New member introductions

[David BR]

Hello Everyone,
I recently purchased a pagoda 280sl about a month ago.  The car had been sitting outside for 20 years and is in pretty bad shape. Registration and title show it's a 1967 sl280. Last five digits of vin are 00043. Is this number 43 out of 143 built in 67'? Based ofF of the current values of these cars i figured it was worth purchasing and restoring. Looking forward to learning more about the pagoda.
Dave

[Jordan]

Dave, a hearty welcome to our group.  There is a wealth of information on this site, as well as the individuals that contribute, that can guide you to do almost anything with your car, depending on how mechanically inclined you are.  Hopefully your new treasure is not in too bad shape as they can swallow money pretty well.  We all love photos so start posting some pictures.

Your VIN, if it is a 280SL, indicates it was built in December of '67.  Is it a Euro 280SL (hard door pockets, no side marker lights etc). There were over 200 280SL's built in '67.  Check the Tech Manual for more infor.

[David BR]

I have attached a few photos of my pagoda
1967 280sl

[Tyler S]

Welcome Dave, I am fairly new to this site as well. Lots of great info and knowledgeable peeps here. Looks like indeed you have a euro model. Side reflectors were added sometime later on. Still has the kmh speedometer in it!  Will be a fun project.

[Pinder]

Looks like a great project to start on. It actually looks better from the interior than mine did. Outs side should come out nice with a few coats of paint.

[Brenco]

Hi
My name is Breandan. I have been an associate member for a few years and have used this site prior to my purchase to get good common sense advice on what to look for and what to avoid. Since buying a 1969 US model 280 sl in November 2013 I have used the site extensively to research the ever fascinating world of pagoda ownership.

The car was originally bought in Hyannis, Cape Cod and its second owner lived in the same area. In fact the car remained in Cape Cod until 1990 until it moved with its english owners to the UK. The fourth owner brought the car to Spain and when he retired back to the UK due to ill health I bought the car. Since I live in Dublin. Ireland I asked a mechanic I know to fly over to check out the car prior to purchase. He gave it the thumbs up and the car lives in Ireland now. 

My pagoda is a light ivory with black interior. It is largely original (carpets, panels, engine, tools) and has many of the original manuals and books etc. It has been recommissioned after little use prior my ownership. The gearbox was the largest item that needed to be replaced. I have replaced the US bumpers which had some surface rust with euro bumpers. The car itself appears to have very little rust and whats there has been treated. I use it once a week (in dry weather only) throughout the year and more frequently in the summer. In Ireland this requires an accurate weather app!!! A fantastic comfortable drive and with my favourite jazz music playing in the background becomes a light ivory time machine!

[Jonny B]

Welcome to the group. We all stand at the ready for assistance, tips, hints, etc.

Nice looking Pagoda.

[Pinder]

That is a Nice car. I think its the colour mine should be. I plan to paint mine in the spring / early summer. Your car seems like its in very nice condition. Ive been a member for several months and have had lots of excellent advice. Ive also made some discoveries of my own. They are very fascinating cars.

[Brenco]

Thanks for comments Jonny and Pinder(?). And yes this site is like an encyclopaedia on the pagoda. Yes the light ivory does look well. It's a definitely a period colour and looks well with the lines of the car and chrome etc. A small detail is that the dash board looks very well in light Ivory. I attached a couple of other photos. The pagoda looks good from any angle!

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Welcome Taam, Efacewin, Jess, David and Breandan to the Pagoda SL Group!


Taam, we look forward to hear from you about your progress over the winter months on your 230 SL add some photos if you have a chance.

Efacewin, nice looking car your 230 SL, you must have some great stories to share with us about your drives with your Pagoda. We are always looking for great stories to  share with our members. We issue a magazine twice a year I’m sure one or two of your stories may find there way into our Pagoda World Magazine. The paint does look okay to me. Glad you found our site, perhaps as time moves on you join us as a full member to gain access to more data about your car and you then will enjoy our high quality Pagoda World magazine that is issued 2 times a year now.

mmp800, Wow, another pretty 230SL and a new Lady member Welcome! we have a few more Lady members. As for parts, check out our Vendor Forum Area (link below). My recommendation would be to check out The Classic Centre and / or Buds I say this since I’ve been taken for a ride when ordering some parts  (ordered a simple chrome ignition ring paid over $60 US for it and when it arrived it was pitted and used of course. Later in talking to the Classic Centre in California [Tom] sold me one for $16 US brand new - so be on guard). You have a nice car there and with your husbands help it will be a great car soon Thanks for joining our comity.

Link ——> http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?board=21.0


Jess, Sounds like you have great plans to make your 280 a Dream car. There is a shop in the London area should you need some mechanical work done (check out our Vendor area). Of course our site members as Jonny pointed out are here to help you as well. Post some photographs when you have a chance we love to see photos of all the cars.

