a number of MFG's if he has been properly trained. Nice pics - BTW.

WOW...

I posted this on May 9th. 2006.

And now you guys are coming up with the answers...

Why I oughta.................................................................

Thanks fellas. I have learned a lot since 06.
And I have a bunch more to learn.

And special thanks Jeff and Twise for your real world knowledge of what works.

Claytonovitch

If I remember right we did some good work on that baby Dave.

It was fun! I was mostly there for grunt labor, or "step and fetchit". I am not even a beginner when it comes to frame and body work. Oh, I was also there to loan out my 914's door to trial-fit on Aaahndy's car's chassis!!

--DD

I totally forgot that you brought the door. If I remember now it fit pretty well post twisting.

not one, but two! and yes, for the first time since i owned the car, i actually had nice door gaps ...

Andy

did you ever build up that second chassis?

noy yet, it's still sitting under a tarp waiting for me to get off my lazy butt ...
Andy

Well since ya ain't got jack.....

errr.... I mean A JACK AND JACKSTANDS

I'm not expecting much progress from you......

Ken