I promised to tell the story of how the search for my first Pagoda turned into a purchase of four and a couple of rooms full of parts.
I suppose like everyone here, I've been a car enthusiast since I was a kid, and was quite obsessed through my 20's. Along the way I worked on many cars both for myself and professionally, but very little on Mercedes. They were just out of my reach. My most extensive projects were full restorations of a BMW 2002, and a '63 E-Type. Then along came kids and other aspects of life took over. I finally sold the E-Type to put an addition on my house. That was 20 years ago and until now cars have just been tools for me.
I always loved the Pagodas and started thinking about getting an older car again. Then for Xmas and my 50th, my wife gave me one. Not an actual one, but she set the gears in motion and engaged a friend who's a car buyer to try to find one.
I did a ton of research to get myself caught up, and found this awesome site along the way (THANKS!!). Then just after Christmas I went off on an overnight road trip to look at cars. I saw two that were very shinny, but were much more rusted than I expected for a car in the $35k to $45 asking price range. "Lipstick on a pig" is the expression that comes to mind. I was planning to come home the next morning when I finally tracked down the person on a withdrawn ad for a 280SL that needed restoration. Originally I was hoping for a car that had already received a quality restoration, not one going in, but in my opinion the two "high quality" cars that I has seen the day before were both on their way into, not out of restoration, so I figured I had nothing to lose.
When I saw the advertised car, it was tattered and neglected, but the body was in MUCH better shape than either of the cars I had seen the day before. Even with chrome, paint, and an interior, I'd still be ahead with this "junker". Then the old guy who was selling it said "let me show you, let me show you", and took me in the garage where there was another 280 in even better shape than the first, along with spare engines, transmissions, rear axles, etc, etc.. But he kept going "let me show you, let me show you", and led me out back where there was a third 250 in the yard. And again, "let me show you, let me show you", and he opened up a shed and there was a fourth 230. Then he showed me the rooms (yes, plural) in the basement full of heads, seats, wheels, hard tops, chrome, pistons, injector pumps, oil pans, etc. So the visit that almost didn't happen turned into 4 hours of pouring over the cars and parts.
All the cars turned out to be in fundamentally sound condition, but all were quite neglected and in need of chrome, portions of interiors, and varying degrees of repainting, but rust-wise (what I care about the most) all were in pretty good shape - certainly better than the $35k to $45K cars I saw the day before. On closer inspection, the 280 in the garage and the 250 were actually 230's with replacement engines and trunk badges to match, but the serial numbers and drum rear brakes gave them away as 230's. One had original front fenders and eyelash notched. The 230 that was badged as a 230 is an early one (#1946) with an automatic and the old trunk floor with a well for the spare, original manuals, original data card, matching numbers, original owner delivery receipt, 66k documented miles, tool kits, etc. I almost peed myself.
To make a long story short, with a little haggling I bought everything. It took 4 days to get everything out of the house, basement, garage, shed, and yard and moved to my brother's house about 50 miles away. All the cars were frozen in place and had to be winched free. Then I started trailering them to my place in Vermont. I've got two moved so far, but am taking a break for some other commitments over the next couple of weeks and will resume in February.
My wife has mostly recovered and will probably never give me another present again, but this one makes it all worth while.
