Pagoda SL Group
W113 Pagoda SL Group => Wanted To Buy => Topic started by: wprater on April 25, 2024, 15:27:18
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Hi -- I've wanted a W113 for almost a decade and am finally ready to pull the trigger. I recently missed out on an auction for a car that I liked and wanted to reach out here to see what may be stored away and ready for sale.
I'm looking for a very high-quality driver with a great presentation. I am OK fixing some things myself or redoing the interior if needed.
Here is what I am looking for:
- manual gearbox (4 or 5 speed)
- solid body and rust-free
- no body modifications
- preferred old paint (or original) vs fresh paint as this car will be driven
- US based for ease of personal inspection (preferred on West Coast)
As far as colors go: blues or greens
Must not have:
- structural damage or accident repairs
- any rust and ideally no rust repairs
Please DM me with what you have! I am in the Seattle or LA areas.
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Still looking!
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Lots popping up on Bring a Trailer all the time, even on local Craigslist. Seems not many here are thinking of selling theirs. Manual is rarer to find also.
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Will, your first post on this was just about three months ago. With a set of requirements including color, location and specifications, perhaps knowingly you’ve significantly narrowed the choice set from those available for sale at any one time. Unless the stars were shining upon you at the moment you started looking, 90 days is not a long time. Some have waited years for their ideal Pagoda.
Familiarize yourself with all the places that have offered them for sale (dealers, auction houses, etc.) and sign up for daily updates. Save the searches on eBay, etc. You could be in it for the long haul.
Spend the $30 and become a full member here so you don’t miss anything we send out. Find the members in your area and offer to meet them, or arrange a get together so you can see multiple examples of the cars. Go to car shows too—usually at least one Pagoda at many of them.
Good luck 🍀!!
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Great advice from Michael. Become a full member. This is an incredibly helpful forum. Having owned many, many W113’s, I will say that you are absolutely right about finding a Pagoda that has been both accident and rust free. They are very tough to find in that condition. That being said, if you find one in that condition, put color choice and model on the back burner. A stick shift 230SL, in my experience, is as good as a 250SL or 280SL. Just my opinion. Also, body integrity is much more important to me than “matching numbers” engines. I’d rather have matching number body panels. Again, that’s just my opinion. Others may disagree. I bought a 230SL a few years back. Somewhat rare 519 Red with Caviar interior. It needed an engine rebuild. The body was perfect. Western car. Never rusted. Never hit. I had Pierre Hedary look at it before we had Metric Motors rebuild the engine. Pierre told me that finding old MB’s with untouched bodies was getting harder, if not nearly impossible. He said this was a special SL. After the engine rebuild, Pierre put the engine back into the car for me. The fact that it was still completely all original sheet metal, chrome, all exterior lights, glass, makes this a special SL, to me. Be very careful with auction sites. There have been some nightmare SL’s that sold on the major auction sites. Finally, many members of this forum have done incredible restorations on SL’s that did have rust and accident history. They are far more knowledgeable than me regarding restoring these great cars. Today, restorations can be totally cost prohibitive. Be patient. Be careful. Good luck with your search.