Padre Parsonage Pagoda Update

[Jacob66BVM]

Merry Christmas to all. Writing an update on the Parsonage Pagoda I discussed in my new member introduction earlier this month.  Amazing connection made due to this form. Here is what I wrote;
Hello, New member here from Minnesota. I have been lurking for some time. Registered today to post my new journey. Hoping to someday acquire a Pagoda and currently tracking one from 26 years ago that resided in a church parsonage's garage. It was a '66 silver car when I saw it in 1992. My wife and I were married in the adjacent church that year. Today I had lunch with my life long friend, the Padre that performed our wedding ceremony, and I asked him about the car.  Stored there for the owner as he was overseas, in later years the car was moved to a barn where mice had taken up residence. When the owner returned to the states the car was in fact sold in 2004 and was not in the best of shape. Word has it that the car continued to be stored in the afore mentioned barn even after the sale.  Padre is making some calls this evening to get the latest.

12/25 Update- A big thanks to Dave Tobin of daveknowscars.com for reading the post and putting together the out of state move. He asked if in fact the owner was a Dr, which he was and we concluded that the Padoga he had inspected in 2010 out on a farm, was the same car I am searching for. Dave provided me with over 140 pictures and even a write up he did on the barn-find at the time in the Spring edition of the Northern Star club newsletter(attached).  The car is a European model 230 SL auto trans that was originally imported into the U.S. in the mid 1970s. Up until this time I did not know if the car was a 230 or 250, manual or auto trans etc. Here is the link to the '65 SL230 that was removed from the parsonage and hauled on a flat bed to a farm 90 minutes west of the Twin Cities to Hutchinson, MN. https://www.flickr.com/photos/daveknowscars/albums  https://www.flickr.com/photos/daveknowscars/albums
Sadly the car was infested with mice and sunk into the ground and left for dead. From here we know the car was sold but do know know its fate.
I am very grateful for getting this far and proves the value of this form and enthusiast community.

I am asking the pagoda community to help me learn if this car was in fact parted out, sent back overseas or? Any info is appreciated. Regards, Jacob.

[114015]

Thanks Jacob,

Merry Christmas to you too.

Many thanks for your nice story of 'vour' car and some of the story.

Well, to make a short story long,
hard to say what happened to 'your' car.
Everything could have taken place:
- someone bought the car ... after 2010 - restored it and still drives it sold it after restoration
- someone boutght the car  - and parted it out due to its probably somehow deteriorated condition back then
- not unlikely: the car was bought and re-exported e.g. to Germany or the Netherlands.

Here in Continental Europe there is a big Pagoda and (Ford) Mustand dealer who buys many (literally 100s or least 50 or so) Pagodas every year from 'Overseas' to reimport them to Europe. Here, the demand for these/our cars is still high and prices used to be somehow higher than in the US... but lately they have roughly reached a comparable level, i.e.these cars are barely cheaper in the US then currently in Europe.

Well, very hard to predict what happened  to your car.
Best would be to have the VIN and check further with that one because that is the only safe source to follow up the history of a particular car.

Good luck & keep us updated

Achim


and

[Shvegel]

After sinking into the ground for so many years you would be far better off recreating your dream than trying to own that one.  I used to restore cars for a living a long time ago and when a car was really far gone I would ask the customer “Are you in love with the car or are you in love with this car.”  If you are in love with the car sell this one a buy a nicer one but if you are in love with this car you are screwed.”  I of course didn’t take my own advice when contemplating restoring my Pagoda.  11 years and countless dollars later the project is still going.