Poll: how long have YOU owned your Pagoda?

[Cees Klumper]

In my case, 5 years (I bought it on August 22, 1999). Update July 2005: almost 6 years.
I am interested to see how long everyone has owned theirs?

Cees Klumper in Amsterdam
'69 white 280 SL automatic

[hauser]

I have owned my current Pagoda for two years.  I am happy to say they have been trouble free.   My 250 ZF 5 was about a year or so.

1969 280sl 5 spd        1999 ML320          Gainesville,Fl.

[jeffc280sl]

I've owned my current 1970 olive green 280SL 4 speed for about 10 years.  Owned another 1970 olive green 280SL auto for 3 years while in college.  Just had to get another one for the memories.  I courted my wife in the first one.

Jeff C.
1970 280SL 4-speed

[rwmastel]

Bought mine in August, 2000.

Rodd
Powell, Ohio, USA
1966 230SL, Euro, Auto, Leather, both  tops
1994 E420

[Ed Cave]

I bought mine June 2, 2004 (perhaps the newest owner in this group). I will see (parts of) it for the very first time this weekend when I travel to San Diego where it is undergoing restoration. The carcass went to the paint shop yesterday, so, while I will only see an array of the dismantled parts and pieces, I can't wait.


Ed Cave
Atlanta, GA

1971 280SL
1964 356C

[Mike Hughes]

I first tried to buy my 230SL from the original owner in October of 1989, but it went to a friend instead.  So I pestered my friend on and off for 14 years until he finally was ready to pass it on to me just last December.  It was worth the wait.

- Mike Hughes  -ô¿ô-
  1966 230SL Auto P/S
  Havanna Brown (408)
  Light Beige (181)
  Cream M-B Tex (121)

[Albert-230SL]

7 years and a half. I bought mine in February of 1997. I was 26 years old then (and the car was 33)... and some of my friends didn't understand the change I did then: to sell my fast VW Corrado VR6 (2.9l, 190 HP) in order to buy such "old car"   ... but now I'm sure that I took a good decision!  

Albert de la Torre Chavalera
Barcelona (Catalunya/Spain)
Feb.'64 230 SL Euro 113042-10-002432

[knirk]

A little more than a year (16. june 2003). Before that I had a R107 350sl which died of a rust attack.

Per G. Birkeland
69 280 sl aut 834
Norway

[Ben]

I bought mine in September 2001!  Using it daily ever since !!

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.
'03 CLK Kompressor

[hands_aus]

I bought my 250 SL auto in June 2002. I love the car.
It is my main hobby and learning about it and learning how to fix things on it have given me lots of pleasure and heart ache. I wish I was more of a hands-on mechanic with more garage space.
I drive it as much as I can, in fact I travelled almost 5000Km last year... hard to imagine really!

Bob (Brisbane,Australia)
RHD,1967 early 250 SL, auto

[Malc]

Since July 2003
(But not in my shed yet!)
Malc

[Mark in KS]

I purchased mine on Valentines Day in 2003.  My 9 year old son and I then drove it 600 miles cross country without a problem the day we bought it.  Since then, it's been a fun adventure of fixes and improvements to make it a great driver.

Mark in KS
'67 230SL 4 spd

[J. Huber]

I officially took possession of mine on June 14th, 1987. I know this because it was the day I graduated from UC Santa Barbara. About 3 years earlier my Mom had said -- "well you can have the car whenever you finish college"... Talk about an incentive! I hit the books and graduated Magna Cum Pagoda!  

James
63 230SL

[TheEngineer]

I bought a blue 230SL in June '71 and we had it many years. The family grew and we sold it and went to station wagons. Last Year I wanted to buy a small convertible and centered in on a Mazda Miata: My wife wanted nothing to do with it. She said, it looks ridiculous when two old people get out of a new Miata and why don't you buy another Pagoda. So I did in October for my 71st birthday. I've been working on the car ever since and got to know it pretty well by now. I find many no-no's which were done mostly by mercedes shops (I have the receipts obtained from previous owners) But the car is driveable and - I think - I'm having fun? Besides, the Pagoda has room behind the seats for my dog. He just loves it.

1969 280SL,Signal Red, A/T, P/S, A/C, Both tops.    Ret. engr. 1967 230SL - Sold

[gwuisman]

I bought my 280sl in oktober 1999 in Germany.

Gerard Wuisman

[bpossel]

I purchased my 280sl in June of this year.  Bought it in Sedona, AZ. and drove it home to Memphis (~1400 miles).  I love the car, and it is a joy to work on.  After a hard day of repair and/or cleaning, the reward is getting in with the top down and going for a ride.

