Pagoda SL Group
W113 Pagoda SL Group => General Discussion => Topic started by: JamesL on September 21, 2019, 10:07:30
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Octane 197 (“November” has a long/ cover piece on our cars.
I’m about to read it but some lovely pictures of a red 280
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James let us know what you think of the story once you read it. Thanks!
Dieter
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Different picture to the hard copy cover I have.
From what I've read, few of us will learn much
There's a bit on a restored car featuring a car that a certain Welsh restorer has worked on that might well be an advertorial...
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Might be nice to add to my collection, if I can find a newsstand in which to buy one!
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Mike, ask someone in the UK that goes to PagodaFest to get one for you, i’ll Drop it off at your place on my return.
:) or i’ll Post it to you. Unless you order one and have them post it. I fear the UK postage might just be the price of 2 magazines like it would be in Canada. It goes without saying that I would post it from the US before crossing the border, I fear the border control would charge me something, who knows how they feel when I cross.
Dieter
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https://www.octane-magazine.com/articles/mercedes-benz-sl-pagoda-simply-the-best/
In case anyone didn’t buy a hard copy
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The writing in this piece is a hoot!
"Gloriously vulgar 1953 Corvette"? You might use many different descriptives for a 1953 Corvette, but vulgar (crudely indecent?) isn't one I would choose. Never been a fan of any Corvette, but never used that word either.
"Béla Barényi, one of the great Austro-Hungarian engineers." Can anyone name the others?
"cravat-wearing Bracq." This is a late in life adaptation of dress, much having to do with health and the style and class of an elderly gentleman...but not in the time of Wilfert/Barényi/Geiger etc.
"The production car was clicked back several notches from Bracq’s most uninhibited drawings." A good selection of these were published in Pagoda Style, and have been brought up here before. Nothing that earth shattering, just different design exercises.
"Mercedes-Benz 600, as pharaonic and gross." Huh? pharaonic? Say what? Large and stately, yes. Pharaonic? I don't think so, unless you are trying to impress with obscure and arcane words.
"he established a design language for the 3-series and 5-series [BMW]" Yes. But more than that: the 6 series, and the 7 series (though only prototype to be produced later). Basically BMW pre-Bracq was the boxy 2002 and its sisters and brothers. Post Bracq, the sleek, stylish 3, 5, 6, 7 series that moved the needle for BMW from boutique manufacturer to mainstream. Bracq was the first real stylist at BMW, as if anyone needed the cars to know that. When they started hiring more stylists, younger, less skilled, and paying them more than Bracq, he was rightfully insulted (I'm sure many have been there) and this had him considering whether it was worth staying. It was not, he returned to raise his family in France.
"interior of the long-forgotten Peugeot 604" The 604 isn't the best of the Peugeot projects of Bracq. It was the 205, a small car that was so popular, it helped save a struggling Peugeot.
"Carrosserie Passion, which was published in 1990....frankly hideous book." I searched for many years before finding a pristine, new copy on eBay. Big, beautiful, full of Bracq, eye candy to the max. Hideous? Send these "hideous" books to me, I'll take them all and pay shipping. BTW, it's out of print, out of stock, but the price is £198.00...on many motoring book sites.
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JamesL, thanks for posting the article. An enjoyable read. We all know most of the facts discussed, but it was well written I think in the witty British tongue in cheek style.
Certainly it was all high praise for our beloved machines.
The chap Haseltine also writes for Classic and Sports Car mag, another Brit mag.
jz
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...I think in the witty British tongue in cheek style...
Ya think? ;)
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In the first picture the car should have had black hubcaps to match the hardtop
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agree with mdsalemi
it would be nice to have a hard cover copy to add to my collection of Pagoda books etc.
I will have to figure out how to order one.
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agree with mdsalemi
it would be nice to have a hard cover copy to add to my collection of Pagoda books etc.
I will have to figure out how to order one.
Matt, if it is the article you seek in print...that [Pagoda] article on the link is dated 17-May-2024. However, I've searched the Octane issues from all 2024 (this is a monthly publication) and this article does not seem to have appeared in print. Octane, bless them, does make single issues available here: https://www.octane-magazine.com/product-category/octane-magazine-back-issues/ and they all seem to be priced at £6.50, probably exclusive of postage.
In the Octane issue #248 February 2024, there is an article on "BMW’S PAUL BRACQ – Exclusive access to the designer’s artwork" but I'm not certain that's the one.
If it's the Carrosserie Passion book you are looking for, you'll need to just keep feelers out. I found mine on eBay years ago, new and sealed with the printer's shipping slipcase, probably around 2010. I brought it with me on a trip where I visited Paul Bracq in 2011, and had him sign it. It is one of the most treasured books in my extensive Mercedes-Benz book collection. My copy is well traveled. I was on a mountain bike tour in Israel, then went for a few days to Munich and Salzburg, then onto Bordeaux. The book was well protected but in my baggage the entire trip!
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This post is originally from 2019 and the article was in issue 197. If you search ebay for Octane 197, you will find a bunch. Price with shipping looks to be around $30.
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This post is originally from 2019 and the article was in issue 197. If you search ebay for Octane 197, you will find a bunch. Price with shipping looks to be around $30.
Good catch...alas when I searched the back issues, they dead ended at #199. Nothing further back...???
They should have said "This article appeared in--" as the lead in, rather than a date in May of this year...
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I have uploaded it as a printable PDF/saveable PDF on the Tech Manual if people are interested... it is on this page: https://www.sl113.org/wiki/Restricted/Start at the 9th bullet point.
Full Members only for obvious reasons.
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The writing in this piece is a hoot!
"Gloriously vulgar 1953 Corvette"? You might use many different descriptives for a 1953 Corvette, but vulgar (crudely indecent?) isn't one I would choose. Never been a fan of any Corvette, but never used that word either.
"Béla Barényi, one of the great Austro-Hungarian engineers." Can anyone name the others?
"cravat-wearing Bracq." This is a late in life adaptation of dress, much having to do with health and the style and class of an elderly gentleman...but not in the time of Wilfert/Barényi/Geiger etc.
"The production car was clicked back several notches from Bracq’s most uninhibited drawings." A good selection of these were published in Pagoda Style, and have been brought up here before. Nothing that earth shattering, just different design exercises.
"Mercedes-Benz 600, as pharaonic and gross." Huh? pharaonic? Say what? Large and stately, yes. Pharaonic? I don't think so, unless you are trying to impress with obscure and arcane words.
"he established a design language for the 3-series and 5-series [BMW]" Yes. But more than that: the 6 series, and the 7 series (though only prototype to be produced later). Basically BMW pre-Bracq was the boxy 2002 and its sisters and brothers. Post Bracq, the sleek, stylish 3, 5, 6, 7 series that moved the needle for BMW from boutique manufacturer to mainstream. Bracq was the first real stylist at BMW, as if anyone needed the cars to know that. When they started hiring more stylists, younger, less skilled, and paying them more than Bracq, he was rightfully insulted (I'm sure many have been there) and this had him considering whether it was worth staying. It was not, he returned to raise his family in France.
"interior of the long-forgotten Peugeot 604" The 604 isn't the best of the Peugeot projects of Bracq. It was the 205, a small car that was so popular, it helped save a struggling Peugeot.
"Carrosserie Passion, which was published in 1990....frankly hideous book." I searched for many years before finding a pristine, new copy on eBay. Big, beautiful, full of Bracq, eye candy to the max. Hideous? Send these "hideous" books to me, I'll take them all and pay shipping. BTW, it's out of print, out of stock, but the price is £198.00...on many motoring book sites.
Post of the month!