Author Topic: bad taste ? (Read 7449 times)

steve bonds · « **on:** April 23, 2007, 10:07:22 »

Hello everybody
I am new to the forum but have read some of the posts and need to ask your opinions. I have been looking for a car for ages and I have about £20K to spend. I have seen a lot of frogs and have yet to find something nice. I have seen a few left hand drive USA car in green with sports wheels but is it me or does this just look wrong? There are quite a lot of these green cars around and they are not selling and If I am being honest It just looks like a cheap second hand sports car. I spoke to a couple of people that said that these cars are very hard to sell . This one has been for sale for ages and the seller said that it was only because it was a American colour. He has offered me it for two thousand less and said that I should have it sprayed. Does this sound right? What is it with these green "pagodas"? Why have they been dumped here in England and why are they so un-popular? One person at the garage wispered to me that only a mug would buy one of these left hand drive USA cars and I would be stuck with it if I didnt have a re-spray. Why is that? I would love to hear what you have to say. Thank you.
Steve

jameshoward · « **Reply #1 on:** April 23, 2007, 10:29:24 »

Hi Steve,

Welcome to the group. You are having the same dilemma I had. To cut a long and unduly tedious story short, I ended up buying a US car and shipping it over (we can discuss that aspect off line - just e-mail me if you want to). £20K is $40K so you'll get something pretty good. If you want to keep it, I wouldn't worry about the fact that the Yankees drive on the wrong side of the road and equip their cars accordingly - I've had a LHD car in the UK for years and it's only a real problem on narrow Cornish lanes (so if you live in the deepest darkest countryside, you may want to rethink).

If you want to buy in the UK, you must read all the stuff on here about buying a car. I've written a lot on it based on my experiences - things like what to look for, etc.

Here's some threads - there are many more written by people who know tons more; do a search:

http://index.php?topic=6271

http://index.php?topic=6265

http://index.php?topic=6291

$40K should get you something pretty good from the US. £20K would get you something far less decent in the UK. You'll have to factor in shipping costs, which are minimal, and then you may have to pay tax on import.

Basically, it's a balance: a US car in far better condition but with the wheel on the wrong side and from a place that makes inspections hard, or buy one in the UK, inspect it to death and haggle accordingly. People on this site will be only to happy to shoot prospective purchases full of holes and so give you ammunition to beat down the sellers' price. Just take a digital camera and lots of photos. I can also tell you that many classic car mags have 113's in them in the UK. Finally, if you're looking at a car and then thinking of a re-spray as your first act of ownership, you're looking at the wrong car (unless it's an aboslute complete and utter bargain).

Ask away!

JH

waqas · « **Reply #2 on:** April 23, 2007, 11:20:58 »

Do you know for sure whether the problem lies with a pagoda in green, or the fact that it's a LHD in the UK? Or maybe the green reminds the English of the Irish too much?

I, for one, quite like the colour green (my pagoda is moss green metallic, and my 111 coupe is dark green)... and I don't mind the Irish either!

WAQAS in Austin, Texas

enochbell · « **Reply #3 on:** April 23, 2007, 12:29:07 »

Color is, of course, completely personal. Otherwise you could have your car the way Henry Ford designed it: "any color you want as long as it was black". Personally, I think the green with bamboo is striking (mine is white/black). But, like any dark color, these cars tend to look tired if the paint is not pristine. As for sports wheels (I assume you mean wire?), never cared for them on the Pagoda.
Finally, I don't think there is anything international about car colors. You chaps started it with the TR6. Isn't "British Racing Green" an official standard :?:

If you would like to post pics, this group will give you an honest...if not too honest...opinion about your prospective purchase.

