Mercedes names

[JamesL]

Why is it that some Mercs (often the more memorable/longlived ones) have (nick)names while others never do/did and go by chassis number/badge?

Adenauer
Gullwing
Ponton
Fintail
Pagoda
Panzerwagen

114
124/E

There's no answer to this per se but I thought it odd that some have adopted names and others don't

[Richard Madison]

Apparently the nicknames came about in different ways.

I believe it was the Stuttgart production line workers who thought the new BIG car resembled a Panzer tank.

"Adenauer" was because "Der Alte" was often photographed riding in that model.

Not sure who first coined "Gullwing" but the resemblance of the car's doors to the bird's wings was quite obvious.

"Pagoda" (Pagode) origin I don't know but I thought is was from an early reviewer (critic) of the car
who noticed the shape of the hardtop roof to the Pagoda roof of the East.

Cars known only by their numbers and letters probably don't have enough "personality" to earn a nickname.

As for "Pagoda", when this Group first started some 10 or more years ago, most US owners of 113's did not use or even know about the Pagoda nickname...the tag was popular in Europe but not here. The early organizers of this Group and website resisted including "Pagoda" as part of the Group name. "Pagoda" did not have any special meaning for us. Always cooperative, we Yankees soon came about and have since embraced the nickname.
 
And if Pagoda is from the shape of the hardtop roof, how come the 107 cars with the same roof shape are not "Pagodas"?
The name seems to be reserved for 113 cars only.  It seems only the first tall kid in a family can be called "Stretch."
 
Richard M, NYC  

[mbzse]

"Pagoda" (Pagode) origin I don't know but I thought is was from an early reviewer (critic) of the car
who noticed the shape of the hardtop roof to the Pagoda roof of the East

Recently there was revealed a document, meeting notes from a M-B Factory internal meet dated January 1963, where it was decided, not to use the name "Pagoda roof" or "Flat roof"!
So, apparently the Pagoda name was minted in speech within the W113 project quite some time before the unveiling (13th march 1963). Then, journalists started using the term "Pagoda". It was never used in factory literature.
 

And if Pagoda is from the shape of the hardtop roof, how come the 107 cars with the same roof shape are not "Pagodas"?
The name seems to be reserved for 113 cars only.  It seems only the first tall kid in a family can be called "Stretch."

This is very true. I have been asked this several times. I have never seen or heard the R107 mentioned in conjunction with "Pagoda". And, on the 107, even the trunk lid is concave  ;-)

/Hans in Sweden

.

[66andBlue]

Hello Hans,
do you have a copy of this internal document, or a source that you can point me to?
About a year ago Jonny B and I were discussing writing an article for PN about the origin of the Pagode/Pagoda name but did not get very far.
What we found was that journalists used the name very soon after the introduction, that is already in 1963.
Jon has an ad from 1966 that was placed by MBNA in 1966 but no earlier documents or advertisements issued by Mercedes/Daimler-Benz.  Do you have any?

[mdsalemi]

Alfred--

Isn't there some mention of this in the Gunter Engelen book?  You'd have to do the reading, of course, but I think there is something about that.  I also remember hearsay that it was coined by Erich Waxenberger?  Don't want to send you down a path but these are things which come to mind...

[hauser]

Any chance the journalists were given some type of press release, with the cars stats and maybe the term Pagoda, / Pagode was mentioned.

[mbzse]

Any chance the journalists were given some type of press release with the cars stats...

Yes, certainly they all received a press binder, this was given out 13th of March in Geneva. Very nice too, I do own one from the IAA car show in Frankfurt, Germany, 12 Sept 1963

...  and maybe the term Pagoda, / Pagode was mentioned...

Sorry no. As I wrote below, the M-B organisation refrained from using the term. It seems in the US, there was a more liberal policy, as can be seen from the MBNA ad that Alfred presents...

The prestigious German car magazine "Auto, Motor und Sport" did print the term "Pagodendach" in their in-depth presentation and review of the 230SL, issue 21 in October 1963. This may have been the time the "nickname" began to catch on within a wider audience.

/Hans in Sweden

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[Paul & Dolly]

The official M-B Club (UK) often refer to the R-107 cars as "Dallas" cars,

as  they were often featured in the TV series, that was very popular
here some decades ago.

Paul