Hello,
when I bought my Pagoda 12 years ago, I also followed up on its history.
For a few days, the first owner was a former MB subsidiary that had lost its status. The actual customer was an entrepreneur who nevertheless ordered his vehicles there. They were always new sports cars from MB, which he always ordered in the basic configuration with automatic transmission and radio without any other extras.
I was able to phone the son of this entrepreneur who had succeeded his father. His father had already passed away, but his mother continued to follow his tradition and was still owner of a Mercedes SL.
The son told me that his father drove the pagoda every day and everywhere, preferably for fishing.
The next owners were father and daughter and one brought it to Spain where he needed a confirmation from Mercedes that this car was shipped without seat belds and can be used without it. It then came back to Düsseldorf, where it was repainted and many parts were replaced. The last previous owner then had a lot of sheet metal work done, with stainless steel exhaust and electronic ignition at a well known Pagoda workshop.
Now I've been driving the car for 12 years without any major problems, except for replacing the automatic transmission with a used one and I'm very satisfied with it.
...WRe