Tyler, Sorry for your loss, you are a very lucky fellow to get something like your Pagoda from your Father. We are happy you found our Group no need to tell you that ours is a truly International Group and a great bunch of folks that always stand ready to help out a fellow member.

David, Looks like you have your work cut out for you on a 280 that was stored outside for 20 years. How anyone can do this storing it outside I mean (a barn find I can understand … outside what a shame). You should start a thread naming it (Restoring a car stored outside for 20 years) or something along those lines. Add pictures etc as you restore it. As Jonny pointed out  in one of his posts

“We will all be glad to assist where we can with those winter projects” and “We all stand at the ready for assistance, tips, hints, etc.”

One day when you are joining the group as a Full Member, as so many Pagoda Owners do you will find that you have access to more valuable information that will save you a fist full of money and then some.

Breandan, You did exactly what I did … I found my car in March 2013 shortly after found this Pagoda SL Group site in all my research while inspecting my 1969 280SL The information I found on this site here as well as help from Members was extremely helpful to me then I purchased the car in May 2013 and became a Full Member here. There is no better source for less then 10 cents a day (representing the membership fee) that opens the doors to all of the information that is available on our site since its inception. We mail out to our full Members a great Pagoda World Magazines each year, it has been one in past years we will increase this to 2 per year staring in 2016 (Spring and Fall). The magazine contains great stories from our members, often Technical Data on our cars and great photographs. You found the best International site by now I’m sure you know that as well. Welcome again.

Dieter

PS. Tip, Find members near you or arrange meets for the summer. A great way to do it is “Check out the Members Tab above” once you click on it a member data base will open … Then Click on “Location”  the data base will sort for you by location and you will see members near you. Or … if there are car shows in your area start a thread tell us about it and other members may join you there.

After all … in the end it’s all about People and you will meet some great ones when a bunch of us meet

[FireElement]

Hello.  My name is Brendan and I live in Medford, MA.  My Dad recently gave me his Red (signal red?) 1971 280SL. He bought and had it restored by Gernold Nissus from SL Tech around 1992. This was when Gernold was in Limerick ME. I've always loved the car and plan on restoring it again in the next few years.  I have not had anytime to drive it but plan to this spring. 

I just stumbled across this site and am enjoying its content. I'll get some pictures up soon.

Thanks,
Brendan

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Hello Brendan,

Welcome and Congradulations nice of your dad to let you have such a treasure. We look forward to see some photos and to hear further from you. You did stumble on the right group to lend a hand should yo need it ... All the best.

Dieter

[neelyrc]

I recently enrolled in the Pagoda Group as an associate member and would like to introduce myself.  My name is Ralph Neely and I divide my time about 40/60 between Birmingham, Alabama and Compiano, Italy.  I own a dunkeloliv (dark green), 1969, model 280SL Coupe//Roadster, VIN number 113 044 – 10- 007 749 which also has a dark green soft top., beige leather interior, four speed stick shift transmission and Becker Grand Prix radio.  My car is currently registered and garaged in Alabama. 

I placed an order for my Pagoda in December, 1968, with the local Mercedes-Benz  dealer in Birmingham under what was known at the time as a “Tourist Order.”  I accepted delivery of the car at the Sindelfingen, Germany factory on February 12, 1969, and drove the car to Genoa, Italy where I was working at the time.

My work took me to London in June of 1969 and I drove the car over from Italy and kept it there for the one year allowed under the British temporary import law using German Zoll plates.  I turned the car in for shipment from London to New Orleans in June of 1970 and registered it in Birmingham, Alabama after it arrived in late August.  Over the years the car has been registered in Illinois as well as Alabama depending on my work location.  Currently the odometer reads 48,000 miles.

The old girl sat up in various relatives’ garages at times over the years while I worked internationally.  She runs fairly well for a 47 year old and draws a lot of stares when she is on the road. The car is completely original as delivered except that the current tires are blackwalls instead of whitewalls.  There are some minor aging problems which I am looking after as I have time but she is a dependable ride and a beautiful machine.

I also drive a 2007 BMW 328XI four door sedan when in Birmingham and in Italy I drive a 2004 Toyota, Hilux 2.5 liter diesel pick up truck and a BMW 330 XD Coupe.  I regretfully parted with my other German ride last summer, a BMW, R1200R motorcycle.  At my age 4 wheels are better than two!

I have found that the volume of information available on the sl113 site is immense and covers almost every particular that one could want and I look forward to benefitting from the collective efforts of the group.   

[Peter van Es]

Welcome, neelyrc...

Great to find an additional original owner...

You can make us very, very happy by scanning some of your very old, original photos of the car and then uploading them here!

Original details of engine bays, sticker placements etc would be wonderful... As would be 50 yr old holiday snaps of your family and the car...

