Pagoda SL Group
W113 Pagoda SL Group => General Discussion => Topic started by: Jaru on December 02, 2014, 16:27:52
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A friend called me a couple of weeks ago, and asked me if I was interested to come along and visit his uncle to look at a pagode who had been sitting in his barn for 12 years. This is what we found.
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At first glance it just looked like a crashed piece of junk. Because of the Opel next to it it wasn't easy to get a good look underneath. But after looking under the carpets and in the trunk, I started to realize that this maybe wasn't as bad as i first thought. In the glovebox I found the datacard, servicebook and all the keys. After looking at som other old cars in the barn it was time to leave. My friends uncle asked me if I was interested in buying the 280SL. I told him i would think about it. I didn't get much sleep that night... I decided i had to take another look at the car with the Opel out of the way. I asked a friend of mine whom is an expert on these cars, if he could join me and take a better look at the car. Next saturday we brought flashlights and a jack and pushed the Opel out of the way. The car had a 5mm layer of dirt underneath, but there was no sign of rust. The car seemed very original and solid except for the damage in the front.
Now there was no doubt in my mind I had to have this car.. After dealing with the owner for a few days the car was picked up and brought back to my garage.
Here is a few pics when i got it home.
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Great find!
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Awsome find. I agree, Ya can't let something like that fall through your grasp - looks fairly straight forward compared to some of the stories on this site.
Congrats.
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Nice find!
Keep us up to date of your progress it will make for interesting reading.
Looks like you have the right shop to do the work that needs to be done, or is it a local garage?
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Thanks :)
Its in my garage now. My plan is to pull out the engine, transmission and front axle, strip the engine bay and deliver the car to a bodyshop to get the front end repaired. I am not going to tear down the hole car for a full paintjob, just the front end will be resprayed for now. The engine/enginebay will be painted and detailed so this part will be finished while I am at it. The rest of the car will just be cleaned and polished. Hopefully its back on the road next summer.
Some more pics before cleaning..
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Congratulations... it looks like you've got enough to keep you busy this winter (and some other winters too :))
just wonder what could have happened to the gear box lever?
BTW... it does not seem to be a barn find in the traditional sense... I mean - given that the car was found in Norway - that it is not a European version sleeping beauty hidden in a barn and just discovered. It looks rather like a car imported from the US (cf. rear bumpers' protectors) for restoration that never happened... but it is just a guess
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The gear leaver was in the trunk, I'm not sure why.. Maybe I will find out on the first test drive ::)
You are absolutely right about the barnfind theory, thats why i used the quotes "-" I found it in a barn though.. ;)
It was imported from Georgia to Norway i 2002 and was supposed to be restored immediately but it never happend.
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I spent a few hours washing the undercarriage and was amazed how well it was preserved under all the dirt.
And no sign of rust..
Before and after
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And some of the wheel housings..
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That looks very solid indeed… lucky you!
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So it was imported in that condition, the crash did not happen in Norway.
With no rust, you're quite ahead of the game, even with the damaged front. At least you know you only have that area to repair. With rust, you always discover new places, and getting a shell back to proper condition can be an endless and very expensive job, much worse than what you are dealing with.
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Looks awesome great find. How did you clean the under carriage? Degreaser ..... Pressure washer?
I need to do mine.
I spent a few hours washing the undercarriage and was amazed how well it was preserved under all the dirt.
And no sign of rust..
Before and after
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Thanks for the comments. I have been dealing with rust on many prior cars, and i must say it's a big relief not to worry about that. I agree that the front damage is far better to deal with.
GGR: thats right, the car was crashed in the US. It has never been on the road in Norway.
DPreston: I used a soap/solvent thats used for washing wooden houses prior to painting and hosed it down with hot water. I did this operation twice and the third time i used a prassure washer with cold water.
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Nice find. Best of luck!
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Started cleaning up the dashboard tonight. After a few rounds with polish it starts to shine again.
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lucky guy, great car.
it looks like a low mileage pagoda. Super under carriage , hard to find these days.
Peter
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Thanks Peter.
Some more pics, original and solid floor.
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this car was not long on the road. I think he has been with the front damage in a barn for a long time also in the United States.
Really a great car. He is'll get a good restoration. Good luck continue to work with the sheet.
Peter
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I think you are right Peter. After what i have figured out from the service book and oil tags on the door I think it has run 160310 miles. And it probably crashed i 1989. Before its next oilchange at 64500miles. it would be intersesting to know the history of the car.
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Finished washing and reassembly today. Next up is the wood trim. The doorpockets needs to be fixed and the front carpets should be replaced. Tested the radio, clock and interior lights, the radio works fine and so does the interior light under the dash, not in the glove box though. The clock was also dead, fortunately i had a nos clock on the shelf.
The drivers seat has been reapaired at some point, not the best result as you can see in the last pic. Found some MB-Tex seat covers on e-bay thats available in Bamboo. Anyone seen these in real life? Are they any good?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-SL-W113-230SL-250SL-280SL-Vinyl-Seat-Covers-kit-63-71-Imported-Mb-Tex-/160822929086
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Is your interior MB Tex or leather?
