Bringing Home My Pagoda - Towing Advice/Questions

[NoEcm]

A little history of the car:

Purchased new in Portland, OR. by my Great Uncle in 1967. In ~2001 or so it was acquired by my Uncle who drove it for a year and then put up on blocks for restoration. Unfortunately it was never touched after that. 3 years ago it was handed down to me and now I'm ready to bring it home.

I'll be renting a tow dolly to bring it home ~50 or so miles. Yes, I understand that I'll need to remove the propeller shaft (driveline) for towing.

Is the removal of the propeller shaft pretty straight forward?

What tools will I need to bring with me to remove the propeller shaft?
-What size wrenches are needed to "release the propeller shaft nut"?
-are just standard 3/8" drive metric sockets and wrenches (10mm - 19mm) needed to remove the bolts and nuts on the propeller shaft from the transmission and  differential.
-Any special to removing the support for the center (intermediate) bearing?
-Is there anything else that I've missed or that I need to remove before working on removing the propeller shaft?

Any other thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 

[Benz Dr.]

Is your car a standard or auto?

[Jordan]

Why not just get someone to tow it on a flat bed?  It may cost more, but it would far easier.  Or you could join AAA and have them tow it for you, also on a flat bed.

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Flatbed towing would be your best bet. Just make sure that your radiator is not damaged when your car is loaded and unloaded from the flatbed. The hook as you know to pull the car up and then let her back down is very close to the radiator and any sudden slack on the tow cable / sling can damage the radiator.

Good luck,

Dieter

[Norm]

Congratulations on the new ownership.

I would also vote for the flat bed to make sure there is no drama bringing it home.  But if you choose the tow dolly, make sure you mount new tires for the trip.  Towing a vehicle on tires that have been sitting for that long could be asking for trouble.

Good luck!

Norm

[ja17]

Automatics can only be pulled or towed (with the rear wheels on the ground) for very, very short distances at very low speeds. See the BBB 0-5/1 and 0-5/2 for details on towing and tow-starting. Otherwise, disconnect the driveshaft first before towing or your automatic transmission will be ruined. If the car is standard transmission, flat towing or towing with the rear wheels on the ground is fine (transmission in neutral of coarse). 

[smackYYZ]

I used the Auto Club ( that I have on my credit card ), when I inherited mine, like you. But they had a restriction of free towing to the nearest qualified garage within 200 miles. I was 2 miles shorter then the local Mercedes Dealer so I got a free tow to my house ( which was just 2 miles down the road from my house ).

The other option is to go to UHaul and use a car trailer ( not the dolly ). That's what I used when I brought my '66 from Toronto to Florida. That way you don't have to fiddle with the drive shaft.

[Benz Dr.]

I used a tow dolly recently but I had the engine and drive shaft out of the car. It worked really well in that format and would be OK on a standard trans car with everything installed. Not OK for an auto.

[NoEcm]

OP here. Thanks for all the advice. I rented a trailer and brought it home last weekend:



The car is in pretty rough condition and will need a lot of work to bring it back into shape.

Glad to see so many informed owners in this forum and I'll be reaching out for lots of advice and help.

[Garry]

Welcome aboard and let the fun begin.  Early 250, the pick of the crop. Nice

[ejboyd5]

Looks like a nice car.  How about some more pictures beyond one teaser.

[teahead]

Look Ma!  No sidemarkers!



Great project you got there!

[MikeSimon]

Welcome aboard and let the fun begin.  Early 250, the pick of the crop. Nice

Did someone do some "badge engineering"? I am reading "280SL" on the trunk. May need new glasses....

[Mike Hughes]

Time to see the opthamologist.  While the trunk logo IS a bit hard to make out, the dog dish hubcaps, goose neck door mirror, chrome edged horn pad and horn ring disappearing behind the horn pad are dead giveaways that it is not a 280SL or even a late 250SL.

[wayne R]

Sorry forum members you are all wrong,its a 280 SL,because
the rear emblem says so, and the general ingnorant public,
knows best .
The reason for my reply is another funny story about rebadging
other makes of cars ill do in another forum   later . regards .

[NoEcm]

Time to see the opthamologist.  While the trunk logo IS a bit hard to make out, the dog dish hubcaps, goose neck door mirror, chrome edged horn pad and horn ring disappearing behind the horn pad are dead giveaways that it is not a 280SL or even a late 250SL.

Amazing that you can see all of that in just that little photo. I can see that I've got a lot to learn.

Here's a photo of the rear of the car:

[Bonnyboy]

Congratulations.

Very sweet - there is nothing like dragging a toy like this home.  Good luck and my advice is get it running correctly and look after all the safety issues and see how it drives before heading head long into a restoration. 

Love that side view mirror.

[neelyrc]

Time to see the opthamologist.

.... do I also need to make an appointment?  Is it the angle of the photos are am I seeing distortion in the rear bumpers and possibly the deck lid.

Looking forward to seeing some additional pics.  There are the obvious edge dings and a spot on the rear deck lid but how is the paint overall? I am wondering if this is original paint that might be salvaged.  This is a great color and when cleaned up should have a lovely patina.

Congratulations on getting your car home. Keep us posted on your progress in sorting it out.

[wayne R]

Hi NoEcm, I must apologies re the rear runk emblem,i guess that i need to get my eyes
tested again soon.--.Your example--250SL looks great,and i agree with Ralph, your paint
im pretty sure ,when it still has a slight sheen like yours,there is a good chance it will be able to
be prepped, fine cut,and polish,---love that Colour,   and great to see another Pagoda survive,
thats why we are all in this club.--terrific.

[NoEcm]

Here's a photo of the rear emblem with all the old wax and grime removed (and there was a lot of it there):



The paint and body are in real terrible shape. It's had at least 1 very poor respray with lots of overspray. I regret to say that after the mechanicals are sorted out it's going to be a down to bare metal take out the dents and repaint.

Congratulations.

Good luck and my advice is get it running correctly and look after all the safety issues and see how it drives before heading head long into a restoration. 

Yep, that's exactly what I'm planning on doing.



I'll be opening another thread on what I found in the trunk today.

[teahead]

Get it running and clean it up and drive it.

You'd be amazed how original paint can be compounded and polished.

Full blown restoration...you'll be in paint jail for months if not years.

[thelews]

Looks to be an early 250 SL, the best of the bunch, IMO, but, I'm biased.  All the 230 cosmetics with the 280 mechanical improvements and none of the pollution stuff.  What is the VIN?

[NoEcm]

What is the VIN?

11304312001340 (just updated my signature a few seconds ago)

[Norm]

So your car would have come off the assembly line in Late March 1967.  I think Monday March 27th would be about right.

We will be looking forward to your getting the car back on the road.

Enjoy the journey!

Norm

[Joe]

Be sure to put new tires on it, regardless of how the present ones look.
A more important concern, I'd think, would be how to persuade the wife to park her new Lexus on the driveway while you commandeer the garage for this prize.
Joe