If you go to Techno Classica in Essen, read this

[Peter van Es]

Today I visited the Techno Classica in Essen. As I know that I probably was one of the first to visit the show, I'd like to share some of the things that I saw, and that a  real Pagoda owner / lover should not miss. This is a short list, in due course I'll post longer articles on some of these items on my own web-site, http://bali.esweb.nl/ as well as a selection of photographs. However, now I am too tired to write too much.

So what to do and not to miss... here are my tips

1. carry a back pack if you intend to buy anything. I had a shoulder bag, bought quite a few books, and now my right shoulder feels like it will fall off. Wear comfortable but sturdy shoes.

2. Visit the Mercedes Benz Classic center stand. I spotted Max-Gerrit von Pein, director of the DaimlerChrysler Classic division having a quick cigarette. He's very short.

3. Max-Gerrit von Pein is not the major attraction. Mercedes Benz 600's are. There is one 280SL however. Carefully inspect the Pagoda on their stand... and I do mean carefully. I'll post photos on my website http://bali.esweb.nl/ soon, and let you all know when that happens, here. But for now, here are some hints... the car does not have a chassis-number, it's colour combination is non-
standard -- but quite appealing -- and the car is not over 30 years old. The guys at the stand told me the MB Classic Center built up this Pagoda to celebrate its 40th birthday from currently available spare parts only.

4. There's a new book available at the MB Classic center, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Pagoda... this book, with English and German text, is called "Faszination SL", W113, and is available for less than €15. Excellent photographs, interesting stories, a MUST HAVE  for all Pagoda owners. If you
are at Essen, you should buy this book.

5. Whilst we are on weird Pagodas, visit the Mechatronik stand. I have a couple of articles on their product on my web-site (look at http://bali.esweb.nl/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=33, "Can your Pagoda do 0-100 in 6.5 seconds" and http://bali.esweb.nl/modules.php?name=Sections&sop=viewarticle&artid=16 "More on a Mercedes 280SL with a heart transplant"). You may not agree with putting a modern 3.2 liter MB engine in a Pagoda, trying to keep it looking original, but its worth having a look. I personally don't think Pagodas need this sort of treatment, but the British have been playing these sort of tricks for far longer with their Jaguars.

6. Visit SLS GmbH (http://www.sls-hh.de) at their stand and pick up your free copy of their parts list for the W113 and the price list. They have complete carpet sets for around €450 and stainless steel exhausts for Pagodas.

7. Go to the Auto Motor Klassik stand and buy their recent issue on the Pagoda (I believe it was January 2003)

8. Go to the Classics ans Sports Car stand and buy the issue on Mercs Star Turn (Dec 2002) and their Oct 1998 issue on the Mighty Merc SL.

A few more notes. I found most cars at the show very expensive. Someone told me that this is in part because the German law has changed and vendors now need to guarantee everything they sell for 6 months... even classic cars. However, I did not see a lot of "sold" signs, so maybe everyone agrees it was expensive.

The Pagodas I saw for sale were usually expensive (€28,000 - €70,000!) with most in the €33,000-€38,000 bracket. There were actually not so many Pagoda's for sale. And most of these were clearly restored in less than ideal ways (most lacked the little V near the headlights). The €70,000 one was a Finnish complete restoration that looked very weird. It was a 230SL with a 280SL engine, the battery moved to the luggage boot, and other flaws. Why the seller thinks he will get €70,000 for it is beyond me.

I did see a large number of really nice Ferraris, that I really wouldn't mind having. Also, the green Jaguar from the latest James Bond film was at the Jaguar stand. A bit of a weird car, as they needed to fit a Ford V8 small-block engine in the car instead of the original Jaguar V12 in order to fit all the "accessories".  Having said that, I'll put up with the Ford gear-leaver that came with the engine and the transmission, just to be able to have access to the devices that allow me to clear traffic jams without slowing down, and which allow me to bring my responses to road-rage to a new level!

As I said, I will post photographs soon on http://bali.esweb.nl/. Now go and enjoy Essen, will you?

Peter van Es

[Richard Madison]

Peter:

Thanks for taking the time to post the Essen show info. I can't get to the show but after your message, I feel I've almost been there.

I also enjoy your web site, nice job.

Thanks again

Richard M

[n/a]

Peter,
first of all thanks for your report. I've been in Essen 2 yrs ago but not this time.
A couple of comments...
The "new" Pagoda built by MBCC should look a bit odd to a knowledgeable fan as, being built with "currently available spares" this means it'd have (e.g.) reconditioned engine (no new engines available) and a few other non-original bits.
SLS: surely they have a "user friendly" online catalogue but 450 Euro doesn't seem an exception price for a carpet set (if it's "boucle", 'cause if it's nylon for 280SLs it's horrendously expensive!) Stainless steel exhaust systems surely are not their exclusive.
Prices from trade vendors: it makes sense what they said. Actually, I think there's a new European law forcing all trade vendors to guarantee 2nd hand vehicles for 12 months UNLESS THEY AGREE WITH THE BUYER FOR A SHORTER PERIOD!!! I've heard that some try to "enforce" this clause at buyers. In any case, Germany never was the cheapest buying market...
Ciao


Duro
Italy

[Peter van Es]

quote:The "new" Pagoda built by MBCC should look a bit odd to a knowledgeable fan as, being built with "currently available spares" this means it'd have (e.g.) reconditioned engine (no new engines available) and a few other non-original bits.

