What was your most memorable Pagoda Road Trip ?

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Once I get to know my 1969 280 SL engine (only got my car last month) I'm planning a road trip with my new found friend 

In 2010 I undertook a extended road trip in a then 2009 BMW Z4 with my daughter along Route 66. I left route 66 at Flagstaff and went to Hover Dam then thru the Mohave Desert to the California Costal Highway 1. Needless to say it was a great trip.

As mentioned earlier once I know the engine of my 1969 a bit better I plan to take that trip along Route 66, only this time all the way Chicago to LA. It made me wonder what extended trips some of the members here have undertaken during the ownership of this fine car ... I'm wondering if we like to share some of those memories here?

I will certainly share my road trip adventures here once my personalized licence plate arrives and I can undertake my first road trip

Thanks for sharing your road trip story.

Meanwhile Happy Motoring to One and All! 

[Cees Klumper]

Good topic. I guess my most memorable over the past 15 years of ownership are:

- early on in my ownership, when the car stalled due to PO issues and I had to call for roadside assistance
- a 400 mile trip from France to Amsterdam through heavy snowfall
- a vacation to Normandy with my family (young children) and we went to pick up fresh croissants every morning

[Tomnistuff]

The trip home from buying my car.

January 1987.  The car belonged to a business associate.  By the time I decided to make him an offer, he had moved from my state of residence, Michigan, to North Carolina with the car.  I called him, tentatively made a deal with him and flew down to look at the car again.  I bought it and started home late in the afternoon.  It ran great, but I learned quickly that the heater didn`t work.  Somewhere on the road, when I got far enough north to reallly need the heater, I found that somewhere under the dash, the linkage was not connected to the heater core valve.  I did not know enough about the car to realize that comfort was just on the other side of that little grommet on the firewall.  I could have opened the valve by hand in 5 seconds and driven the rest of the way in comfort.  Just before freezing solid, I stopped for the night to warm up and sleep.  More of the same the next day.  After getting home in the afternoon, I didn`t drive the car until springtime.  It took that long to get the bad taste out of my mouth and the feeling back into my fingers and toes.

I`ve had the car for twenty-six years and am now doing a full rotisserie restoration.  I figure it`s time to enjoy the car before I lose my license due to old age.

Tom Kizer

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Memories are made of this Cees

Tom, great story!

I have 2 late model cars and when I open the hood all I see is plastic. I like something that I can work on like my former old-timer a 1987 300 series AMG I sold to a friend in 2005 (miss that car)
Just like yourself, I got it so I may enjoy it before they take away my licence due to old age.  I do plan a few road trips before that

[georgem]

Ours was the trip my wife and I did a couple of months ago to join the Pagoda 50th birthday celebrations in Canberra - for those of us living in Brisbane, a 2893km (1786m) round trip. Just loved it - so did the car.

[gerster]

My first really drive was for about 50 miles and took me 3 hours to get there, fueltank was filled with rust so it stopped running every time and had to wait till the fuel
was down in the tank before I could go further for another few minutes.

[Flyair]

My first memorable trip so far happened yesterday, where I got hold of my Pagoda from the mechanic shop to the finishing shop where all the remaining items will be fixed and fine tuned.
This was a ride through the Warsaw suburban area of about 30 km (20 miles) only, but the car was without hood, so imagine amazed faces of people seeing an apparently nice looking old-timer with the engine out…
Now it looks as if the final happy end were to happen soon. And I hope that memorable trips are just ahead, not behind me
 

[49er]

I have had too many memorable drives in both my 250 and 280 Sl to list but a trip to the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley in my 250 SL back in December '67 was an adventure I will always remember . No snow when I got to the canyon (driving there from LA) but then it snowed for the next three days with no let up and the SL was the only car on the road in mostly white out conditions. When I got to Bryce Canyon, they sent down a snow cat to clear the road so I could get up to the rim. Hadn't had a visitor for three days and were amazed to see me. The sun finally came out when I pulled into Las Vegas, and it was clear sailing back home.    
  In the early days, Our 280 SL had been back to the the south west a few times (always in the spring or summer:-) and up down the California coast too many times to remember. On one of the those trips, 37 years ago, I proposed to my "navigator" on the beach in Santa Barbara. She said "yes" .
  Recently, driving the car for the first time in over 20 years (after being brought back to life down at Ernie's shop) was an incredible moment and one I will never forget. Now every time we take our old friend out on the road for our leisurely Sunday drives, the memories of all the great trips we took so many years ago come back.

John

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

GoodDay George,

That must have been a great trip, got any photos to share with us? I’ve never been to Canberra (only Sydney, Adelaide, Whyalla and Perth), Perhaps some day I’ll make it to Canberra

Gerster,

That must have been frustrating, here is hopping your future trips will all be memorable

Flyair,

It must have looked like an American Hot Rod (without the hood)

I like your positive thinking about memorable trips ahead and not behind. We hope you return here and share with us one of them upcoming memorable trips.

John,

What wonderful memories, I think the day you proposed to your navigator must have been the most memorable one I’m thinking.

I know what you mean about those Sunday drives, when I take my new friend for a spin hire in Southwestern Ontario I too think back to other memorable drives I had in other cars then this fine automobile.

[49er]

John,

What wonderful memories, I think the day you proposed to your navigator must have been the most memorable one I’m thinking.

 Absolutely! It was a beautiful June day and one of the rare June days where there were no coastal clouds. We drove up the coast through Malibu (top down of course), had a picnic in the little town of Ojai then up to Santa Barbara where I popped the question. It was a perfect day in every way, with the resulting outcome making it all the better A memorable drive for sure!

John

[Flyair]

Quote: "It must have looked like an American Hot Rod (without the hood)
I like your positive thinking about memorable trips ahead and not behind. We hope you return here and share with us one of them upcoming memorable trips."

Peter,
The idea of riding a Hot Rod was on my mind all the route

As for the positive thinking: I am sure that all the Pagoda owners (and actually all owners of old-timers) are Permanent Optimists and Incurable Addict.
Otherwise we would not be able to enjoy our precious gems while painlessly writing checks towards their renovation and spotless maintenance

Having said that: my best wishes of a good Pagoda riding season to All!!!