The original ones are now available! I installed mine in about 2 hours today....taking my time, removing my "new" pad and glue....making a few needed cuts, etc. I love it...feel like my "perfect" car is more complete and authentic now.
Hi Smiledoc (I'm sorry. At first, I was led to believe you WERE Babak, the Benz restorer, but the post below still applies, to help sort out some, but not all, confusion :-)
We have all received the email that the Benz Restorer is offering a reproduction pad as well. I met him in person at a local Mercedes meet this past Sunday, but even though I talked to him about how much I appreciated his enthusiasm and entrepreneurship for independently starting his own version of a firewall pad, we also talked about the quality of his reproduction. I told him that I really hoped he would still be able to sell his pad on ebay and to other customers of his, but I believed that few on this web-site would likely purchase his pad unless it were priced considerably cheaper than the one Alfred is having made. For you to make the claim "The original ones are now available" is somewhat surprising. I don't like raining on Babak's hard work and I never commented directly on his posts or to his email, but beside that pad not being fabricated out of the original raw material, the "pattern" was merely made with a die that pushes rows of square-shaped indentations into the tar-like or rubberized surface of the material. There is no real 3-d structure to the pattern at all, so that the end result does not look very much like the original. If we couldn't buy the exact, correct fire-retardant material that Alfred has found, matched to the almost identical pattern and surface texture, I must say, I would still not be very interested in buying this pad and, I believe neither would 90% of the very informed members in this community, after knowing the full story. I think I have a reputation for being one of the most critical anywhere, when it comes to authenticity on Pagodas and I hope, the club would be more than happy to work with Babak on reproducing the late model ATE brake reservoir, etc., but now that you, Smiledoc, have made this post on this thread, I thought I should comment. I think Babak's shift knobs, mirrors and other items he sells are quite good, but on this one, he jumped the gun. By the way, all of us are making virtually zero at the club's introductory pricing (even though it has been a very time consuming project for me and Alfred was not always easy to convince unless I provided him with iron-clad proof of very original Pagodas that have come through my workshop :-)). I don't think we even get one free pad (wink).....
I see this effort and possible future reproductions as the beginning of doing some really nice work, similar to the Gull Wing group and I think that maybe one day even Mercedes Benz will be convinced by the quality of our work and start working together with us, considering that the classic center in Irvine has some true enthusiasts as well who secretly do appreciate when (correct) form follows (MB) function ;-)
This also goes to Pete Lesler's comment about authenticity: While you may be technically correct that Mercedes-Benz (and the club accredited by them) might not consider the club's firewall pad "authentic", I am glad to vouch for it as being the best that we can possibly hope for, at a cost that is somewhat acceptable. The margin of error is really VERY small. I think I have already commented on the choice of the high quality synthetic felt for the backing. I would have preferred something like the original (for most cars) foam, but I think the membership had given its vote and I still think that Alfred would eventually be willing to let us offer a foam backing as well. I have gotten 5 out of five "Best in Class" trophies using a very similar, earlier version of this pad against some other very stiff Mercedes competition that normally would beat even the best Pagodas hands down. Dare I say, that some of the judges were other recognized experts, such as Scott Melnik and Tom Hanson and also this forums active member Bob Geco at events like the LA Concours at the Rose Bowl, The Muckenthaler, the Palos Verdes Concours on the Trump Golf Course (that is not supposed to be an endorsement of quality ;-) -you're fired!) and the amazing Dana Point (formerly Newport Beach) Concours.
As far as the Benz Dr.s comment about the installation, I like the idea with the wax paper because as we know, getting this two-dimensional pad onto a very 3-dimensional surface is not the easiest task. Also, one forgets that several items such as the temperature sending unit and a few cables and tubes have to be disconnected, so people with two left thumbs may want to leave this job to others. If you have no problem doing these tasks, then joining the outer, patterned layer with the inner backing should be no problem, even without a special tool.
And as far as the earlier Pagodas without the heater access hole, I honestly would see if Alfred is willing to sell you just the material and then do a one-off cut-out myself. A lot more work, but a lot better result and authenticity. The other approach would be like having the vin plate cutout pre-stamped on all pads which would simply be "wrong" for most US bound Pagodas that had the VIN plate attached to the b-pillar. For the very first Pagodas that used yet another of about 5 different materials used by MB at one point or another, you may actually be better off searching for another material.The few hundred looked like they used roofing paper.....
Regards, Tom Colitt