The guys at the show didn't open the bonnet for me... stupid, I should have asked.

quote:SLS: surely they have a "user friendly" online catalogue but 450 Euro doesn't seem an exception price for a carpet set (if it's "boucle", 'cause if it's nylon for 280SLs it's horrendously expensive!) Stainless steel exhaust systems surely are not their exclusive.

I didn't say they were... I just said they had catalogues available.

Peter



Check out http://bali.esweb.nl for photographs of classic car events and my 1970 280 SL

[Peter van Es]

Photos of the TechnoClassica show in Essen (although not all edited and commented) are available at http://bali.esweb.nl/modules.php?op=modload&name=PhotoIndex&file=index&func=menu&cat=Classic%20Cars&roll=Techno%20Classica%202003

Enjoy!

Peter

Check out http://bali.esweb.nl for photographs of classic car events and my 1970 280 SL

[Albert-230SL]

Hi Peter,

Thank you for the information. I was visiting the Techno Classica Essen during all 11 and 12 Apr., and I was driving all the 10 Apr. from Barcelona to there (around 1.500 km), so I couldn't read your tips before my visit. Fortunately I didn't miss any of your suggestions. (Agree about the Finnish Pagoda restoration: good bodywork but lots of non-correct details in a 230 SL: 280 rear lights, later 280 SL style stainless steel wheels, etc)

I also found some other Pagoda interesting items:

1 - In the Motor Klassic stand, they had a limited edition of the Pagoda Schuco Piccolo model (1:90) in exclusive green color, "Motor Klassic" logos, and towing a boat (Riva style): very nice for Pagoda model collectors

2 - In the Mercedes-Benz boutique, they had a "50 years SL" collection models in 1:72 (from racing 300 SL to R107, all 6 silver cars with red interior) for 15,90 Euros. And a 1:43 280 SL for 5,90 Euros. Both with very good price/quality ratio.

3 - In the same MB boutique, they had the Olson's book "The SL Experience" at 75 Euros. I had never seen before in any bookshop in Europe.

4 - In the same MB stand, they had a boutique of classic literature, including a publication with all the current available parts for W113 (except engine parts) and their prices. They also had W113 owner's manual, and spare part lists (big books) for all W113

5 - The stand of the Mercedes-Benz club of model collectors had a show case with lots of different vintage Pagoda models... where I discovered how many Pagoda models I miss in my collection :-(

6 - M.O.R., the Michelin classic line importer for Germany, showed the remanufactured Michelin MXV-P 185HR14 tyres in their stand (the correct tyre for all the Pagodas). Their price: 198 euros plus taxes

7 - There were many spare parts (new and old ones) specialists in classic Mercedes cars, where was possible to find non available parts through MB

8 - Lots of specialists in brochures, old magazines, books, where find all the Pagoda literature.

9 - If I would have been there also on Sunday, my list would be longer!

It was, as always, a very interesting classic motor show!

Regards,

PS. Peter, great photos! Only one suggestion: when you shot the photos without flash under this conditions of artificial light, you should use a blue filter in your camera to avoid the yellow finish of the pictures... just a photographer tip :-)


Albert de la Torre Chavalera
Barcelona (Catalunya/Spain)
Feb.'64 230 SL Euro Manual

[Peter van Es]

quote:PS. Peter, great photos! Only one suggestion: when you shot the photos without flash under this conditions of artificial light, you should use a blue filter in your camera to avoid the yellow finish of the pictures... just a photographer tip :-)

Albert, thanks for the tip... however, the funny colours are because I use a third party fish eye lens screwed in front of the regular lens of my Nikon digital camera. That fish eye lens is great for photography of cars (it's so much easier to get it all in) but realyl gives a very reddish hue to the pictures. This, however, is easily corrected using Photoshop or indeed the software I use to put my photographs on the web... in my rush of posting the pictures I just had not gotten round to doing this yet.

As you could read from my original post, the weight of the books and other stuff I bought (including the W113 manuals and parts lists you mention -- I just didn't realise they were new too, otherwise I would have mentioned them) sort of turned me off from carrying a heavy tripod, which is what I really should be doing in order to get great photographs.

Ah well, maybe some day.

It's a shame I was there on the 10th, and could not make it on the 11th and 12th, otherwise it would have been fun to meet up!

Peter

Check out http://bali.esweb.nl for photographs of classic car events and my 1970 280 SL

[Albert-230SL]

Hi Peter,

Yes, you are right, you can buy a lot of kg. there! And to carry this weight together with the camera and the tripod is not very comfortable!
I need the tripod because my magazine works with slides 100 ASA.
As a journalist, I had a closed box in the press room to store things. So first af all I took all the photos only carrying camera & tripod, and later I changed both for my trolley (the typical airport case with wheels) to visit Essen and put inside all the purchases... It's the most comfortable system I have found!

The fish eye lens is very useful when there are so people, because you can shot very close to the car... otherwise people will cross between the camera and the car in the worst moment!

About the artificial light... I have received my photos today, and slides 100 ASA are very critical! It's difficult to find the correct filter in Essen because of the many types of light. Fortunately, to avoid risks, I shot 5 or 6 different photos every time (with or without flash and filter, and changing the exposure time for same aperture), and at least one of them usually is good!

Best regards,

Albert de la Torre Chavalera
Barcelona (Catalunya/Spain)
Feb.'64 230 SL Euro 113042-10-002432