wide white wall tyres

[hands_aus]

Hey Group,
This site is taking off nicely!

I vaguely remember seeing a pic of a MB proto type Pagoda with the wide white wall tyres.

What do you folk think of the wide white wall tyres on the Pagoda?

There is a 230SL cream in colour on eBay have a look at:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2406867847

I think it is beautiful. The car is not original in many ways.

I saved the pic as my desk top background.

I am interested in your opinions.

regards

Bob(Brisbane,Australia)

[Douglas]

bob,

i agree. that car looks a little like that 220 SL prototype.

IMHO, those tires look too 190 SL for my taste. i think of the pagoda as more modern that that. (never cared for them on XKEs either.)

(those speakers have got to go, too)

it's a pity that the original steering wheel isn't on it. i love that round horn ring on the early ones.

i do like that chrome bar on the soft top a la W 111 cabriolet. very nice factory touch you rarely see today & yet another way they cheapened the later cars.

a handsome car nonetheless. thanks for sharing.

[n/a]

Douglas,

that steering wheel IS correct for the model (apart from the black central pad which should be WHITE on a white wheel)! The round horn ring is for the late models (late 250SLs and all 280SLs)
Apart from that there surely are a few non original things, of which the most offending ones are the rather "flashy" chrome fender trims and those really terrible speakers (How can a civil human being fit those things?)

Duro
Italy

[Douglas]

duro,

i'm not an expert on 230 SLs, but i thought an early 230 SL would take that full round horn ring similar to a 190 SL. (i'm not talking about the 250/280 SL semi-circular one.)

anyone else care to comment?

[George Davis]

Douglas, I believe you are correct.  Early 230s have the full circle horn ring; late 230s and early 250s have the D-shaped ring that passes behind the center boss; late 250s and all 280s have the semi-round, semi-D shape ring.  I think the last type also has a matte finish instead of bright chrome, darn it.

George Davis
'69 280 SL Euro manual

[rwmastel]

Two things:

First, my data card specifies white wall tires.  Would they have been wide whites like on this e-bay car, or more modern narrow ones?

Second, my data card specifies no soft top.  I do have one, so it was installed after delivery.  It does have the external chrome strip.  When I get my top replaced ( some day    ), will it be easy to use the existing strip?

Thanks,

Rodd
1966 230SL Euro
1994 E420

[Douglas]

rodd, i believe the wide whitewalls were not largely seen on 113 cars, not even early ones. my guess is the whitewall on your datacard is a firestone phoenix with a thin whitewall. does it indicate tire type? my datacard does.

now about your softop. the chrome bar is literally nailed into the wooden bow, so it's possible to transfer it from one top to another. (i believe it's also still available from mercedes, incidentally.)

if your car wasn't ordered with a softop, it was likely added pretty shortly after it was delivered judging by the fact that your softop has the chrome bar. i don't think that particular softop was used very long (a year or two). it's a nice detail to have though, so congrats.