Rarity of Two toned Pagodas

[bkksl]

Anyone knows if two toned pagoda ( hardtop colour differ from body colour) come as factory standard colour or they were special orders?   Are they more collectible then single colour?

[Jkalplus1]

The two-tone cars are not rare, the combinations were recommended by Mercedes when the customers bought their cars.  If a car has two colours different from the recommended combinations, it will make it more rare.

Will it be more collectible? I don't think so.  I think the most collectible Pagodas will always be the lowest mileage well-documented, well-maintained original cars in desirable colours, and the most expensive ones will be the well-documented, fully restored cars, with preference for the 280SL over the other models.

Jerome

[RobSirg]

My understanding is that you could select the colours and many other options at the time of order. Not necessarily special order  - just your normal order. I wouldn't know whether or not you had to pay extra for two-toned at the time of order - as you do ordering metallic paint, etc, on a modern car. Would like to know myself.

i agree with Jerome - they are fairly common.

I'm partial to two-toned pagoda's but I am biased  

Especially light coloured body and and darker roof (with matching hubcaps)

IMO the colour does affect the appeal and overall value, but not as much as condition (again as Jerome stated)

BTW - what's wrong with the spell check on this site.....they don't know how to spell colour

[DickLewis]

Amazingly I am just reading the Myles Kornblatt book on the W113 Pagoda.  According to his book the 2 tone paint was a no cost option in MONOCHROME.  It was a 400 DM option cost for METALLIC Body and a 170 DM option cost for METALLIC roof.  Honestly I just saw this in the book as I read this.

Hope that helps.

[RobSirg]

Great info - thanks Dick!

400DM for metallic paint - that was quite expensive. Say 15% of the total car value?

According to a historic on line calculator I just used - 400DM back in 1969 would be equiv to more than DM6000 today. Which might be something like US$10K I guess -  which is a lot to pay for Metallic paint.

[DickLewis]

Since we are on the subject of price now.  I quickly looked at the price of some other options at the time.  Check these out:  Leather Upholstery - 800DM, Automatic 1,400DM  Becker Grand Prix radio - 650DM, Whitewall tyres - 240DM.  So the paint was rather a bargain!

[RobSirg]

Thanks Dick - however, I now realize my conversion from DM to USD was way off. (think I had Euro on my mind)

It was roughly 3DM to 1USD, or thereabouts, so the DM6000 metallic paint option is more like USD2000 which is comparable to what they charge today on some new car orders.

But I can say the Automatic option was very expensive - DM1400 back in the late 60's would be roughly DM21000 today which roughly converts to US$7,000. Given that price, it is surprising to see that most (my guess) were ordered that way. Now I can see why the Aussie and UK versions had the "Automatic" badge on the trunk (boot) lid. If I paid out that much for an Automatic - I would want to be bragging about it too!

How would like to pay US$4,000 for leather or US$3,250 for a radio!!!

They certainly were a well-heeled bunch those new pagoda owners!

[Baybear]

Here's the front and back of USA Mercedes Dealer price card from March 1971 with option prices. Fun reading and if I could only go back in time with with a suite case of dollars.
Will

[andyburns]

Babybear, thats magic. 

I loved looking at the dealer price card.  Cant believe the relative cost of a pagoda to the W108, 109's and 600.  Fascinating.  Its interesting to see that a 113 pimped out with literally every factory option still didn't even break the 10k mark back then yet a W109 3.5 sedan was banging on 13!  They are worth pennies now. 

I have a friend who just offered me a very interesting old car for almost no money at all, give away material, with a very interesting history.  Brand new it was used as the Russian Embassy car here in New Zealand.  Can just imagine if that car could talk the stories it would tell.  Just the color combination and the history in my opinion should make it a much sought after piece of motoring memorabilia but he cant give it away.  Would love to add it to my collection and preserve it for future generations.

Does anyone have an equivalent dealer price card for either 63 or 64.  I would love to paw over it.

[KevinC]

I would not be a good one to rely on when converting DM to US Dollars (maybe Tina Turner would?) BUTTTT... based on the card and the conversion tool link below, a 280SL in 1971 with NO options would have been $7,602 or $44,513 today. An automatic transmission at $392 in 1971 would be $2,295 US.  Leather at $299 becomes $1,750 today and a mono Europa radio at $172 becomes $1,000. All told, $49,558 in today's US dollars. Actually a bargain vs what new SL's are actually going for.

http://www.dollartimes.com/calculators/inflation.htm

[bkksl]

Thank you every one for the information, very useful indeed. Thx

[RobSirg]

Cant say i agree with the Dollar Times calculator - the online tool I found (couldn't be bother looking for it again) roughly equated to a 15 times multiplier since say 1970. I think this is more representative  - that would place the relative value of a SL back in 1970 around the $100K mark today which sounds correct to me.

Then again - if "Dollars Times" is correct - then I'm really pissed that my Dad bought a Ford Sedan in 1971 instead of a Pagoda