Thoughts please

[JamesL]

One of my friends is mulling over a trip to Scotland to look over this car. It strikes me as having a few cosmetic issues/bits that are "wrong" and consequently I wonder about pricing (cheaper end of scale for a RHD driver these days)  but what say you? For the money a trip to Canada might make more sense...
https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/mercedes-benz/pagoda/mercedes-230-sl/6860003

[hauser]

No soft top?

[georgem]

Something looks odd about the wheels/hub caps and trim - the hub caps look to stick out too far - could they be from a different car with differing offsets?

[Dave H]

Front wings (fenders) are fitted with rivets.
Front inner arches are suspiciously painted with heavy black paint, expect a lot of rot in this area.
Lots of spray can silver in the engine bay.
your not going to be happy with this a few months down the line.
My thoughts are, to bring this car to a better cosmetic standard you would spend a lot of money and uncover a lot of hidden bodywork, engine rebuild, suspension and steering component work.
If you cant do the work yourself you could easy chuck another 30 grand at it in no time.
Better buy the right one for more money and get what you want in the first place.

[MikeRSR]

Thanks for posting James, just found out it's had a colour change as well!

[JamesL]

Run!

[georgem]

One plus which I just noticed - the handbrake is on the right hand side of the tunnel.

Oh how I wish they all were.

[MikeRSR]

....the handbrake is on the right hand side of the tunnel...

but why would that be?

[RAY]

The wheel arches look more flared to me than standard ?

[stickandrudderman]

Looks like a PT to me.

[Caleyboy]

Whats a PT ?

 

 

[reggie]

Polished turd 

[Caleyboy]

Cheers for that.  I ll let the lad that restored the car know your opinion. Sure he`ll be delighted. He`s now sent me the pics of the restoration that was carried out.   

Apart from the concensus that I should probably just scrap the car, I m going to persevere with it and sit it along side my 280. Decided to build another garage and sell either the 230 or the 280.

Might not have to not run and keep my polished turd alongside the other one.  Might post pics of that too so I can get some sweeping views .

Cheers gents.

[Pagodarestorer23]

This car was delivered to our workshop today. A customer of ours bought it.

[JamesL]

I do hope you post some updates on what you find. I hope for the buyer it's solid.

[Pagodarestorer23]

I've had a quick run around it... it's a 45 grand pagoda. It is what it is.

First job is to make it run on 6 cylinders and go through the engine. Tappets are all over the shop and I'm sure there's some timing chain rattle in there.

[MikeRSR]

With it's Irish background, I'd be concerned about it's structural integrity knowing the roads and weather over there!

[Pagodarestorer23]

A couple of hours have shown that the car is solid and just requires minor repairs.
It's had floors and sill repairs somewhere along the line.
The passenger engine bay is the worst offender. And the riveted front wings.

Interestingly the car has had a boot floor.
But it is a 250/280 boot floor so does not have the spare wheel well. I suspect we will be adressing this shortly.

Engine is now running sweet. (It's a Mercedes replacement)

Lots of tidying up needed,

Front suspension geometry is miles out.

Also the conversion of the handbrake to the drivers side, looks actually very well done. Almost factory!

There's a lot more I know about the car so far but I will withhold until I have spoken to the customer!

Ellis