Bob

quote:Originally posted by cees klumper

In my case, 5 years (I bought it on August 22, 1999). I am interested to see how long everyone has owned theirs?

Cees Klumper in Amsterdam
'69 white 280 SL automatic

bpossel
Memphis, TN.
1971 280SL
1997 E320

[hughet]

I have owned my  65 230SL Over 15 years. In that time I have been through the motor, painted it (in my garage with a TP turbine from bare metal using variprime uroprime Chromabase and chromaclear), installed 2 soft tops, restored the interior, restored the hardtop, front and rear suspension rebuild  (the rear with  a 280SE 4.5 so I have rear disks), timevalve exhaust, and yes  a lot of oil changes.
It is a driver and we toot around in it every day. I have 3 kids who drove it to high school for 2 years each. Coolest car on the parking lot, but when my youngest son was a senior he didnt get a single vote in the cool car contest because all the kids who voted thought it was a replica car! I guess they had never seen windup windows before.
Tom Hughes
St. Louis
A great economy car! easy to work on with no depreciation. Paid 9k for it plus about 7k for all the repair work listed above and it is probably worth more than that today.
Its 40th birthday is coming up on October 13th according to the original delivery papers I have. We are gonna have a party!

[tobacco]

Purchased new on April 15, 1971.


Bill Greffin
Chicago
#22375

[rwmastel]

quote:Originally posted by Tobacco

Purchased new on April 15, 1971.

April, 15?  Is your Pagoda some sort of tax shelter??  

Rodd
Powell, Ohio, USA
1966 230SL, Euro, Auto, Leather, both  tops
1994 E420

[n/a]

I have my 230 SL since March 1997. Only do about 1.000 km's per year. But really enjoy all of them.

Willy, 230 SL 1967 Auto - 220 SEb 1965 Auto

[Longtooth]

Purchased my '67 250SL 4Spd in August 1984 ---  

Drove for 2 years, let it sit in my garage uncovered for 15 yrs (brought it out to strip and paint in about '88 or '89... let it sit again 'til '00... then restored everything (mostly so far) back to factory fresh (except suspension/undercarriage and windshield)... a few pieces of chrome yet to be done (beauty rings among them).  

I drive it ~8k mile/year at 80 - 90 mph most of the time, topdown ... sometimes I look around carefully (for CHP) and when I think I'm safe, I punch it up to 110 mph for 3-5 miles when there's almost no traffic...  The 113 seems to sit tighter and feel better above 80 mph... & based on my experience living in the '60's in Germany, that's just about the minimum speed anybody with an SL drove them... like it's probably where the MB engineers concentrated effort on drivability when it was designed
 
Previous owner purchased it in '68 or '69 from the original owner... both local (Santa Clara Valley --- aka Silicon Vally ---, CA) owners... originally purchased at Local MB dealer. All maintenance done as same shop over it's life (except 1st 2 years original owner had it serviced at our local MB dealer)... all records.

Longtooth
67 250SL US #113-043-10-002163
95 SL500

[CarlG]

I bought my 230sl from the daughter of the original owner in Sept. 1996.  He had died about 6 years before that and must not have been able to drive it for a few before that so it had sat for a number of years and needed lots of work, most of which is done now.  Always more to be done, as we all know.

1967 230sl (stick)

[Klaus]

Bought it in August 1982 and drove it 51,000 miles since then.

Klaus
1969 280 SL

[John A. Dean]

I bought my first 230 SL in 1980, rescued it from a barn, sort of thing, patched, greased and cleaned a few things then sold it for twice what I paid for it to help fund my continuing education. I always wanted another one so that when I had the money, time and space I bought a much better example in September of 2000, and continue to enjoy this car.  I have tinkered on or rebuilt so many different type of vehicles, that I know (by comparison) that it is always a pleasure to work on something with a good solid engineering base, good metallurgy, great parts availability and the support of internet groups such as this makes the experience that much better.

1969 280SL, manual, MB TEX, green/cognac

[iceberg]

I have wanted this car since I was 11.  Having owned a number of Mercedes Benzes, I always wanted the Pagoda.  Finally last year on Sept 3 which happened to be my 28th Birthday, I purchased my first Pagoda from the original owners wife.  The 1963 230 SL manual shift.  I always fancied the automatic 280 Sl, but you know I have grown really fond of this one.  A little less luxurious than the 280 SL, the 230 SL is certainly has a more sporty, rugged, minimilistic interior.  I kinda like that.  Plus I think I have a great car on my hands.  A very early example, 000164, it came with a power steering and a lot of Documented history.  Ofcourse there were problems, but hey I lvie very close to Dr. Benz and something tells me that as long as he is my Dr. I am going to enjoy this car for a very long time.

Regards,
Hassan