Peter

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Hello Ralph,

Welcome to the Pagoda SL Group I can only echo Peter's words above how great it is to have you as an Original Owneras part of our group. And we look forward to seeing additional photos and stories of your adventures with this fine automobile.

This thread here is a very interesting thread if you have the time have a read thru it, you will find many interesting stories to read.

Happy and safe travels always.

Dieter

[Jonny B]

Ralph, indeed welcome to the group!!

An original owner, wonderful! As Peter types, the original details are the kinds of things that are just priceless.

I will follow up with you separately for a potential article for Pagoda World.

[Brian in NL]

Welcome to the SL Group, Ralph.  Hope we get the chance to see your car soon. As you may know, we have a drive event in Italy in September, though it is full right now.

Look forward to seeing more photos of your car, especially the engine bay.

Best,
Brian

[neelyrc]

Thanks for the kind welcome messages.  In the short term I will work on getting a few pictures together as Peter has mentioned.  Most of my old hard copy photos are unorganized and in a big box in Italy.  I may have a few in digital form on a computer in Italy and I can only access these when I am back in Italy in early summer.
Thanks again for the welcome.

[Peter van Es]

Lovely photograph...

[49er]

Ralph, welcome to the Forum. I too, am an original owner and it is great to see another join us. We were really smart guys back then weren't we? Best $7000 I ever spent:-) My story as well a few other original owners can be found in a back issue of "Pagoda Notes"
http://www.sl113.org/wiki/uploads/Restricted/PNv7i2US.pdf. Again, welcome and looking forward to reading your post and seeing more vintage photos.

John

[neelyrc]

Thanks John, I read your story with great enjoyment.  Wishing you many more miles of happy driving in your 280SL.
Ralph

[jscharfeld]

I am a new associate member. I just bought my first 280Sl at RM Auctions in Amelia Island a few weeks ago. I live in northern Ohio and plan to use it as much as possible, weather permistting. I am interested in the history of the car. If anyone has any info on previous owners I would appreciate the info.Thanks, Jim

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Jim,

Welcome to our Pagoda SL Group, you will find quite a few Full Members here from Ohio. You can see for yourself by clicking on Members above at the very top of this page, when the pull down pens up click on View Member List once the membership list opens you can sort it by Location once the membership list is sorted by location scroll down and click in Page 36 and 37 to view members in Ohio. Now I don't know if you can do this as an Associate Member, I hope you can, give it a try.

I recommend you remove the VIN number from your post (you can do this by modifying or editing your post). Posting photos may trigger someone to tell you that they have seen the car before or knew the previous owner. If your MB maintenance manual has no info for service records then I don't think you can do much unless you hire a good detective to trace back where the car came from and check dealerships in that area. The detective may use the ViN number to do this ~grin~ The better plan would be to find a good MB knowlageable mechanic and have him check your car front to back. That I think would be money well spend ...

One of the members near you in Ohio might recommend a good mechanic.

Once you become a Full Member our site completely opens up for you like The Linkage Tour it will get your engine running like she should.

Good Luck and safe trails always,

Dieter

PS. Do post some photos of your car. I am surprised that RM sold this car without any records. My car was imported from Florida and has been worked on by RM here in Canada I have all the records going back to Florida when service was done there.

[alpina]

Congratulations Jim, you have a lovely car there. You'll find it has been discussed
On here before  http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=23852.0
Enjoy it.

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

If it is indeed the car that Jim purchased at the RM Auction, I am shocked that he needs more info then what RM has provided

-------- quote from above link -------

This Pagoda Roadster has just undergone a complete nut-and-bolt restoration to impeccable standards by factory-trained technicians in Duren, Germany. After all components and body panels were removed, the unit-body and panels were stripped of paint and dipped in a KTL anti-corrosion solution for long-lasting protection, as well as to provide the foundation for the astonishing final paintwork this car received. The car is painted an attractive Mercedes-Benz Medium Blue, with an off-white hardtop and matching off-white wheel covers.

With matching-numbers, as per a copy of its factory data card, the engine and four-speed manual transmission, rarely seen in the United States, were completely disassembled and rebuilt, as was the fuel injection system, using Mercedes-Benz hoses, belts, seals and internal components. Cosmetically, the engine bay is finished to the highest quality, with all proper plating, hardware, and factory lines. Likewise, the trunk is presented to the highest quality. All mechanical components were removed from the chassis and disassembled. Where replacements were required, only genuine Mercedes-Benz parts were used. All the chrome and trim, including the European-specification headlamps, was either replaced or restored. The work also included installation of a completely new interior with cream leather upholstery, new door cards and wood trim pieces, and contrasting dark blue carpeting. An original Becker Grand Prix radio is fitted, and a full set of tools is included.

Overall, this 280 SL is identical in condition and appearance to the way it would have been presented in the showroom when new, and the color combination is among the most desirable and attractive.

--------- end of RM quote ----------