Fold-away soft top

[Gary Baxter]

I have purchase a 280sl California Coupe and would like to convert it to a fold-away soft top. Does anybody know if one from a 450sl would fit? I have to do a total body-off restorataion on the car, so so cutting and welding would not be a problem.

Many thanks

Gary Baxter

[Ulf]

A frame/top from a 450 SL (presumably a R107) surely won't fit as they are completely different cars and the R107 is much larger than a W113. The conversion from California Coupe to roadster is covered elsewhere in the forum :-)

Ulf

[DaveB]

Welcome Gary,
I recommend restoring your car to original specifications. To undertake the soft top conversion properly you'd first have to find the donor parts and the soft top frame, that might cost say $10,000 here in Australia, and will not be easy to find in acceptable condition. Then the additional bodywork could cost $10-20,000. If you're talking about just adding a soft top and not the soft top well or any other soft-top specific body parts, you will be making an ugly duckling, especially if you go with a non-W113 top.

Plenty of pagoda owners never even use their soft top. Why not restore your car to original?

Dave

[kampala]

Gary,

Welcome ... and congrats if this is a new purchase.  As stated many will advise to not change it ... however if you do decide to do the major conversion, this may help.  When searching for some parts I had recalled seeing the complete system for sale at SL-Tech (USA).  The complete system is still listed ... not sure if it's still actually available.    Here's the link ... it's listed for about 10,000 US$.

http://www.sltechw113.com/parts.html

Wish you the best in your restoration ... with or without a soft top.

[w113dude]

No 107 will not work.
My car was a California coupe, I did the conversion a while back, I did it because I wanted an extra challenge to go with the restoration and I got it  . So I would say there is no getting around it you have to get a w113 parts car, regardless of condition of your parts car the soft top compartments are always intact so with a bit of time you should be able to spot a good donor car besides without it you wont know how to go about finishing it properly. When you do find one let me know I'll show you (if you like ) exactly where to make the cuts, the most difficult part are where the hinges are, nobody can tell my car was originally a California coupe. in the next couple of months I'll have some images on the forum.
One important lesson do not rush

Good luck.
Shaun

[Paul & Dolly]

Why not keep it like it is, they are quite rare.
Use the Hard Top in the Winter, and have
a Tonneau cover made for the Summer,
so you can park it without fear of water
ingress.

God luck, whatever you decide

Paul

[Garry]

Gary,

Bring it to Canberra for the 50th Anniversary celebrations and get lots of information and help from all the other Pagoda enthusiasts from around the country.  You may change you your mind on doing the conversion, then again it may firm up your thoughts on what to do.

See www.pagoda50.com

[Gary Baxter]

Many thanks to those who answered my question. Thank you for the link to sltechw113, Kampala; yes Gernold still supplies them and I think I will go this way. Thank you Shaun for you kind offer of assistance, I am sure that I will need it.

Best regards

Gary Baxter