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MB-Tex, code on data card is 139.
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original and in reasonably good condition is better than new and perfect.
Working at the fenders, I would take a professional. A few thousand Euros more well spent if the result is perfect.
Here is my silver barns pagoda 2013 was parking since 1998 with 120000 mi
Peter
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Great find, the last few photos you have posted certainly instills more hope than the very first one!
Best of luck with the restoration, from a fellow Norwegian.
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@Peter the car will be in good hands at the body shop. They have done several pagodas before and they pay much attention to copy original spot welds and so on.
Your Pagoda looks beautiful, is it a early 68'? Or is it a grey market euro model? Hence no bumper guards and the trim below the licence plate.
Thanks Solbekk :)
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the silver is born 09.1968 and someone put the strip under the plate. I have all doc. since 1975, i am the third owner
Peter
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The soft top needs to be replaced, Wonder if it has been replaced before.. Any signs to look for to determine if its the original?
The soft top compartment looks flawless though.
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At least the carpet is original. The rubber ring bound to the carpet on the drive shaft tunnel, around the gear shift lever was NLA for a long time. Is now offered as a repro.
No is/was A111 997 1081. Nice detail to keep :)
/Hans in Sweden
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That interior is in great condition - the soundproofing/fire protection in the footwells look great, as does the carpet/metal underneath.
And such a great colour combination. Keep posting the pictures!
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Well spotted Hans :) the front carpets are in poor condition, but the top of the tunnel with the rubber ring is not that bad. I hope to keep that part and replace the ones on each side of the tunnel. Bjarne is going to Hamburg tomorrow so he will bring them to Holger for repair together with the door pockets.
Thanks James, more pictures to come..
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Did you take out the plastic window from the soft top? The window should have a small embossed emblem with the MB star. If in good condition would be worth trying to salvage. Certainly agree about the rubber ring around the gear shift lever.
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Clearly the mice in Norway are not big fans of Mercedes!
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Did you take out the plastic window from the soft top? The window should have a small embossed emblem with the MB star. If in good condition would be worth trying to salvage. Certainly agree about the rubber ring around the gear shift lever.
Hi Jonny, No MB Star on mine?
Hi Jaru, nice car (other then the "ouch" on the front end:-). When getting my car back on the road, the tunnel carpet was "glued" to the tunnel and unraveled when trying to get it off. I have a GAHH replacement carpet now but have kept my old carpet with hopes that I might mind find a good upholstery shop that could mend it one day. Good luck in your restoration.
John
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Most interesting about the emblem. I attached a (blurry) photo from my 250 SL top, which is a replacement, but what is indicated to me as the correct emblem. It is similar to the one you have shown, but does have the star?!
I wish I could use the top from my 280 SL as a reference, but that top was replaced years ago, after someone slashed it to gain entry and stole the manual packet!
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Thanks for all the comments and input, what a great forum :)
JamesL: the mice has been kind and focused on the rubber on the air filter, and a small piece of the passenger seat.
Jonny&John:
The window is there but the seam is off in the bottom and sides so its now only attached in top.
There is no MB star, looks the same as John's window so it should be the original softtop. The color also matches the parchment code on the data card. The window is pretty scratched and stiff, so I'm not sure its reusable. Read somewhere that Hjeltness Restoration ordered the window from Mercedes for a SL250 they restored, maybe its still available..?
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Jaru, that matches mine and yours is a better photo:-)
John
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Well spotted Hans :) the front carpets are in poor condition, but the top of the tunnel with the rubber ring is not that bad. I hope to keep that part and replace the ones on each side of the tunnel. Bjarne is going to Hamburg tomorrow so he will bring them to Holger for repair together with the door pockets.
Thanks James, more pictures to come..
Another consideration might be just to cover the carpets in the footwells with coco mats. Correct for the period and also available as an option in 113's.
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Here is my original dark green carpet , the mats ( coconut ? ) I've got a invoice from 1979
Peter
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Kevin: Good idea with the cocomats, how easy is it to source the right material today?
Peter: Wow, love that green Tex interior! Awsome cocomats.. See you have Tex in the parcel tray that looks original, is it? Have seen many cars with carpet as well and I was wondering whats correct ::) in my car its missing so i have to decide what to use..
Jan
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Kevin: Good idea with the cocomats, how easy is it to source the right material today?
I bought mine from cocomats.com . They have the pattern for W113's. You just need to pick your color and material... outstanding workmanship and service.
http://www.cocomats.com/mercedes-benz-gallery/
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I will fully echo the comment regarding cocomats. I have a set in my 250 SL and the 280 SL.
Not exactly sure when the change was made, but the vinyl insert is the correct item to have until sometime mid run for the 280 SL. Authentic Classics has a repro but it is not like the original one. If someone knows of a source, please post.
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Thanks Kevin &Jonny I will look into this :)
I need some advice when it comes to headlights. Both headlights where missing when i bought the car. I have a set of euro lights, but with the side markers and the fact that it is a US car I think it might look better with the correct US lights.. Any thoughts?
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I know it's personal preference but I much prefer the Euro lights on a Pagoda - I think the US versions look like a fudge.
