Buying a Pagoda in 1977

[batman]

Autocars, a UK based monthly motoring magazine contained a section called "Buying Secondhand".

In Feb 1977 the magazine covered buying a MB 230/250/280 SL.

The previous owner of my car saw (and kept) this article whilst living in the UK and convinced him to buy a 280 which he kept until 2010.

The owner has sent this article to me and I have attached (it's yellowed somewhat) but nonetheless a little time capsule that makes interesting reading.

See the second last paragraph which says......."A couple of years ago an article in "Thoroughbred and Classic Car" drew attention to the potential of the six-cylinder SL as a future classic...." and..."The opportunity to buy one at anything like a bargain price has long past"...

For UK owners, also note the section on spare part prices.

enjoy the read!

cheers

[RobSirg]

Thanks Mark,

Most enjoyable. I had to smirk at the authors claim "...rust resistance of the body is excellent...."

Clearly he hasn't seen my project car 

[nirmal]

Good reading

Nirmal
Dubai

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Thanks for sharing Mark! Good stuff.

[Bonnyboy]

Speaking of rust protection....Based on my experience the rust protection seems to have been pretty good.   If you didn't introduce salt I think many of our cars would have survived intact with normal use. 

My car was originally from Germany built in the fall of 1969.  It appears that it made its way to California in 1984 where by that time the german salt had taken its toll.  The rockers etc. were gone and cobbled together with "newspaper and chicken wire" and slathered with bondo.  By 1989 the bondo was falling off and the car had to undergo some major selective metal replacement using galvanized steel.     Then car was then parked for 20 years where it was rained upon, floors filled up with water, carpets stayed wet for months on end and.....there really wasn't much more rust in 2009 than when the selective repairs were completed in 1989.     

My Jaguar MKII sat in the yard next to the pagoda and that car in the same period literally rusted apart.  When I rescued the Pagoda the Jaguar was beyond hope.

So in short - our pagodas appear to have been rustproofed well compared to other cars of the day. 

[RobSirg]

Yes I can concur as I am sure there was a legitimate cause and effect to the rust on my project car. The main reason was window seal destruction with a car that sat outside for many years + salt. (of course it didn't help the past owner had 2 layers of carpet and 2 layers of underfelt to keep the floors nice and moist all year long).

As I have owned Pagoda's and Alfa's I can agree with the saying that :

"The German's invented rust and the Italian's perfected it" 

[Shvegel]

50 pounds for a fender(front wing)?  1300 pounds now.

[Flyair]

Shvegel

Bearing in mind that we are talking about prices 38 years ago, we should not forget that the purchasing power of a pound went South dramatically.
The actual increase is several times lower, probably not more that 100%...

[simonarn]

T&CC also did an article that turned into a whole series of articles when one of their staff bought a Pagoda.
It was in about 1995, the reporters name was Nick Kisch and it inspired me to buy my 280SL ZF which I still have today.
I also kept the article if anyone is interested.

[Flyair]

Simon,
what is the language of the article?

[simonarn]

Its in English

[batman]

Hi Simon,

could you pdf it and put it on the site?

cheers

[simonarn]

I think i can retrieve the article from my office archives but I would need somebody from the Forums administrators to approve posting a published article.
I have no idea about publishing rights etc

[batman]

From 1995 - I would not be concerned. If you are - simply place the source on your email.
cheers