Best,

g

'64 230sl, fully sorted out...ooops, spoke too soon

paulr · « **Reply #4 on:** April 23, 2007, 12:38:56 »

My car ( a navy 280sl UK ) was originally light green but was resprayed rather nicely by a previous owner because it wouldn't sell I'm told. I must say that I wouldn't have bought a green car but that's mostly because I like dark cars. In fact all my cars over the years have been either Black or Navy except one distraction that was bright red. I don't think I have ever seen a green 113 in the UK other than the 'ex Texas' cars that are still in the dealer ad's at the moment. I have noticed that they have been around for a long time but again so have many others including that pale blue one that appeared on EBAY recently that you guys gave a slagging (ha ha). Anyway, what advice to give? Just buy the best that you can afford and I wouldn't bother with the £2000 discount. I don't think you should be having cars resprayed. There are some good ones for sale at the moment both left and right hand drive. There are some left hand drive bargains around too and JH is right, with the exchange rate the way it is you may well bag a real bargain if you can do the left hand drive thing that is.
Good luck.

paulr
lovely 1970 280 SL

....Enochbell. I think that the unlucky colour thing might be related to the British Racing Team whose cars were green and who kept losing races. Now there's a suprise!

jameshoward · « **Reply #5 on:** April 23, 2007, 14:29:15 »

Paul,

We may have been losing races, rugby, (and snooker for all I know), but at least we're still top at cricket!!

JH

paulr · « **Reply #6 on:** April 23, 2007, 14:46:49 »

..true

paulr
lovely 1970 280 SL

Kemal · « **Reply #7 on:** April 24, 2007, 13:43:54 »

Hi Steve
I drive a LHD & love it .....Also manual .
My first car was a beetle LHD in the eighties [ fond memories ]
I think it might have some thing to do with watching old American movies from my childhood [ Hitchcock ] etc.
Yes I have found that US cars are better preserved & as for colour , go with your gut / heart .
Take a look at ' Motoringinvestments ' [ Google ]

Good Luck , Let us know .

Kemal
280 SL Manual 69

PnHi · « **Reply #8 on:** April 24, 2007, 18:40:07 »

Steve... you need to come to the states and see a green car in the sun.

Mike C.
"68" 250SL
Dark Green/Cognac

KevinC · « **Reply #9 on:** April 24, 2007, 19:15:49 »

I suggest that car colors are cyclical and lets face it, greens and browns were popular all over in the late '60's and '70's, that's probably why we see more pagodas in these colors (or colours as it were) than we see on cars today. Perhaps a purchase of a green car now will be great investment when the pendulum swings the other way in a few years!!!

Kevin Caputo
Boca Raton, FL
1967 230 SL Automatic
670 Light Ivory
113 Bronze/Brown MB Tex
2007 Lava Gray Audi Q7

waqas · « **Reply #10 on:** April 24, 2007, 20:53:32 »

You mean I should call up my painter and ask him to stop...?

WAQAS in Austin, Texas

Ben · « **Reply #11 on:** April 25, 2007, 04:37:42 »

quote:
Or maybe the green reminds the English of the Irish too much? I, for one, quite like the colour green (my pagoda is moss green metallic, and my 111 coupe is dark green)... and I don't mind the Irish either!

......hey hey ........cool it !!

I believe the British Racing Green was introduced as a marque of respect to the Irish who allowed the Gordon Bennet Race, or maybe the Grand Prix to be run in Ireland as there were some problems with the rules which prevented in being Run in the UK one year.

Anyway, colour is a very personal thing and it depends on the actual shade, the Moss Green cars are fabulous IMO.

However as James says if a respray is your first objective then keep looking, but iof you like it and its a good car at a good price then go for it. You should of course be more concerned with the structure of the car and also be aware that when you start a repsray on one of these cars it takes a lot of time and money to do it properly. A quick blow over to a non original colour will detract greatly from an otherwise sound car.

There are plenty for sale, I would keep looking. I know of an immaculate and well sorted RHD 280SL auto that was sold recently by one of the members here that was almost in you price bracket, so they are out there !

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.

mdsalemi · « **Reply #12 on:** April 25, 2007, 06:06:52 »

Colors and tastes changes over the years, so green which seems to be a color that's "out" now might be in again sometime. In this car's heyday of the 60's and 70's, every British marque had a substantial portion of production devoted to BRG (British Racing Green).

Today, despite the lavish assortment of colors in the palette--actual production of MB cars for the USA at least, is pretty dismal. Let's see, 98% of production is Black, White or Silver. Go to the Port of Baltimore where they arrive, and over hundreds of acres that's all you'll see--with the little exception of a red or blue sprinkled in, probably because of customer order. That's just a little bit of a wider variety then old Henry Ford envisioned.

