Pagoda SL Group
W113 Pagoda SL Group => General Discussion => Topic started by: bsimaz on June 01, 2012, 11:55:25
-
Not sure if you've seen this before...
http://www.mercedesheritage.com/2012/secret-6-3-pagoda/
-
I bet that was fun to drive!
-
a good link to Hatch and sons in that article
-
It sounds like that it would have been dangerous and very unstable. That is probably why the car was destoyed. We might think what a joy it would have been to drive. On the contrary, it sounds like the v-8 engines of the time period were way too heavy for the w113. That is what research and development is all about. It was a good idea that didn't work out as hoped
-
This sounds like a hand full. Just dangerous too much torq will do for handling
http://www.oursl.com/NewsLetter/NL0602/280SL.htm
A little over done.
-
Someone in Germany commissioned a replica of the 6.3 including the hydraulic suspension etc. look to the right on the top row to see what they started with. Really a stunning job.
http://www.auto-kromm.de/pagode/album/index.html
-
Indeed, a stunning job. I often wonder about how these projects are financed and if they are done by a proffesional outfit how their business accomodates such a long term project. If that kind of work is the core business for them then they must be exposed to an enormous risk in terms of volume of work. The space that the car is occupying for such a long time has a cost of its own, let alone the man hours required. It's great whilst you've got that job to do but what happens when it's finished?
-
Here are message threads about Pagodas with 6.3 liter engines.
As my old reply shows, one of these is now owned by a gent in Germany.
I believe Mercedes made three or four of these V8 cars.
http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=2023.0
http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=929
Richard M, NYC
-
I think that there are several reasons that companies like Mercedes or a performance or restoration company do modifications like this. The spark usually would have come from some enthusiastic engineer or mechanic who spent his own time and passion on improving an existing design. If he was lucky he got factory support and if he was successful he might even get factory backing for his project and if it it is commercially promising as well, then it might end up in a production run.
In my case, the primary reason for my Pagoda 3 liter M130E was because I am a real car nut, especially when it comes to the Pagoda and I always like to have more power on almost any car. I even think that an Amphicar doing 7mph on the water deserves better than that :-).... Second, I'm an engineer and I just wanted to see how much I could improve performance at a reasonable cost and effort and third, I thought there might be others out there for whom I could do this engine upgrade, although I didn't imagine there would be that many, considering that the Mercedes crowd is generally geared a little more towards originality, than for instance the BMW guys who are into performance upgrades. I think the same goes for factory projects like this and I'd like to think that if I had worked for MB during the Pagoda years (I used to actually work at the BMW factory motorcycle division), they might have kept the Pgoda around until 1975 as the 300SL. I would have drawn the line at putting huge extruded aluminum 5 mph bumpers on the Pagoda in 1975 though ;-)....
-
I saw one offered for auction in France a few years back or so. I did not see what it brought. It was an estate sale I believe. The car in question was one of numerous MB's offered.