280SL "barnfind"

[Jaru]

@Peter  the car will be in good hands at the body shop. They have done several pagodas before and they pay much attention to copy original spot welds and so on.

 Your Pagoda looks beautiful, is it a early 68'?  Or is it a grey market euro model? Hence no bumper guards and the trim below the licence plate.



Thanks Solbekk

[Peter h]

the silver is born 09.1968 and someone put the strip under the plate. I have all doc. since 1975, i am the third owner
Peter

[Jaru]

The soft top needs to be replaced, Wonder if it has been replaced before.. Any signs to look for to determine if its the original?

The soft top compartment looks flawless though.

[mbzse]

At least the carpet is original. The rubber ring bound to the carpet on the drive shaft tunnel, around the gear shift lever was NLA for a long time. Is now offered as a repro.
No is/was A111 997 1081. Nice detail to keep  
/Hans in Sweden
.

[JamesL]

That interior is in great condition - the soundproofing/fire protection in the footwells look great, as does the carpet/metal underneath.

And such a great colour combination. Keep posting the pictures!

[Jaru]

Well spotted Hans the front carpets are in poor condition, but the top of the tunnel with the rubber ring is not that bad. I hope to keep that part and replace the ones on each side of the tunnel. Bjarne is going to Hamburg tomorrow so he will bring them to Holger for repair together with the door pockets.

Thanks James, more pictures to come..

[Jonny B]

Did you take out the plastic window from the soft top? The window should have a small embossed emblem with the MB star. If in good condition would be worth trying to salvage. Certainly agree about the rubber ring around the gear shift lever.

[JamesL]

Clearly the mice in Norway are not big fans of Mercedes!

[49er]

Did you take out the plastic window from the soft top? The window should have a small embossed emblem with the MB star. If in good condition would be worth trying to salvage. Certainly agree about the rubber ring around the gear shift lever.

 Hi Jonny, No MB Star on mine?

 Hi Jaru, nice car (other then the "ouch" on the front end:-). When getting my car back on the road, the tunnel carpet was "glued" to the tunnel and unraveled when trying to get it off. I have a GAHH replacement carpet now but have kept my old carpet with hopes that I might mind find a good upholstery shop that could mend it one day. Good luck in your restoration.

John

[Jonny B]

Most interesting about the emblem. I attached a (blurry) photo from my 250 SL top, which is a replacement, but what is indicated to me as the correct emblem. It is similar to the one you have shown, but does have the star?!

I wish I could use the top from my 280 SL as a reference, but that top was replaced years ago, after someone slashed it to gain entry and stole the manual packet!

[Jaru]

Thanks for all the comments and input, what a great forum

JamesL: the mice has been kind and focused on the rubber on the air filter, and a small piece of the passenger seat.

Jonny&John:
The window is there but the seam is off in the bottom and sides so its now only attached in top.
There is no MB star, looks the same as John's window so it should be the original softtop. The color also matches the parchment code on the data card. The window is pretty scratched and stiff, so I'm not sure its reusable. Read somewhere that Hjeltness Restoration ordered the window from Mercedes for a SL250 they restored, maybe its still available..?

[49er]

Jaru, that matches mine and yours is a better photo:-)

John

[KevinC]

Well spotted Hans the front carpets are in poor condition, but the top of the tunnel with the rubber ring is not that bad. I hope to keep that part and replace the ones on each side of the tunnel. Bjarne is going to Hamburg tomorrow so he will bring them to Holger for repair together with the door pockets.

Thanks James, more pictures to come..

Another consideration might be just to cover the carpets in the footwells with coco mats. Correct for the period and also available as an option in 113's.

[Peter h]

Here is my original dark green carpet , the mats ( coconut ? ) I've got a invoice from 1979
Peter

[Jaru]

Kevin: Good idea with the cocomats, how easy is it to source the right material today?

Peter: Wow, love that green Tex interior! Awsome cocomats.. See you have Tex in the parcel tray that looks original, is it? Have seen many cars with carpet as well and I was wondering whats correct in my car its missing so i have to decide what to use..

Jan

[KevinC]

Kevin: Good idea with the cocomats, how easy is it to source the right material today?

I bought mine from cocomats.com . They have the pattern for W113's. You just need to pick your color and material... outstanding workmanship and service.

http://www.cocomats.com/mercedes-benz-gallery/

[Jonny B]

I will fully echo the comment regarding cocomats. I have a set in my 250 SL and the 280 SL.

Not exactly sure when the change was made, but the vinyl insert is the correct item to have until sometime mid run for the 280 SL. Authentic Classics has a repro but it is not like the original one. If someone knows of a source, please post.

[Jaru]

Thanks Kevin &Jonny I will look into this

I need some advice when it comes to headlights. Both headlights where missing when i bought the car. I have a set of euro lights, but with the side markers and the fact that it is a US car I think it might look better with the correct US lights.. Any thoughts?

[JamesL]

I know it's personal preference but I much prefer the Euro lights on a Pagoda - I think the US versions look like a fudge.
That said, it IS a US car and so was delivered with the sealed beam units.

(I note that Garry's picture of Mr Bracq's latest work shows Euro lights...)

[Jaru]

I agree that that pagodas look better with euro lights, but not shure if it looks right when it has the side markers..


Had to swap side in the garage today so i can lift the engine and transmission out of the SL.
Two green and a little santa..

[GGR]

 It depends on how much of an originality freak yout are. I like the euro look better as this is how the car was designed. So what is original? The original design or the way the car came out of the factory? You would need to delete the side markers too. This is what I did.

[KevinC]

Here's a variety of green cars with both Euro and US headlights. I believe it comes down to personal preference...two could argue original in how it was designed or how your specific car was delivered. I don't feel that the value would be different either way.

[Jaru]

Thanks guys, guess I will use euro lights for now anyhow. The prices on US lamps are pretty high these days, at least on ebay.

Got the motor and transmission pulled out today. Soon ready for the body shop..

[Jonny B]

The original firewall pad does not look too bad in the photo. Are you going to be able to salvage that? Car looks very solid in the engine compartment.

[Jaru]

The original firewall pad does not look too bad in the photo. Are you going to be able to salvage that? Car looks very solid in the engine compartment.

Thanks Jonny. Engine compartment is in good shape, original paint and only some surface rust under the brake booster.
Biggest issues with the firawall pad is the holes from AC hoses (AC is not going back in..) and some paint from a respray, there are also quite a few cracks.
I have ordered a pad from Vintage europarts so i will decide when I can compare the two, in the pictures it looks very similar. Anyone here with experience with their firewall pad?