My subdivision, built in 1991-1995 has 330 homes in it; about 328 are some shade of beige or taupe "for resale", with matching beige carpets. (Mine is Nantucket Grey, and carpets range from blue, deep blue, to black) Color is indeed a funny thing.

Celebrate the difference if your 113 is something other then White, Black or Silver.

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored

al_lieffring · « **Reply #13 on:** April 25, 2007, 07:32:48 »

quote:
Originally posted by mdsalemi

My subdivision, built in 1991-1995 has 330 homes in it; about 328 are some shade of beige or taupe "for resale", with matching beige carpets. (Mine is Nantucket Grey, and carpets range from blue, deep blue, to black) Color is indeed a funny thing.

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored

In the 80's when my wife and I were looking for our first home a realtor took us to a subdivision filled with beige houses with matching tan shingle roofs, I told the realtor it was a "beige-plex" she was slightly insulted.

al

66 230sl
113-042-10-014715
904/396 blue, Ivory Tex
condition: not-as-rusty-as-before-bucket

RCS Coupe · « **Reply #14 on:** April 25, 2007, 10:01:15 »

My 2-cents: M-B 268 Dark Green is NOT British Racing Green. Seen next to a BRG Jag or TR the difference is very apparent. Reminder: these cars were built in Germany barely 20 years after The War, BRG would not be on their political color wheel!

Ray
(268)Green 250 Coupe

mdsalemi · « **Reply #15 on:** April 25, 2007, 12:04:52 »

quote:
Originally posted by RCS Coupe

My 2-cents: M-B 268 Dark Green is NOT British Racing Green. Seen next to a BRG Jag or TR the difference is very apparent. Reminder: these cars were built in Germany barely 20 years after The War, BRG would not be on their political color wheel!

Ray
(268)Green 250 Coupe

Ray--perhaps you missed my point. I don't know MB268 from BRG; the important point is that they are both some kind of "green" and green--regardless of shade--was far more popular in the 1960's then it is today. In fact, compare the total number of colors available then to today. Few cars are built to customer orders (just dealer orders) and they build silver, black and white.

Your color might be in again someday, and it is probably a true piece of vintage nostalgia being a relatively rare color.

The Germans would have never called it BRG either, but then again they did build some RHD models...so to heck with politics it's all about sales.

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored

PnHi · « **Reply #16 on:** April 25, 2007, 18:24:30 »

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4021/is_n4_v20/ai_20497103

quote:
Whatever happened to red sports cars? The reigning colors for sports and compact cars are medium and dark green, according to DuPont Automotive's 1997 Color Popularity Survey. Twenty percent of cars built in the 1997 model year sported green paint. Nine percent of sports/compact cars were bright red, and 8 percent were medium red. White and black also rated high, at 14 and 13 percent, respectively.

Green's popularity isn't restricted to small cars. It's also the most popular color for intermediate and full-size autos and the second-most popular for luxury cars and trucks and vans. But the green days may be numbered. In all categories except luxury cars, green was less popular in 1997 than it was in 1996.

I remember when this article came out and was shocked when I found it that it dates to 1998. The year, btw, that I had my car repainted.

hands_aus · « **Reply #17 on:** April 29, 2007, 06:06:50 »

quote:
Originally posted by jameshoward

Paul,

at least we're still top at cricket!!

JH

Have you checked the World cricket scores lately?

Bob Smith (Brisbane,Australia)
RHD,1967 early 250 SL, auto

jameshoward · « **Reply #18 on:** April 29, 2007, 10:37:11 »

Bob,

I stopped checking the cricket scores after England had the good grace to bow out in order to allow your chaps a clear run at the title, much like the most recent Ashes Test. Time is on our side and we're having a bit of re-think on the sporting front. Enjoy it whilst you can, especially since most of the Auzzi team have now retired (and in Warne's case presumably to allow more time for drug taking and going on the lash).

We'll be back. Sometime. (Probably).

James

News:

Author Topic: bad taste ? (Read 7449 times)

steve bonds

enochbell

paulr

paulr

PnHi

KevinC

Ben

al_lieffring

RCS Coupe

PnHi