Pagoda SL Group

W113 Pagoda SL Group => General Discussion => Topic started by: ctaylor738 on October 31, 2009, 00:06:00

Title: The Amazing Story of My New Hardtop
Post by: ctaylor738 on October 31, 2009, 00:06:00

One of my longstanding wish-list items has been to find a hardtop for my 230SL.  Now I have one and it's a one-in-million story. 

Gernold from SL Tech made arrangement to buy a top in New York.  He arranged for a friend who was driving from the Northeast to Florida in a 113 to pick up the top and put it on his car.  Then he would drop it off at my place in Falls Church. Gernold was coming to the DC area for Tom Sargeant's fall gathering and was driving a 113 from the area back to Maine for some work.  So the plan was that he would put the top on that car and take it back to Maine.  Pagodas are the best way to transport hard tops.

So the top arrives on a nice dark green 280SL.  But wait!  It's Light Ivory with red trim, perfect for my 230!  So we lift it off with my 107 hoist and it dangles for about an hour, and then I can't resist, and I put it on the 230.  A few days  later, Gernold arrives and after much delicate negotiation, (Gernold and me, me and wife) we reach a deal.

What are the odds of the correct hardtop in good condition arriving in your garage?

Now all I need to do is paint my hubcaps.

Title: Re: The Amazing Story of My New Hardtop
Post by: Dash808 on October 31, 2009, 01:29:03

Pretty amazing!   I love it when patience pays off.

Title: Re: The Amazing Story of My New Hardtop
Post by: Jordan on October 31, 2009, 13:23:25

Gorgeous looking car.  Congratulations.  What was the colour of the original hard top, only asking because it looks like the hubs are blue.  What size and make of tire do you have on the car?

Title: Re: The Amazing Story of My New Hardtop
Post by: ctaylor738 on November 01, 2009, 01:06:22

Thank you.

The car was delivered withour a hardtop, according to the data plate.  It has a black soft top.  So I guess it should have had ivory hub caps.

When I got it last year it had full wheel covers with no paint.  I had them painted ivory and used them for a while.  Then a decent set of black hub caps came up on ebay. I bought those, along with a set of generic trim rings and went around as in the picture.  My rationale was that if the car had a top, it could have been black.  But now that I have a hardtop, I am going to paint them ivory.

Believe it or not, the tires are  Uniroyal Tiger Paw All Season M+S radials, size P185-70.

Here are some earlier photos:

The car arriving with it's totally hosed engine, and the transmission in the trunk-

http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo296/ctaylor738/1966%20230SL/PICT1518.jpg (http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo296/ctaylor738/1966%20230SL/PICT1518.jpg)


About a month after I got it running with its new short block-

http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo296/ctaylor738/1966%20230SL/230SLRSide.jpg (http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo296/ctaylor738/1966%20230SL/230SLRSide.jpg)