Author Topic: The Journey of Finding the Right Pagoda  (Read 2832 times)

miltnme

  • Guest
The Journey of Finding the Right Pagoda
« on: September 17, 2006, 10:58:46 »
dear friends,

my wife and i have been searching for the RIGHT pagoda for us for approx. one year now, we are so thankful that we found this wonderful Pagoda forum a few months ago, we have learned so much and have been able to make some good decisions about not buying the WRONG car.

in looking back over this past year, our only regret is that we have not kept a journal and pictures of our experiences with regards to finding the right pagoda for us.

we have met the most incredible wacky and wonderful people on this journey, and the stories we have heard about the cars, how the service history was lost, burned, stolen, in a divorce case, held for ransom, not to mention the lady who said her car was her BABY and always PAMPERED, (the entire interior of her car was ripped, the paint had purple ink spilled on it, and RUST RUST RUST everywhere) or the guy who said his car was his daily driver, but he had to hot-wire it to get it started in the morning, or the man who stored his car under his deck in Montana, during the winter snow storms, with a car cover over it, and told us it was a dry storage area, the winters in Montana are anything then dry, or the other guy who said he was selling the Pagoda for his friend and said it has only 31,000 original miles, and when asked if he could verify it, he said NO, but that since the car looked NICE it had to be true.

anyway, i must start keeping track of the rest of the stories and take some pictures of the owners with their cars!

whow, its been a great journey thus far, and when the Right PAGOGA finds it's way to our home, i sure there will be a story attached to it as well.

we can't thank you all enough for your willingness to assist in our search, Tom Colitt and Bill Simaz have been so instrumental to us as well!

thanks again
jonathan and heidi :oops:  :oops:  :oops:

joelj

  • Guest
Re: The Journey of Finding the Right Pagoda
« Reply #1 on: September 18, 2006, 17:20:12 »
quote:
Originally posted by joelj

Hi jonathan and Heidi,

It took me 2 years to find my  pagoda. Just like you, my journey was filled with misrepresented cars. The last one I looked at and bought was something short of a miracle. Having seen the listing in the papers I felt that it was one of the many that I had already seen and was being relisted. It took me a week to actually give it a call. When I did the owner said it was in great condition all original, aircon, becker radio, US version automatic 280sl. At this time i still did not believe him and scheduled a visit a week after. Having seen my share of rust buckets being claimed as "show room condition" I went to the owners house feeling very skeptical about seeing a pristine car (I just want to point out that here in the Philippines, there are very few Pagodas available. maybe 35 cars in the country so the choices are few and very far between) but as fate would have it, there she was, the pagoda of my dreams sitting patiently for me. So after a testdrive and a thorough check up by my mechanic, the beauty was mine . Funny thing was after the seller and I had a gentleman's agreement, 3 other people came to see the car and was asking him to sell it to them, spot cash and  offerring even more money than what we agreed on.

The moral of the story is...if the car is meant to be yours... it will be yours...no matter what...just keep the faith and don't settle for anything less than what you want.

Keep on hunting yours is just around the corner.

Cheers

Joel

1969 280sl auto
White exterior
Blue interior




1969 280sl auto
White exterior
Blue interior
« Last Edit: September 18, 2006, 17:23:59 by joelj »

miltnme

  • Guest
Re: The Journey of Finding the Right Pagoda
« Reply #2 on: September 18, 2006, 17:35:51 »
hi all

yes, we are keepin the faith and stayin patient, we are in NO hurry to make a BIG mistake on the wrong car!

we'll keep you posted!

jonathan  :|

vincesy

  • Guest
Re: The Journey of Finding the Right Pagoda
« Reply #3 on: September 24, 2006, 01:46:38 »
Joel,  I'm curious.  If there are only about 35 pagodas in the Philippines, wouldn't parts and maintenance be a big problem?

joelj

  • Guest
Re: The Journey of Finding the Right Pagoda
« Reply #4 on: September 24, 2006, 04:34:46 »
Hi vince,

The interior parts,  rubber seals, trim, chrome parts are not available here in Manila so we all order them from Miller or other suppliers in the USA then have them shipped back to Manila.  

The skilled labor to put the Pagoda's back in tip top shape is available. There is one group, Route 66, specialize in Pagodas and most of the owners go to them for restoration. They have won a number of trophies in the local /national car shows.

Regarding the mechanicals, there are a number of mercedes benz specialists who can fix the engine, suspension etc of the 280sl.

My 280sl is currently going through a restoration. I bought some new rubber/weather stripping from Millers. Everything else remains original. It should be out by the end of the month. So far it's been in the shop since  the first of June of this year.

Cheers,

joel

quote:
Originally posted by vincesy

Joel,  I'm curious.  If there are only about 35 pagodas in the Philippines, wouldn't parts and maintenance be a big problem?



1969 280sl auto
White exterior
Blue interior
« Last Edit: September 24, 2006, 04:37:46 by joelj »