230SL with V8!

[Merc_Girl]

Might be of interest to some

Doesn’t mention what engine he had installed, but certainly the steering wheel is a bit of a shocker!!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-230-SL-Pagoda-/185305100553?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

[PSB]

I have a very limited knowledge of any car including our pagodas ....but apart from the steering wheel you refer to ( and the obvious engine swap) 2 things are very visibly different 1) the instrument cluster 2) the lower front end versus the more normal higher front end ( the v8 weight effect ?)
 

[Mike Hughes]

Looks like a small-block Chevy.  Should be able to handle the A/C compressor without any crankshaft issues.  ;^)

[Merc_Girl]

Looks like a small-block Chevy.  Should be able to handle the A/C compressor without any crankshaft issues.  ;^)

I’m not that desperate for AC that I’d put a V8 in a beautiful car!

[Merc_Girl]

I have a very limited knowledge of any car including our pagodas ....but apart from the steering wheel you refer to ( and the obvious engine swap) 2 things are very visibly different 1) the instrument cluster 2) the lower front end versus the more normal higher front end ( the v8 weight effect ?)

Now I zoomed into the pictures, I see what you mean about the instrument cluster! What an abhorrent re-design of the dash, looks like a fruit machine!

[JamesL]

I bet that’s brutal to steer
However, if it’s solid and you are handy with spanners….

[Mike Hughes]

I bet that’s brutal to steer
However, if it’s solid and you are handy with spanners….

Oh, I bet the person(s) who did this conversion had some serious spanner skills.  It isn't just the steering wheel that was changed, but the whole steering column and steering gear (likely with hydraulic or electric assist), plus different brake, cooling system, heater, A/C, and wiper motor layouts.  And since the gear selector is all the way forward in the "park" position, there is probably a GM autobox lurking under the transmission tunnel as well.   The revised instrumentation was inevitable since there is no provision for a mechanical tach drive take-off on the engine.  At least one genuine set of M/B parts was used in the conversion process - the grab handle on the driver side door! (Maybe two, if the shift gate came from a M/B sedan with a front to back shift gate.)

[Cees Klumper]

It's missing the lower trim from the doors and fenders, makes quite a visual difference. I wonder if the headlight notches are still there.

[JamesL]

Oh, I bet the person(s) who did this conversion had some serious spanner skills.  It isn't just the steering wheel that was changed, but the whole steering column and steering gear (likely with hydraulic or electric assist), plus different brake, cooling system, heater, A/C, and wiper motor layouts.  And since the gear selector is all the way forward in the "park" position, there is probably a GM autobox lurking under the transmission tunnel as well.   The revised instrumentation was inevitable since there is no provision for a mechanical tach drive take-off on the engine.  At least one genuine set of M/B parts was used in the conversion process - the grab handle on the driver side door! (Maybe two, if the shift gate came from a M/B sedan with a front to back shift gate.)

My point was not about the person who did this, but the spannering skills of someone to do something about it!

[Benz280]

In the making.

[Mike Hughes]

My point was not about the person who did this, but the spannering skills of someone to do something about it!

Point taken.  Not to mention the deep pockets!  It'll likely cost at least twice as much to put everything back to standard as it did to rod it in the first place, even assuming all the parts were saved.

[Mike Hughes]

It's missing the lower trim from the doors and fenders, makes quite a visual difference. I wonder if the headlight notches are still there.

What surprised me is that he didn't finish the job and remove the twin strips from the hard top while he was "decluttering" the exterior.

[mdsalemi]

Just a few short years ago, there was an article in The Star on a V8 conversion Pagoda done with a Ford block. The perpetrator had the audacity to get custom aluminum valve covers engraved with the words "Mercedes-Benz". Jeez. If you are going to put a Ford V8 into your car, embrace it. Don't try to make some weird fake valve cover saying Mercedes-Benz over a Ford valve train.

Our cars were never about "going fast" or out handling a "sports car"; if that's what you want a Pagoda isn't for you. Why someone would go to such lengths to shoe-horn a V8 into our engine bays is beyond me.

[lreppond]

There are so many other cars I could think of doing this to but not a pagoda.  There is such a hubris to think one can improve on a classic design.

[Merc_Girl]

As I’ve said before

Money can’t buy you taste. …….,…,, 😉