That said, it IS a US car and so was delivered with the sealed beam units.
(I note that Garry's picture of Mr Bracq's latest work shows Euro lights...)
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I agree that that pagodas look better with euro lights, but not shure if it looks right when it has the side markers..
Had to swap side in the garage today so i can lift the engine and transmission out of the SL.
Two green and a little santa..
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It depends on how much of an originality freak yout are. I like the euro look better as this is how the car was designed. So what is original? The original design or the way the car came out of the factory? You would need to delete the side markers too. This is what I did.
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Here's a variety of green cars with both Euro and US headlights. I believe it comes down to personal preference...two could argue original in how it was designed or how your specific car was delivered. I don't feel that the value would be different either way.
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Thanks guys, guess I will use euro lights for now anyhow. The prices on US lamps are pretty high these days, at least on ebay.
Got the motor and transmission pulled out today. Soon ready for the body shop..
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The original firewall pad does not look too bad in the photo. Are you going to be able to salvage that? Car looks very solid in the engine compartment.
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The original firewall pad does not look too bad in the photo. Are you going to be able to salvage that? Car looks very solid in the engine compartment.
Thanks Jonny. Engine compartment is in good shape, original paint and only some surface rust under the brake booster.
Biggest issues with the firawall pad is the holes from AC hoses (AC is not going back in..) and some paint from a respray, there are also quite a few cracks.
I have ordered a pad from Vintage europarts so i will decide when I can compare the two, in the pictures it looks very similar. Anyone here with experience with their firewall pad?
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If you want to delete the side markers now is the time to do it as your front clip will need to be painted anyway. You can also get the euro front bumper which comes without the holes for the US guards.
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Jaru,
the firewall pad from that source is in my opinion first class. I posted here pictures after it was fixed in my car last year. In fact, the firewall picture you see on their website is... from my car :)
If well applied it holds very well in all type of temperatures. Important to make it soft before applying . In my case the restorer used a... hairdryer to soften the material.
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Got the 280 up on the trailer and off to the bodyshopp today. Altough this shop is specialized in Mercedes-Benz there was a couple of other cool cars there as well. A 356 with studded tires :o and a sixties beetle. This will be the home for the 280 for 1-2 months. Looking forward to follow the process.
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Indeed very cool stuff in the window. As you well know, we are all looking forward to the continued update and pictures!
Happy New Year.
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Its been a long time since my last update on the 280SL.
It did not work out as planned with the bodyshop here in Norway. After three months without them touching the car I went and picked it up. With the workshop labor prices here in Norway I found out i had to ship it abroad to get this job done. After talking to the guy i Poland that did the bodywork on my w111 coupe, we agreed that I should strip the car down and deliver it to him. So in april 2015 I took the car to Poland. Now almost one year later I went and picked it up.
I am strugling to upload pictures from my iPad. An error message stating the pictures are the wrong file format. Pictures will be posted when I figure that out.
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Testing file converter..
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A few photos from the pickup.
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I sent a 230SL to Norway about 15 years ago. Car was a four speed, off white, black soft top and interior. Could be the one in the photo. Car would have been shipped from Toronto, Canada.
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I sent a 230SL to Norway about 15 years ago. Car was a four speed, off white, black soft top and interior. Could be the one in the photo. Car would have been shipped from Toronto, Canada.
Which photo are you referring too?
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Jaru,
Nice to see you got your car back and the front end fixed. Now the fun begins to put her all back together.
Best of luck, hopefully by summer time you can take a trip and start enjoying it :)
Safe travels when you do.
Dieter
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looking really good.
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I am strugling to upload pictures from my iPad. An error message stating the pictures are the wrong file format. Pictures will be posted when I figure that out.
I had the same issue but found the reason. My pics from iPhone are named with .jpeg. When uploading on the forum they must be named with .jpg instead.
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This is a great story! Thank you for sharing.
Keep us in the loop on your continued progress.
Cheers
Peter
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Now the fun part begins :)
Took off the 4.08 rear axle the other day. It will be replaced with a 3.69 with new bearings, rubber boot and new paint.
All parts in the front suspension has been sandblasted and powder coated. Bolts and nuts has been chrome plated yellow and black as it was from the factory. It will be put together with all new parts.
First up is fixing a few minor damages in the original undercoating.
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Some more pictures from the assembly.
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And some more.
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Got around to get the trunk sorted out. Because of some surface rust on the trunk floor I had to give it a new coat of paint. All the original damping mats is still intact, but the small rubber mat under the spare wheel is missing, anyone know if this is available new?
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Sprayed it underneath with clear penetrating wax today. It's soon ready to be driven in rain or shine..
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A few more pics
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Did you end up painting the entire body?
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Absolutely stunning. It looks amazing. Better than new. Would love to see it/drive it
Though you might want to restore the arms on your lift: they look in worse shape than the underside of the car!
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Really looks great!
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Did you end up painting the entire body?
The entire body was painted, except the dashboard and rear wheel wells.
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A couple of pictures before it sets of to Hamburg for new carpets, seat covers and soft top.