Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart

[Paggyderm]

Last month I was pleased to see a fantastic display of Mercedes-Benz history, but disappointed that only one W113 was on exhibit: the Pagoda seemed de-emphasized.  These cars are certainly significant enough to take up at least half of a floor at the museum.  I'd suggest one each of the 230sl, 25sl and 280sl. The obvious argument is that they are too similar.  The more Pagodas, the better; the 1971 SL should have never changed. Greatest regret: W107 lasted nearly two decades but not the Pagoda. If only...

[Witt]

The Pagodas mean a great deal to us now, but never to Mercedes. Just look at the  low production numbers: less than 50 000 in eight years. It just did not sell as well as the 107 that followed, for what ever reason.
Lets face it, replacing the 300SL and 190SL was a hard act to follow and the public respond was unkind.
Just recently I read a comment in one of the major car magazines, that Mercedes made two big mistakes: building the Pagoda and not building the C111. ( their words not mine....)

CHEERS !
WITT !

[JamesL]

I'd swap my Pagoda for a C111

[al_lieffring]

As excited as I was to have seen the pagoda at Unterturkheim, the coolest part of that display was the 300d "test-mule" station wagon powered with a 300sl engine, that chased the test cars around the track with an umbelical cord trailing into the instruments that it carried in the back.

I could just imagine the scene of this car going around the test track 12 inches off the rear bumper of a pagoda going 200kmh with engineers sitting in the back reading the instruments.

[floatinghat]

replacing the 300SL and 190SL was a hard act to follow and the public respond was unkind.

The 190sl a hard act to follow?  My dad and his 300sl buddies used to talk about what a piece of poo is was and how it never should have worn the star.

[ja17]

Hello,

I have owned all theses cars except the C111. They were all very distinct in their own way.  They were all very good cars. The 190SL was born in the shadow of the magnificent 300SL. Many believe the 190SL to be more attractive in form to any that followed. It was underpowered a bit, but did just fine if you were not afraid to flog it (run it hard).  The quality  and craftsmanship built into these cars was superb.

I remember lusting for a new 250SL back in those days when I was driving my 190SL (which I had purchased for $750.00) in 1966.  The new price of a W113 at the time was well over $7000.00 and was far out of my reach.

The Mercedes phenomena was just getting started in America in those years.  The American demand for Mercedes SLs is what was the driving factor for production numbers. This is why the 300SLs came into production and nearly all were sold in America Back then.  Production numbers for Mercedes SLs increased with the W113s and exploded with the W107 which also came to America in high volumes.

The W107 was one of the most successful Mercedes of all time, cheap fuel in those days, booming economy in America, and good climate for a convertible made the W107 a popular choice in the USA. Production numbers were staggering, most were shipped to America.These cars were  felt to be overweight and a bit boring to look at by some.

Different cars, all unique for different people with different needs and desires.

[al_lieffring]

The most expensive part of building any car is the labor, and the 113 was a more labor intensive car to build than the 107 series SL. It is entirely possible that if Mercedes were to have built more 113s that they could have sold them but the increased production costs would have eaten up all the profit.

Car companies are in business to make money, the cars are just a by-product.

As for the 190SL, I never liked them, it got to the point where I hated to see them roll into the shop. By the mid 70's when I was working on these cars they were clapped out pieces of junk that the owners (usually car traders) were not willing to spend any money on. They were often purchaced for a few hundred dollars, resprayed with yet another coat of Earl Sheib $29.95 paint, and then they expected a $50.00 flat-rate tune up to fix all the running problems that had been accumulating in over 20+ years of back yard tinkering. When I was an even younger lad in the 60's I thought, the Porsche 356, the 190sl, the 64 Corvette and any of the T'Birds to be some of the ugliest cars around.

My attitudes toward these cars may have softened a little over the years.