I hope you find this relevant for the general discussion page. I have a pretty incredible story to share!
My name is Frazier. I'm 32 years old and live in Southern California. I travel weekly for work, and prefer vintage suitcases over a modern roller bag. Something about the aesthetic speaks to me, and it generally fits my style.
After a little over 2 years, my suitcase has seen better days, and I went to the antique store near my house in Carlsbad in hopes to find a replacement. One piece of luggage stuck out to me. It was beautiful, but absurdly shaped, roughly 10 inches longer than I was looking for. I left without it.
The next day, the bag was still on my mind, and I decided I'd swing back by and grab it, strange dimensions be damned. I got home with the intention to pack it and bring it on my work trip. What I didn't expect to find was a folded up handwritten note in the side pocket detailing the provenance of the item. (picture of the note attached below)
The original owner was stationed in Germany between 1958 and 1961, and purchased a Mercedes from the dealership in Stuttgart during that span of time, and this piece of luggage, as well as others, came with the vehicle. I did a few minutes of googling and quickly realized I had stumbled onto a pretty unique item!
I went back to the antique store immediately. You see, I had selected the bag in the best condition, but there were two more identical to it. I was able to grab those as well! (the hat box had been purchased a week earlier, and the owner of the store could not remember it the other pieces had ever been there.) Since then, I've spoken to a few folks and I believe these bags were modular to fit the Pagoda as well!
I collect many things, and look forward to the day where I'm in a financial place to add cars to the list. As for right now, it feels pretty great to be in a position to help someone source a piece as rare as these bags seem to be. I just spent time on the photos forum, and your vehicles are absolutely spectacular.
I hope you enjoyed reading, and have a wonderful day!
(P.S. - Can you imagine if I had selected another one of the three bags? It's not like each one had a note in it! I feel very lucky from a collectors stand point to have been able to keep at least three of the pieces together to make life easier on whoever ends up being the next owner, assuming they are aiming to complete a set)
