I like to share a story with you about the last Pagoda that was completed on March 15, 1971. I came across the story at the German ONLINE FOCOS site. Unfortunately it is in German, so I translated it for you to read.
Should you know German than you can read it ...
Here --->
http://www.focus.de/auto/gebrauchtwagen/oldtimer/mercedes-280-sl-pagode-w-113-herbstliebe_id_7640907.htmlI attached the 4 photos that appear in the article and made reference to it as Photo 1 to 4. The link also refers to some video clips of later models when Mercedes Benz again came out with there 70s and 80s models.
Enjoy,
Dieter
Here is the article and photos ........
Summer is over - even when the sun still warms wonderfully during the day, the leaves colour and in the morning it is already sensitively cool. Even so, there could be no better time for a tour then in in the last Pagoda ever produced.
Convertible fans not only drive open in the summer, but all year round - and the colourful autumn is unquestionably the most beautiful season for an up-without-intermezzo with addiction potential. There are a lot of suitable means of transport, but hardly one is as beautifully as the Mercedes Pagoda - the Mercedes SL, which was to be the successor to Mercedes 190 SL and 300 SL in the personal field.
Pagoda: The most beautiful SL-Mercedes?The design is rather sober and reserved with successful proportions without real highlights. The more you see the 113er -
He is more a beautiful
She than a smart
He. Strikingly from the front oversized front headlights with integrated fog lights and blinkers framing the wide grill while the tiny taillights make the rear together with the coarse tank filler neck look filigree and almost fragile.
(See Photo 1) If the pagoda were wrong, it would be described as Mercedes 280 SL, or even the soulless designation W 113 would be added. The protagonist, who enchants us Saturday afternoon, is by no means a pagoda. It is the last pagoda ever produced; rolled off the assembly line on 15 March 1971.
Sand metallic and artificial leather MB-texThe color sandbeigemetallic with the color code 467 could hardly be more perfect for an autumn trip. There is no dyed animal skin on the inside, but the MB-Tex, a synthetic leather that fits perfectly into the autumn image in its colour Cognac (colour code 140). The last of all pagodas is also a show in our latitudes. Originally it attracted the open Beau as many of its nearly 49,000 siblings in the sunny part of the USA.
(See Photo 2)The data card not only features solid special equipment such as single front seats, coupe roof, servo steering, heat-insulating glass or white wall tires, but also features equipment codes such as 491 (USA version) and 515 (Radio Europa USA) Atlantic, before the first owner beamed.
Just a few years ago, the open two-seater returned home to Germany. The 2.8-liter in-line cylinder with 125 kW / 170 hp and a lush torque of 240 Nm still work in the front. The powerful buzzing in the front does not come from the engine implanted at birth. This had blessed the temporal blessing due to lack of care and has been exchanged in the context of the restoration in a proper and professional manner. Not against any 280-year-old heart, but the last ever-produced engine of its kind, which at the time was put on the side of Daimler for bad times.
In 1968, the 2.80 litre engine replaced the six-cylinder engines of the M 127 and M 129 series, which had a capacity of 2.3 and 2.5 lifters, respectively, of 110 kW / 150 hp and the Schwaben 200 km / h quickly. The 2.8 litre M-130 engine makes the roadster more confident, more powerful and probably also more desirable.
The Standard Gearshift costs a bit of lazinessSo at least you feel when you are on the Swabian Alb is on the road and at the edge of the road the trees decide to colour the leaves of green and yellow. Of course, the roof is open and all too natural, the aisles after the curve exit are turned out somewhat more than one would expect. The manual four-speed gearbox takes the 1.4-tonne Roadster somewhat away from its casualness, but makes it just more dynamic on the highway, as with the optional four-speed automatic, which artificially places the speeds down below.
The ball steering system and the all-too-thin steering wheel have quickly become accustomed. Driving maneuvers are introduced somewhat earlier than usual and then the 4.28 meters long cabriolet finds its way to the next apex safely and extremely dynamically. The single-pivot pendulum axle at the rear is no wonder at driving dynamics, but can be easily calculated in the limit range. If you want to take it a bit brighter on this autumn day, the Mercedes 280 SL is not disappointed - on the contrary.
Favorite of the vintage rallyNo wonder the pagoda on Oldtimer rallyes regularly performs well in the hands of ambitious drivers, thereby conveying an everyday use that must not be hidden by today's standards. Behind the two front seats, there is room for all sorts of extra luggage, if the trunk should this not be enough.
Today nobody (some people I know are) is interested in this, because the narrow day luggage has always in the loading compartment and in warm temperatures the thin transition jacket is stored in the back of the truck. In a few weeks, when going to the next exit with the pagoda, it will be quite different. Then, the heating controls in the centre of the chromed dashboard trim strip will also have a different position. Now it's time to go to the garage. but the next autumn trip is certain.
End of the ArticlePS. Take your Pagoda out before the snow starts to fly
I took mine for a spin this past weekend and loved it, you will too no matter what exterior and or interior colour combination it is. Dieter
