Shanghai Auto Museum

[Lars G]

Hi Pagoda friends,

After traveling back and forth between Sweden and China for three month, staying one to two week at the time I this weekend got bored of walking around in a 30C degree warm city.
I had to find something else to do. So I thought that there has to be a car museum in this big city!

What I found was  found Shanghai Auto Museum located in a suburb of Shanghai called AnTing. It was a really nice museum and they were showing nice and well restored cars. Mercedes-Benz was represented by a 1886 Patentwagen, 300 SL -55, 300D -61 and finally a 250SL Pagoda from -68, US version.

Unfortunately I have to say that the Pagoda was the car in collection that was in the worst condition! The head lights were broken, the bumper chrome was bad, the interior was dirty and carpets were bad with holes, chromed trim rings on the wheels where missing.......   I could continue!  

The museum is worth a visit if you will spend some time in Shanghai.
www.shautomuseum.gov.cn


Lars

[Bonnyboy]

...and the 230sl emblem is on the wrong side, and the chrome muffler tips are missing, and......interesting look for the wheels.  Maybe the parts are at the platers - maybe that is the look they are after.

There is a guy in town who drives his white 230sl around without chrome (no chrome trim rings or hubcaps, muffler tips off, mercedes grill star and bonnet emblem and trunk star and chrome model # removed)  ash tray out, rusty radio delete plate instead of radio, horn pad off and sun visors out - he calls it his NASCAR look.  He figures those are the parts that will get stolen if he parks his car so he doesn't bother putting them on.  Apparently he parks the car under a waxy canvas tarp unlocked with a slashed soft top and leaves it for days on end.   He said as long as kids don't know its a mercedes it should be fine.   So far its been ok.  Maybe the museum is going for a similar NASCAR look.

[Lars G]

Nice to hear about a person with such relaxed attitude to classic cars.
I read in a Swedish magazine some years ago about a man who was using his unrestored 300sl roadster in almost the same way. The car was mechanically okay but would need a fortune to look good!
Like for example the 300sl in Shanghai auto museum.

I add another picture of the sad Pagoda.